The Daily Advance today reports on a hot button subject for faculty members at Elizabeth City State University – salary and its role in morale and retention.
According to a recent survey conducted by the provost’s office, nearly 60 percent of faculty indicated pay as the primary reason for their departure, and 78 percent of remaining faculty indicate dissatisfaction with earnings as a motivator for seeking other work opportunities.
The survey results come as university officials are looking to ask professors to increase their student advising weekly commitment from an average of seven hours per week to 10, in an effort to increase student success and engagement. According to leaders, the salary issue is one that remains at the forefront of discussions with the University of North Carolina System.
Conway said he thinks that over the years the assumption in the university system has been that the cost of living is lower in Elizabeth City because it’s in a rural area.
But Conway said Elizabeth City also is close to other colleges and universities in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, so “we live in a tough neighborhood” and need to offer competitive salaries.
Also, there might not have always been effective advocacy for ECSU faculty salaries in the past, but “we intend to fix that,” Conway said.
ECSU this fall posted its first enrollment increase in seven years, and was removed from accreditation warning by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges.
