Faculty Rewards: The Comprehensive College and University Story

Abstract

National survey data of department chairs in comprehensive colleges and universities demonstrate the high value placed on teaching and institutional service at these institutions, and the relatively unimportant role of research productivity. These findings are consistent with the undergraduate and masters-level professional education for which comprehensives are known. National survey data of full-time, tenure-track faculty salaries in comprehensives, however, indicate that the values reinforced through compensation are research and publishing, not teaching. The article discusses consequences of this contradiction, particularly mfor administrators who mmake decisions about faculty pay.