"Just so you know, Dr. John D. Witt (item #5) made as much teaching as an associate prof in 1970 as I will make this year. I'd research to see where he is now, but I couldn't bear the results."
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Professor Salaries, 1970.
A part-timer in Business who I know pretty well (her husband I play darts together) sent me a link yesterday. In some kind of mad dream she was searching professor salaries through the years - I don't know why. But she came across this regents letter from Stephen F. Austin University from 1970. Here's her note:
"Just so you know, Dr. John D. Witt (item #5) made as much teaching as an associate prof in 1970 as I will make this year. I'd research to see where he is now, but I couldn't bear the results."
"Just so you know, Dr. John D. Witt (item #5) made as much teaching as an associate prof in 1970 as I will make this year. I'd research to see where he is now, but I couldn't bear the results."
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A retiring prof who started at Tuk U here in Canuckistan in 1972 told me his starting salary was slightly higher than #6. An interesting part of the story he told was that the cost of a nice house in central Big Canuckistan City was almost exactly the same as his starting salary; the average cost of a house in that same neighbourhood nowadays, which is now a very affluent part of the city, is $1.2 million. The other interesting part of the story was that he couldn't get a mortgage from a bank, because the cost of a house was too high relative to his salary (!).
ReplyDeleteAnother problem that we statistics aficionados will notice is that these ads are for jobs in less expensive parts of the country, including the great states of Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas, North Carolina, and the Bronx. (OK, the Bronx isn't a state of the union, but it's definitely a state of mind.) When San Diego State recently did a search for a tenure-track assistant professor of physics, the first four candidates to whom offers were made turned them down, because they wouldn't be able to afford a house on the pay that was offered.
ReplyDeleteThe way I read these is as job offers confirmed by the Board of Stephen F. Austin and the school names in parentheses are the degree granting institutions of the new appointees.
DeleteShit, you're right. But it still doesn't alter the conclusion: Stephen F. Austin is in the great state of Texas, which is certainly a cheaper place to live than San Diego.
DeleteI'm curious why the age matters. Shouldn't number of years teaching matter rather than age?
ReplyDeleteI say this b/c it's curious to me that someone 56 earns $2,000 more than someone 35 at a similar rank. Given that level of pay, I'm guessing a $2,000 raise over 20 years is really not much to look forward to. Then again, I'm not sure our current pay rates would be much better.
DeleteAt least in the early to mid-60s, a salary of $65 a week was 'good' (=$3,400). So, a salary difference of $2,000 in 1970 would still be quite substantive.
DeleteI suppose if I'd be FLOORED to get that much of an increase NOW, it would be substantial then.
DeleteOnce you adjust for inflation the difference is not so outrageous. The 1970 Assist. Prof. of Pols above was making $56K adjusted for 2010. In the 2010 published salaries from Austin an Assistant professor in that department was making $60K.
ReplyDeleteA friend who works there always pronounces it "Steve Nefosten" (sometimes adding "State" afterwards).
DeleteI think I received a c. $1,000 bump in salary when I defended in the very early 21st century. I wasn't on the tenure track, however.
ReplyDelete