According to a report from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), professor salaries at Bowdoin, not adjusted for inflation, rose by 4 percent for full professors, 4.1 percent for associate professors and 5.9 percent for assistant professors. Within the NESCAC on average, salaries rose by 3.38 percent, 4.32 percent and 4.64 percent respectively. In comparison, overall salaries across the country rose by an inflation-adjusted average of 2.7 percent.
The College determines raises for its professors using its “4-5-6” policy. This policy bases raises on the raises given by other colleges in Bowdoin’s peer group—specifically, the salary increases based on the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-highest-paying institutions of the 18 schools. The Board of Trustees determines this comparison group each year.
Paying full professors an average of $138,400 per year, Bowdoin’s ranking in the NESCAC has remains the fifth-highest paying institution in the 11-school conference.
The AAUP attributes part of the national salary increases to a change in how faculty are classified—more and more schools are shifting full-time, tenure-track positions to part-time adjuncts, which are not included in the calculations.
“We are in an enviable position at Bowdoin where that is not a practice that we engage in,” said Dean for Academic Affairs Jen Scanlon. “We do certainly hire, we have some lecturers, we have some adjunct faculty, but for the most part our non-tenure-track faculty are visitors to the College, so they are replacing faculty members who are on sabbatical.”