Annual Merit Increase

University and SPS guidelines concerning annual salary adjustments for full-time continuing contract faculty for the coming year are set forth below. Also provided is the criteria to be used to evaluate performance and in determining individual salary increases. For academic year 2022-2023, the School has allocated a pool of 4% for salary increases for faculty and administrators; SPS has set aside .5% of this pool to recognize extraordinary merit.

 

Guidelines for Faculty:

The criteria for evaluating faculty should conform to SPS's Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion, and Grievance (ARP) Policy Guidelines. The ARP Policy specifies three areas of faculty responsibility:

  • Teaching: including but not limited to: developing, creating, and teaching new courses; developing curricula; program review or revision; and advising, including supervising independent studies and internships;
  • Service and Administration: these are key components of faculty engagement and all faculty are expected to contribute to these areas. For faculty whose responsibilities are primarily administrative, greater weight will be given to performance in this area;
  • Scholarly Work, Creative Production, and Professional Activity: Professional engagement includes a range of activities that may strengthen a faculty member's professional profile, further fields of knowledge, enhance teaching excellence, and/or advance the mission of SPS.

For those faculty members whose performance was exceptionally praiseworthy, recommendations of 3.5% or above may be requested, with required written justification. These recommendations will be evaluated by the Dean to ensure that they fall within the range of the overall pool.

For those who have had problems meeting specific objectives and have been evaluated accordingly, an increase of 0-2.0% should be expected and should be supported with a written rationale.

Process:

  • Each full-time faculty member is asked to submit an Annual Faculty Activity Report to their Associate Dean, which addresses each of the criteria outlined above. Based on the Faculty Activity Report, Associate Deans submit salary recommendations to the Dean for review and final approval. There is no salary review committee at SPS.
  • Once SPS has received approval of the AMI submission, electronic letters are generated and e-mailed out to full-time faculty in advance of the start of the new academic year, typically early August. The letters will include language directing faculty to the SPS website where they can find the guidelines for faculty AMI's.