UNC works to retain faculty amidst budget cuts

As the University braces for sweeping budget cuts, officials said they are emphasizing faculty retention in lobbying efforts.

Chancellor Holden Thorp said faculty retention is the top problem that would be affected by budget cuts.

“There’s a disconnect where people think Carolina is always going to be as good as it’s been, and that this is just some complaining that goes on that isn’t really connected to the excellence that everybody expects,” he said.

“We’ve got to make sure that people in the legislature and the public everywhere understand the connection between those two things.”

Last year, the University lost three percent of its tenure-track and tenured faculty to outside job offers, said Bruce Carney, executive vice chancellor and provost, last week at a meeting of the Board of Trustees.

In 2007–08, the University reported 51 offers from other institutions. The University countered 26 of these, and retained 18 faculty members as a result.

But in 2010–11, that number increased to 110 offers. The University made 78 counter-offers, retaining 32 faculty. The University did not have enough money to counter 13 offers.

Carney said it would cost $3 million for a one percent raise for fixed-term and tenure-track faculty.

“Three years of no salary increase — it’s a lack of respect (for) the faculty,” he said.

In some cases, the University is trying to anticipate outside job offers by giving raises, said Karen Gil, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

“We absolutely have to do preemptive salary adjustment when people are in the midst of serious negotiations with other universities,” Gil said.

She said such increases can range from three to 40 percent.

Gil said only some departments are dealing with outside job offers, specifically chemistry, history, psychology, sociology and political science.

She said when one person in a department gets a job offer, it leads to others in the department looking for alternatives.

“You get a morale shift,” Gil said.

The University is also losing faculty to retirement.

“We can’t replace those people,” said Dick Mann, vice chancellor for finance and administration. “We’re using those salaries to help cover the budget cuts.”

Tom Thornburg, senior associate dean of the school of government, said the school tries to improve morale by using non-state money for travel and career development.

“The mood here is still pretty good,” he said.

But Thornburg said faculty in the school of government are still feeling the pressure of three years without a raise.

“Over time, it gets harder for people when they think that there may be better opportunities elsewhere,” he said.

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