UIUC Employment Followup

In a followup of yesterday's Education Roundup post, there were a couple additional stories today that bear on the employment plan discussed at the UIUC Board of Trustee meeting in it. From yesterday's News-Gazette on the potential retention crisis:

Is UI faculty 'retention crisis' looming?
As the University of Illinois gears up to hire hundreds of new faculty, the head of a faculty advisory group warned trustees Thursday about a potential faculty "retention crisis" because of stagnating pay and retirement benefits.

Ranjan Karri, associate professor in the UI Springfield's College of Business and Management and a member of the University Senates Conference, said the number of tenure-system faculty is on the decline even as non-tenure track faculty ranks have risen by 5 percent over the past 19 years. In all, 44 percent of UI faculty are now non-tenure track, including 36 percent at the Urbana campus, he said.

Adjusting for inflation, average salaries for full professors are 2 percent below 2013 levels at the Urbana campus, he said, and flat for associate or assistant professors there.

The UI provided no raises in 2016, a 2 percent midyear salary program in 2017 and 1 percent this year.

The retirement system adds another challenge, he said. Faculty members hired since 2011 are part of the state's "Tier 2" pension system, which is far less generous than the plan covering more senior employees.

"Retention and morale of existing faculty across the system needs some specific attention, to avoid a two-class system among faculty," Karri said.

Full article here.

And today on an employment agreement with State Universities Civil Service System on other academic professional jobs at the university:

Deal may impact UI jobs
Some University of Illinois academic professionals could see their jobs reclassified into civil service positions in coming months under state rules that take effect in October.

After years of wrangling, Illinois public universities have reached an agreement with the State Universities Civil Service System on new criteria for exempting certain positions from civil service rules.

The changes will affect only new hires at first, starting Oct. 1, said Deb Stone, director of UI academic human resources.

But over time, current employees could see their job titles reclassified as the civil service system audits universities' compliance every two years, officials said.

It's unclear how many of the hundreds of administrative-oriented academic professional jobs on campus might ultimately be affected, but Stone said the number could be "significant."

The two sides have argued for years about whether some academic professional positions — those that don't have a teaching or research component — should be exempted from civil service requirements. 

That full article here. More information from the University's website here.