For the first time in two years, NIU faculty members can expect a salary increase because of a two-step program adopted last week by the Board of Regents which will utilize additional funding from the Illinois legislature.

John Pembroke, Regents vice-chancellor, said the Regents are taking care of the present and planning for next year.

For fiscal year 1989, which began July 1, all employees of the Regency system (NIU, Illinois State University and Sangamon State University) will receive a six percent merit increase. Employees who were part of the Regency system in FY87 will get an additional salary adjustment of two percent in addition to the six percent general raise.

The increases are possible due to an additional $65 million allocated for higher education by the Ilinois General Assembly last month, Pembroke said. He added that the Regency system’s share amounted to almost $8 million.

The Regents also are planning to raise salaries for Regency employees another 10 percent for FY90. The 10 percent increase is being planned for in advance and with hopes that there will be additional state funding budgeted for higher education in 1989, Pembroke said.

At its July 21 meeting, the Regents adopted Chancellor Roderick Groves’ recommendation that Regency employees be given a 10 percent salary increase and a two percent raise in fringe benefits.

Illinois faculty “is of very high quality and warrants appropriate compensation,” Groves said.

Lois Self, vice president of the NIU chapter of University Professionals of Illinois, said she was encouraged by the Regents’ efforts and the increase. However, she said it is necessary “to look at the big picture.

“The Board (of Regents) could have taken a better position with the state earlier,” Self said. “Then we might have seen more.”

The increase breaks down to about a four percent increase each year for the last two years, Self said, noting that there was no increase for faculty members in 1987.