Campus-based Equity Plan

Context

After consulting with Cal State L.A.’s CFA representatives and the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate, President William A.Covino has announced that Cal State L.A. will be implementing its campus-based equity plan for tenured and tenure-track (T/TT) faculty retroactive to January 5, 2015.

Over the past year, Cal State L.A. has awarded $3.5 million in compensation increases to T/TT faculty and lecturers, including a general salary increase (GSI), Salary Recovery Adjustments, Lecturer Salary Corrections, and System-wide Equity awards.  Of these increases, approximately $2 million went to lecturers with the remaining $1.5 million going to tenure-track faculty. With this in mind, our campus-based equity plan is focused on tenure-track faculty who are in the lower salary range of each rank.

Criteria and Impact

Retroactive to January 5, 2015, we have established minimum salaries for assistant professors ($65,000), for associate professors ($74,000), and for full professors ($84,000). We will also adjust salary for years in rank, adding an additional 1.25% per year of completed service, up to 5% or the SSI maximum. 

The SSI maximum for each rank is as follows:
Assistant Professor: $64,644
Associate Professor: $81,480
Full Professor: $89,412

As a result of this plan, 160 T/TT faculty will benefit from these equity increases, which we expect will be reflected in August 2015 paychecks. The distribution of equity awards across faculty ranks includes 32 assistant professors, 62 associate professors, and 66 full professors (or equivalent T/TT library or student health center counselor ranks).

The cost of this equity program is about $665,000, with the average equity award being $3,175 (not including benefits). Implementation of this equity program will bring total faculty compensation increases in 2014-15 to over $4.1 million, or about 1.7% of the campus operating fund.