News

Testimony of Dan Bernstine, PSU President, before the Education Subcommittee of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, March 8, 2005 

Chair Devlin and members of the Education Subcommittee, I am Daniel Bernstine, President of Portland State University. It is often said that students are the heart of the University and that faculty are the soul of the University. Today I want to talk about our soul –the OUS faculty who teach, do research, and are engaged in service throughout the State of Oregon.

I am here representing faculty members throughout Oregon who challenge and encourage students, who make contributions to their communities, who are key to Oregon’s economic sustainability, and who affect Oregon’s national and international reputation.

I am here representing faculty members like:

• Ewart Baldwin, who is an emeritus professor of geology, in his 58^th year at the University of Oregon, who just this last weekend received an award naming him the Outstanding Scientist in Oregon;

• Karen Dixon, a new associate professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University;

• Bob Turner, associate professor of Biology and Director of Honors program at WOU;

• Linda Jerofke, professor of Anthropology at EOU whose research has focused on hunger and how the study of anthropology and sociology can incorporate service activities into the classroom;
  

• Michael Parker, associate professor of biology at Southern Oregon University who teaches freshwater ecology;

• Roger Lindgren, assistant professor of engineering and geomatics at OIT who does research work on transportation issues in conjunction with the PSU faculty in our Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory; and finally,

• Sherry Cady, associate professor of geology at PSU who does research work on life in extreme environments and was recognized by Time Magazine as an innovator in science.

These are just a few examples of the nearly 3,400 faculty who teach our students, engage in cutting edge research, and make substantial contributions to their disciplines and communities every day. The faculty are the key to the OUS reputation nationally, they are key to our ability to recruit and retain highly talented students, and they are key to new innovations, to new discoveries, to new products, and economic development opportunities.

That is why I am passionate about this topic: Investment in faculty is an investment in excellence.

OUS Faculty have gone without any significant investments in salaries for the last two years. On some campuses, raises have been scarce since 2001. What does this mean for our ability to attract and retain faculty? It means that compensation has not kept pace with the cost of living, nor has compensation been able to match what others are offering. Both of these factors send a message to faculty that it will be hard to get ahead in Oregon. Consider housing in Portland alone. The average cost of a home in Portland was up last year by about 10 percent. While that means the faculty who have already purchased homes are benefiting, it also means those who are new to the area or being recruited may have a difficult time affording a mortgage.

The result of Oregon’s lack of investment in faculty has put our universities at risk. In the past, we have been able to balance health care and retirement benefits – and quality of life – with salary and thus have competed favorably against other states by selling the overall compensation package. However, we have lost ground in that area. When you consider the total compensation packages for faculty and compare them against peer institutions…the reports are disheartening….PSU is 9^th out of our ten designated peers; UO is 9^th out of 9; and OSU is 7^th out of 8. There isn’t much in the chart about faculty competition in the marketplace that would give a prospective or current faculty member much hope.

As outlined by the consequences listed above, the result of the lack of investment in faculty salaries and hiring is clear on all of our campuses. I want to address one consequence that is particularly challenging on my campus. The overall lack of investment in faculty is confounded by a severe compression problem – that means that we are hiring new faculty at salaries equal to or above faculty who have served the university with distinction….that problem was exacerbated this past biennium, when the Legislature adopted a budget note mandating a faculty salary freeze.

What does this mean for faculty retention and recruitment? It means we are losing highly talented faculty, it means searches sometimes don’t result in hires, and it means lost ground – for our departments and for our students – in achieving the levels of excellence needed to meet the workforce needs of Oregon’s knowledge economy.

Let’s consider the facts about the real costs associated with our current salary levels.

Just last week I received an email from the University of Oregon indicating that one of its distinguished faculty, George Sugai is leaving to accept an endowed chair position at the University of Connecticut. In the past two years Sugai has secured grant funding in excess of $5M. Professor Sugai will almost double his salary and receive $50K in direct research support from the University in addition.

At Oregon State University, in 2003-04, the faculty leaving that institution for better paying positions took over $10 million in research funding with them.

At Portland State University we have had our share of faculty leaving for better paying positions elsewhere. Just this term I was notified that one of our assistant professors in the School of Business Administration has taken a position at another university that offered more money. Two years ago, we lost an English Professor who left a position that paid about $41,000 for a position that paid $85,000 at Cornell. That same year we lost two faculty members in the College of Urban and Public Affairs for positions that paid substantially more money. Some of our faculty who are leaving for other positions, report it isn’t based just the initial salary they are offered, but instead it is the potential for receiving consistent raises based on their annual contributions to students and the campus. In addition to the faculty on tenure track positions, we have also lost fixed-term instructional and research faculty for positions that pay substantially more money.

Another aspect of the faculty salary challenge is the ability of the institutions to recruit outstanding candidates for vacant positions, including key leadership positions. At PSU, in the last three years, we have had three failed searches for dean-level positions. In two of the three instances we lost our first candidate because of inability to compete with salary requirements. In one search we were unable to meet the salary demands of any of the top three candidates. We have since reopened that search and have hopes for a successful completion this year. This year alone, we have lost first choice candidates due to salary in six searches.

The experience is similar at all the OUS institutions. When the most sought-after faculty start leaving an institution, other faculty will follow. Faculty want to be associated with the best faculty groups and highly respected programs. One great faculty member lost for salary reasons may turn into a sequence of lost opportunities.

So, how do we change this downward spiral? How do we refocus our efforts on excellence and opportunity? We need a new investment strategy for faculty and for higher education.

The first step is to adopt the Governor’s recommended budget that eliminates the salary freeze, includes minimal increases in compensation, and establishes a $1 million fund to assist in recruiting and retaining faculty. Although this package will not solve the problem, it makes a very strong statement that our seasons of disinvestments are over and that the state recognizes the importance of investing in faculty.

If the Legislature adopts this package, and it joins a partnership with the institutions to address the salary package, and we begin a new day – one where can look to the future – and you are giving my colleagues and me hope. We know the problem won’t be resolved in one year; we know we have to be partners with you in securing private funding to help with faculty salary packages; and we know, in the end, some faculty will leave us…because they can get more money, because they will have different opportunities (some in the private sector) and some will leave for family reasons.

Your support for the Governor’s budget means we will have a new opportunity and hope for the future in attracting the best faculty to Oregon, and toward encouraging those who are here to stay.

Thank you for this opportunity to talk about an issue that is crucial to the success of Oregon’s higher education institutions.