NIU’s College of Business teamed with the office of NIU Provost Kendall Baker in giving salary increases totaling $20,000 to NIU accountancy faculty this semester.

At least five accountancy faculty members were awarded pay increases this semester to “respond to the needs of faculty members and the reputation” of NIU’s nationally-acclaimed accountancy department, Baker said.

The $20,000 in accountancy salary increases is tacked onto a six percent merit salary increase approved in July by the Board of Regents for all NIU employees. Faculty employed with NIU since fiscal year 1987 or before received an extra two percent salary increase in addition to the six percent general raise.

“Several faculty members who had been on the (job) market had received offers to go to other institutions,” he said. These offers included major increases in salary.

Baker said the accountancy faculty would have taken the positions offered at other schools “if NIU didn’t try to make some effort to adjust the salaries of these people.”

NIU has lost more than 35 tenure-track faculty members because of an inability to meet competitive salaries offered to NIU faculty by other schools, he said.

Richard Brown, NIU College of Business dean, said the salary of each NIU accountancy faculty member ranges from $10,000 to $22,000 below the current market salary. “We will never be able to catch up (to other schools),” he said.

“We can’t adjust the market—we are looking at those (faculty) we have to have and who we can’t do without,” Brown said.

“They are clearly highly marketable,” Baker said. All but one of the accountancy faculty who received pay raises are full professors.

John Smith, NIU accountancy department chairman, refused to comment on the issues of personnel or salary.

Baker said other departments in the College of Business also have increased salaries to keep their faculty at NIU.