Site Index

Budget Committee
April 2001

The September Merit Pool Report
was presented at the September 18 Faculty Senate meeting based on data provided through Ray Hamilton, Director of the Office of Budget and Finance. Some issues regarding the allocation of $293,000 for salary counter offers was never fully explored.

Report on Faculty Salaries
was prepared for presentation at the May 7th Faculty Senate Meeting through the assistance of Toby Boulet. This annual report was initiated by the Senate in a resolution passed on April 3, 2000 which charges the committee to prepare an annual assessment of UT faculty salaries in relation to salaries in the (SUG) Southern University Group. This year our data also included UT Salaries relative to our THEC peers and Top 25 public universities. Our salary data also showed both median and mean salaries for UTK by rank and unit, the number of faculty in each unit, and a ratio of change in salaries from 1999-2000. UTK data was provided through Donald Cunningham of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, and is based on the October 2000 payroll. Data for the SUG, THEC and Top 25 is based on 1999 salaries, and does not include median salaries. In retrospect, it would have been possible for the Budget Committee to assemble this data earlier in the academic year from presentation to the Senate.

Living Wage Resolution
was presented, amended and adopted by the Faculty Senate on March 5, 2001. The committee spent the bulk of its time this year researching this topic, consulting with Alan Chesney, Director of Human Resources, Phil Scheurer, Vice Present of Operations and Faculty involved in the Living Wage Campaign. Several documents were posted to the senate web site. These included a UT Living Wage Fact Sheet and a study of UT wages for hourly workers. Through the assistance of Alan Chesney, we were also able to formulate costs for implementing the Living Wage on campus.

Task Force on Contingent Employees
was represented on our committee by Mark Hedrick, who provided reports on the progress of the task force for many of our meetings.

Budget Committee Charge for 2001-2002
will include a repeat of our Annual Faculty Salary Wage Study and follow-up on the Living Wage Resolution focusing on the costs and benefits of outsourcing and other aspects of privatization on campus.