To higher education officials, faculty is the very heart of quality. "You associate access with enrollment. Quality is associated with faculty," said Wm. Rolfe Kerr, commissioner of higher education.

Utah's nine schools face a double-headed problem with faculty - supply and salaries.In the 1990s, the graying of the nation's professors will lead to a wave of retirements nationwide. But there is a dwindling supply to fill the vacancies because potentially good teachers are continually lured into private industry, instead of doctoral programs, by promises of more lucrative careers.

"There is emerging a sense of not panic yet but major anxiety over the availability of future faculty," Kerr said.

Actually, the faculty shortage has already hit in certain fields. A study by the American Council on Education reports a growing shortage of qualified faculty in computer science, business, mathematics, health and engineering. Another joint study by Oxford University-Princeton University researchers predicts a severe shortage in arts and sciences between 1997 and 2002, with only seven faculty candidates for every 10 faculty openings.

Higher education officials stress that such national statistics are significant for Utah colleges since faculty are hired in a national or regional marketplace.

In Utah, the supply problem is exacerbated by low salaries. A study for the State Board of Regents showed that Utah faculty salaries are 20 percent or more below their peers elsewhere.

In the past four years, Utah faculty salaries have risen an average of 3.2 percent per year, while nationally salaries have gone up 5.6 percent a year. However, most of the increases in professors' salaries have come from cannibalization. The institutions cut programs and positions to get money for pay raises.

College and university officials say low pay causes problems in retaining, as well as recruiting, faculty.

- USU lost only 10 faculty members to other employment in 1983-84, but lost that many in July and August of this year alone. Last year, 38 left the Logan school for other jobs.

"To capture, and keep, the kind of people we want, we don't have the salary levels necessary. We made three offers for one position (in business), but all turned us down and went to lesser institutions for higher salaries and better resources," said USU President Stanford Cazier.

- The U. Math Department sought to fill four vacancies, but no one accepted the U.'s offers. Five other senior faculty have resigned or announced their intentions to resign. Now, nine of 43 faculty positions are vacant. With a national shortage of university mathematicians, the U. has become known as a place to raid because of its low salaries, a faculty member said.

- President Douglas Alder of Dixie College reports losing faculty to Nevada junior and senior high schools that offer higher salaries than Dixie.

- Snow College advertised for an engineering instructor. There were no qualified applicants.

- Every one of the nine institutions has advertised for faculty and then had viable candidates withdraw when they learned the salary levels.

"If you pay a lousy wage, you not only lose the best, you lose everyone who is portable," said President Kerry D. Romesburg of Utah Valley Community College.

The regents will ask the Legislature for a 7 percent increase in faculty-staff salaries, and U. President Chase N. Peterson will urge lawmakers to commit to a three-to-five year plan to achieve market parity. The governor has recommended a 6 percent compensation package (4 percent salaries and 2 percent benefits) to all state workers, including faculty, while holding out a carrot of more salary money if state revenue estimates are better in February.

To fill vacancies and keep classes open, as well as to add classes to accommodate enrollment growth, all schools, but particularly the smaller ones, increasingly rely on adjunct professors, professionals from the community who usually teach an evening class after they get off work.

President O.D. Carnahan of Salt Lake Community College said the growing percentage of adjunct professors cheats the students. Adjuncts aren't there for counseling, out-of-class student contacts or work on college/university committees.

Added Kerr: "A certain number of adjuncts is okay, but you can diminish the overall experience if you have too many part-timers. It strikes at quality. They may be very qualified in the classroom, but overall student-faculty exchange is not there."

*****

(CHART)

Utah's faculty salaries

Figures are in 1988-89 dollar values of equal purchasing power

School Difference from Difference from

nat'l average peers*

1981 1989 1981 1989

University of Utah -$500 -$6,100 -$2,700 $8,400

Utah State University -$5,100 -$11,600 -$3,800 -$10,600

Weber State College -$2,300 -$9,000 -$1,600 -$8,900

Southern Utah State College -$4,000 -$10,300 -$2,800 -$10,200

Snow College $2,800 -$4,900 -$3,200 -$7,600

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Dixie College $4,100 -$5,400 -$1,400 -$8,600

College of Eastern Utah $2,700 -$6,000 -$2,400 -$8,700

Utah Valley Community College $3,400 -$3,600 -$4,600 -$6,800

Salt Lake Community College $3,400 -$5,600 -$5,100 -$8,700

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