Compensation
Boston University is committed to faculty salaries that are merit-based and market-driven.
Merit based:
All faculty members undergo an annual merit review and salary increases are apportioned on the basis of the outcome of the review. Although the form of this review varies from school to school, faculty members should expect at least one face-to-face annual meeting with a direct supervisor to discuss professional progress and compensation, as well as subsequent feedback on the outcome of the merit-review process. General guidelines for the evaluation of merit are included in the Faculty Handbook and each school also publishes school-specific expectations for faculty on the school website.
Market-driven:
The headings below are links for resources that faculty members can use to compare their own salary to those of peers both within and outside the University. Some of these resources are publicly available, while others are restricted and require a BU username and Kerberos password. Suggestions are always welcome for additional databases that could be linked to this site. Although there is a great deal of information available on the web about individual faculty salaries at public institutions, much less is available for private institutions comparable to Boston University.
Boston University Charles River Campus Faculty Salaries: The 9-month average salaries for the past year and the current year are displayed by school, rank and gender on the Faculty Council website. This information is restricted to Boston University faculty members. This is a once-a-year snapshot of CRC faculty salaries in October. Please go to the Faculty Council website.
University Salaries in the US (excludes Medical School salaries) from the AAUP: These are 9-month average salaries reported by rank for over 1200 institutions. These data are published each Spring by the Chronicle for Higher Education. They lag the BU data reported above, and the data requested by AAUP from BU includes some faculty salaries not included in the internal CRC data.
Medical School Salaries: The AAMC reports total 12-month compensation including salary from medical practice for clinical faculty. The data are presented for Private vs. Public schools, Region of the Country, MD vs. PhD, Basic Science vs. Clinical departments and Rank. Mean, median and 25th and 75th percentile salaries are reported. The annual report is available for purchase from the AAMC, but faculty at BUMC have free electronic access to the report. This is for personal use only and may not be disseminated in any form. Please use this link: AAMC Salaries
Business School Salaries: The AACSB publishes an annual faculty salary survey with detailed information on business school faculty and administrative salaries by rank/position, field, and accreditation status. The full report is available for purchase from the AACSB, but faculty at Boston University have free access to these data by contacting the Questrom Dean’s Office.
Computer Science and Computer Engineering Salaries: The Computing Research Association (CRA) publishes mean, median, minimum and maximum faculty salaries in Computer Science and Computer Engineering Departments, divided by rank, years in rank, tenure and non-tenure track appointments. The survey is called the Taulbee Survey. It usually is about 2 years behind the present.
Mathematics Salaries: The American Mathematical Society (AMS) collects and publishes average faculty salaries in colleges and universities that offer degrees in the mathematical sciences, including mathematics and statistics. The data are broken down by Public and Private institutions and by National Research Council (NRC) rankings, as well as by faculty rank.
Physics Salaries: The American Institute of Physics (AIP) reports average faculty salaries on their website. The data are not updated very often, but you can find their most recent data at the AIP site.
Psychology Salaries: Salary data for faculty in schools with a graduate program in Psychology are collected by the American Psychological Association (APA). These data are available by region of the country, rank, years in service, and separate departments with a Doctoral program from those with a Master’s program.
Sociology Salaries: The American Sociological Association (ASA) publishes average faculty salaries by rank.