The NIU Task Force is evaluating faculty salaries to see if there are any salary, equity or rank issues on the basis of gender or ethnicity within departments.

The task force, initiated a year ago, is a group of about 15 members and is primarily made up of faculty and college representatives appointed by the provost, said Steve Cunningham, associate vice president for administration and human resources and co-chair of the task force.

The task force was prompted by the presidential commission to research on the status of women and minorities at NIU, Cunningham said.

The organization is divided into two subgroups. The qualitative review deals with faculty, environment, faculty workplace, college resources and different work/life experiences. The quantitative review deals with faculty salaries considering gender and ethnicity, break, merit, regression analysis programs, histories and disciplinary aspects of compensation, Cunningham said.

“I’ve been very impressed by the scope, detail and amount of analysis done by both working groups,” Cunningham said.

Salaries for both male and female professors are slowly increasing, said Lucy Townsend, professor of leadership, educational psychology and foundations.

Townsend said she read in an online article that in recent years the gap between male and female salaries in higher education has increased.

“Men continue to earn more,” Townsend said.

In addition to degrees received by the professors, Townsend said the number of years at NIU, promotion and tenure also are used to determine the salaries of male and female professors. She said higher salary offers from other institutions is taken into consideration because sometimes NIU will match offers.

Amy Levin, director of women’s studies and the chair of the multicultural curriculum transformation task force, also said women’s salaries are lower.

“Women are just beginning to make strides and are therefore clustered at the lower ranks of the professorate,” Levin said.

Other responsibilities and restraints also affect the salaries of female professors.

“Since household and childcare responsibilities still fall primarily on women in the U.S., many female professors find themselves with less time for research than their male peers,” Levin said.

Cunningham said the task force’s next step will be to bring both the quantitative and qualitative review groups together for a discussion. He said the process will probably be completed toward the end of the academic year. When all is complete, the provost will receive a report.