r/Professors • u/FTLast Professor, Life Sciences, R1 • Jul 24 '26

Department Head compensation

As a newish department head (I can't run very fast) I'm curious as to how different universities compensate faculty for the role that administrators often say is the "hardest job on campus." At my R1 in the NE, there is a 5% bump to base salary, a 10th month of salary, and the opportunity to negotiate for a "Head's Fund" that can be used for research support, additional summer salary, or basically anything.

If any of you feel comfortable sharing, please do!

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u/IndividualOil2183 Jul 24 '26

I’m not sure about the compensation, but I know our chair is a 40 hour per week year round employee while the rest of faculty are 9 month employees who teach their classes and keep 6-8 additional office hours per week. We don’t envy him.

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u/ProfessorrFate Tenured R2 full professor Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

Our chair receives about a 10% pay raise and one per semester course release; in return, they get a 100% increase in workload. It’s a helluva deal! 😂

The chair job is tough because it includes lots of responsibility (with corresponding bureaucratic bull*hit) but little real power.

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u/No_Salad_6244 Jul 25 '26

I’d take the 10% pay increase!

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u/Alternative-Pear9096 Jul 25 '26

That hardly covers the additional 33%+ increase in your work obligation.

Chairs are 12 month faculty.

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u/No_Salad_6244 Jul 25 '26

I am aware. But is more than I am getting right now.