Pay well for new business prof
Joseph McCleary
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Opinion
The college must offer competitive wages to attract a qualified finance professor and reduce professorial turnover.
Business professors command higher wages than professors in almost every other field. Because they can also work in the private sector at salaries upwards of $150,000 a year.
The college must be willing to approach these going wages, or it won't attract a qualified professor. Worse yet, the qualified business professors on faculty will leave the college.
David Basterfield, the extremely qualified finance professor, left the college last spring to work in the private sector.
Moreover, being in a small town that is economically dying, we do not have the college-educated singles scene or a nearby financial metropolis to attract young business talent. Since nothing can be done to change this, it is even more crucial to pay the going wages for new business professors - especially if we want to attract a younger professor who would balance the aging business department.
If the college is searching for money to pay for a top business professor, I recommend relating the state of affairs to the parents (or grandparents) who currently have business students at the college.
Explain that the college needs a top finance professor to educate "your child." Emphasize that the money will go directly to pay for that professor, instead of the college's general fund. Since many of the parents of business students are in business and have money, the college might get added funds, especially if you emphasize that hiring a qualified professor might not happen otherwise.
With rumors that other professors could soon retire, it might be good policy to formalize the wages the college will offer to future business professors. Peg it to the average that schools with good business departments pay for their professorial talent.
The business students grumble that the college administration does not value the business department as highly as the humanities departments. This was evidenced in the comments of business students in the Nov. 8 Collegian article, "Business department searches for new professor."
"I do think we could gain a lot by buffing up the business program," one business student said.
The administrators in Moss Hall can prove their esteem for the department by courting a highly qualified business professor.
Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007
Business professors command higher wages than professors in almost every other field. Because they can also work in the private sector at salaries upwards of $150,000 a year.
The college must be willing to approach these going wages, or it won't attract a qualified professor. Worse yet, the qualified business professors on faculty will leave the college.
David Basterfield, the extremely qualified finance professor, left the college last spring to work in the private sector.
Moreover, being in a small town that is economically dying, we do not have the college-educated singles scene or a nearby financial metropolis to attract young business talent. Since nothing can be done to change this, it is even more crucial to pay the going wages for new business professors - especially if we want to attract a younger professor who would balance the aging business department.
If the college is searching for money to pay for a top business professor, I recommend relating the state of affairs to the parents (or grandparents) who currently have business students at the college.
Explain that the college needs a top finance professor to educate "your child." Emphasize that the money will go directly to pay for that professor, instead of the college's general fund. Since many of the parents of business students are in business and have money, the college might get added funds, especially if you emphasize that hiring a qualified professor might not happen otherwise.
With rumors that other professors could soon retire, it might be good policy to formalize the wages the college will offer to future business professors. Peg it to the average that schools with good business departments pay for their professorial talent.
The business students grumble that the college administration does not value the business department as highly as the humanities departments. This was evidenced in the comments of business students in the Nov. 8 Collegian article, "Business department searches for new professor."
"I do think we could gain a lot by buffing up the business program," one business student said.
The administrators in Moss Hall can prove their esteem for the department by courting a highly qualified business professor.
Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Matt Schonert
posted 11/16/07 @ 10:44 AM EST
Although it is true that qualified business professors may earn annual salaries exceeding $150,000 in industry positions and that these opportunities may attract professors away from the teaching profession, Hillsdale College need not offer a numerically equal wage to attract and retain business professors. (Continued…)
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