The College awards endowed chairs more than twice the enrichment funds of its peer institutions, including those that award bonuses, according to findings from the Sept. 2010 Ad-Hoc Committee on Faculty Compensation. Endowed chairs are becoming more numerous but less lucrative, according to the College report. Following a recommendation by the Faculty Council, Old Chapel will reduce enrichment funds and bonuses for endowed chairs and redirect the money towards junior faculty beginning next academic year. While the cost in the past has been much smaller, it currently takes $2.5 million to endow a chair.
“I’m going to lose about $3,000 next year,” said A. Barton Hepburn Professor of History Paul Monod. The sum reflects the reduction of a bonus, which will be reduced from $5,000 to $3,000 and a reduction in professional enrichment funds, which will be reduced from $6,000 to $5,000. Enrichment funds are used for research, field trips and projects with students.
Monod, who is also the Secretary of the Faculty Council, explained not only are there many more endowed chairs than in the past, but they are also better funded.
“Before the 1990s, endowed chairs had little to no bonus,” Monod said. “Then, interest collected on the endowments began to outpace the salaries of the chaired professors ... Historically I don’t think we had more endowed chairs than other institutions … the growth in has been a feature of the last 10 to 15 years,” he said. Currently, the College has more endowed chairs than any of its peer institutions.
Monod, who supported the decision to decrease the stipends, also applauded the endowed chair program in general.
“The endowed chair funds have operated more or less as they are supposed to .... Those who don't have them can aspire to them … We may have been a little over generous with them, and [with this reduction] we’ve tried to address that.”
Addressing generous bonuses for senior faculty is linked to the issue of trimmer salaries for junior faculty. The interest earned on endowed chair does not have to go to the professors that hold them, but administrators and professors feel strongly that it should be directed toward professors’ salaries. According to the Faculty Compensation Committee report, the funds should be “redeploy[ed] to support compensation increases for faculty at more competitive [...] stages of their careers.”
“The expectation for [this money] is that we will be redirecting it to offer more competitive salaries and more support for faculty at other ranks,” said Dean of Faculty Jim Ralph, who oversees the enrichment program. Ralph holds the Rehnquist Chair of American History & Culture.
“Middlebury pays the faculty in a fair way, but not in an exceptional way I think that the College has not settled on [faculty compensation]. But I think the College is trying,” said Assistant Professor of Spanish Juan Gamero de Coca. As for endowed chairs, “In this business we need always to have the motivation [they are] a way to recognize excellence” she said.
Old Chapel will be spreading the motivation to other areas of the curriculum that previously did not have endowed chairs. According to Monod and other faculty, one of the strategies of Old Chapel has been to persuade donors to endow chairs that can cover multiple departments. Examples from this year include Professor of Dance Andrea Olsen, who holds the John C. Elder Professorship of Environmental Studies and Professor of Geology Ray Coish, the Churchill Professorship in Geosciences.
“We’re in a good spot. I’m glad we have this many endowed professorships … This is one way to acknowledge and support their work … It has been serving the institution well.”
Endowed chairs earn more than their peers
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