Towson's faculty pay gap leaves lecturers wanting more
By Brandan Rogowski
When Jenny Atwater left her job as a television news reporter 15 years ago and joined Towson University’s Mass Communication Department -- first as an adjunct, then as a lecturer -- she wasn’t sure what her future was going to hold.
“I’m not sure I knew it was going to be the rest of my life but it’s been worth it for me,” Atwater said. “I wanted to teach, I love my students and I also wanted to be home with my kids. So to me, I’m willing to put up with the really low salary because it gives you both of those things.”
Lecturers -- full-time faculty members who teach without the prospect of tenure -- make an average of $54,543 at Towson, according to an analysis of Maryland public employee data. That's compared to a fully tenured TU professor who earns an average of $96,673.
“The frustrating thing for lecturers is there is no way to advance," Atwater said. "I became a lecturer 12 years ago and I’m still just a lecturer. They have ways that adjuncts can advance but they’ve never given any thought to having lecturers advance and then get pay increases that way.”
Atwater said it's time for lecturers to be compensated at higher levels.
“I just think Towson really needs to look at the lecturer position because we’re thought of as temporary, filling-the-gap kind of professors or teachers, and I mean I’ve been here 12 years as a lecturer. I don’t think that’s temporary,” Atwater said. “Towson really needs to revisit our treatment and our pay and our advancement.”
Lecturers at many institutions are the lowest paid full-time faculty members. Towson, like many other institutions, pays tenure-track faculty at higher rates, with chances for salary advancement as they go from assistant to perhaps associate and full professors.
Rank isn't the only area in which the pay gap exists. Male educators at Towson make on average $7,363.49 more than female educators, and there are many potential reasons to explain that disparity -- including the higher share of male faculty members who are tenured.
“There’s probably about 50 variables that you have to look at to try and tease out the equality of people’s salaries so it’s really, really complex,” said Dr. Debbie Seeberger, assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion at Towson. “On the surface when you look just broadly, it might appear one way but you really have to do an analysis of all those other factors to understand it.”
The only title in which women make more than men is at assistant professor, the first step to becoming a tenured professor. In this role, women earn $72,925.93 compared to $70,951.61 for men.
Seeberger suggested that this shows the changing times at Towson in that there are more incoming female professors.
Rank isn't the only area in which the pay gap exists. Male educators at Towson make on average $7,363.49 more than female educators, and there are many potential reasons to explain that disparity -- including the higher share of male faculty members who are tenured.
“There’s probably about 50 variables that you have to look at to try and tease out the equality of people’s salaries so it’s really, really complex,” said Dr. Debbie Seeberger, assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion at Towson. “On the surface when you look just broadly, it might appear one way but you really have to do an analysis of all those other factors to understand it.”
The only title in which women make more than men is at assistant professor, the first step to becoming a tenured professor. In this role, women earn $72,925.93 compared to $70,951.61 for men.
Seeberger suggested that this shows the changing times at Towson in that there are more incoming female professors.
When it comes to academic degree, women with a master's degree make about $6,000 more than men with the same level of education, though that’s a sample size of only 59 females and 15 males. At the terminal degree level, men make approximately $7,000 more than women.
Atwater knows that going back to school for her Ph.D. might give her a salary boost, but doing that isn't in her plans.
“For me, my interest is the practice of journalism more than the study of journalism,” Atwater said. “If I were to do anything it would be to leave teaching and to go back to reporting or something else.”
Atwater said some of the gender wage gap could be reduced by allowing lecturers to advance.
Atwater knows that going back to school for her Ph.D. might give her a salary boost, but doing that isn't in her plans.
“For me, my interest is the practice of journalism more than the study of journalism,” Atwater said. “If I were to do anything it would be to leave teaching and to go back to reporting or something else.”
Atwater said some of the gender wage gap could be reduced by allowing lecturers to advance.
The wage gap also exists in many academic fields. Not surprisingly, faculty in business and high-tech fields (business administration, e-business, accounting, computer science) are among the highest paid, while those in communications and education are among the lowest paid.
This trend is nationwide, as the opportunity cost for faculty in fields like business, computer science and health fields is high -- meaning that they could earn significant salaries on the non-academic job market.
“It’s very difficult to get nursing professors because they can make so much money out in the field,” Seeberger said. “I understand faculty members in education would like to make as much as faculty members in marketing but it’s kind of out of our hands because it’s what the drive is for it out there nationally.”
This trend is nationwide, as the opportunity cost for faculty in fields like business, computer science and health fields is high -- meaning that they could earn significant salaries on the non-academic job market.
“It’s very difficult to get nursing professors because they can make so much money out in the field,” Seeberger said. “I understand faculty members in education would like to make as much as faculty members in marketing but it’s kind of out of our hands because it’s what the drive is for it out there nationally.”
In some academic departments, the faculty gender gap is stark
By Natalie Jeffery
Cassidy Pawliczek, an elementary education student at Towson University, has become accustomed to her classrooms being filled with women — both peers and professors. This was not the type of environment that initially led Cassidy to pursue a career in education. Eleven years ago Cassidy sat in her fifth-grade classroom looking up to a male teacher who later inspired her to become an elementary educator.
“He made me more interested in subjects I wasn’t very fond of before,” Pawliczek said. “He made me enjoy going to school much more as well as learning.”
Mr. Kritz, Pawliczek’s teacher, changed her classroom experience. He was one of the first teachers she had who emphasized the ability to make learning an interactive experience.
“We took a field trip to Williamsburg and Jamestown in Virginia and got to learn more about the American Revolution and the Virginia colony,” Pawliczek said. “We also got to build our own protective fort with different materials and had to explain our strategy and why this would be an effective form of shelter.”
While Mr. Kritz had a lasting impression on Pawliczek, he was the only male teacher she had in elementary school. And that's far from rare.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, during the 2015-2016 year, male teachers only represented 11 percent of elementary school educators while women represented 89 percent.
An analysis of data from Towson University's website found that male elementary education professors who are tenured or on the tenure track represent 28 percent of the department -- among the lowest percentage of all departments across the university.
However, female professors are represented at Towson University at a greater rate than the national average. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 43 percent of professors are female nationwide. Among TU's tenure-track faculty, 53 percent are women.
Dr. Debra Seeberger, assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion at Towson, confirmed that women are not underrepresented among faculty members. Towson is striving to have the ratio of male-to-female faculty members match the student ratio, which is roughly 60 percent female, 40 percent male.
Dr. Debra Seeberger, assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion at Towson, confirmed that women are not underrepresented among faculty members. Towson is striving to have the ratio of male-to-female faculty members match the student ratio, which is roughly 60 percent female, 40 percent male.
As of 2016, TU's representation of women in the College of Business and Economics was almost 36 percent whereas the national average for women in this field was roughly 30 percent. For science and math, TU's representation is almost 39 percent and the national average is 31 percent, according to Seeberger.
In 2015, Seeberger created the Diversity Faculty Fellows Program at Towson University as a way for professors to diversify curriculum and institutional practices. An economics professor who is participating in the fellowship this upcoming year has a goal to increase female faculty in the economics department due to its gender imbalance.
Seeberger said that she believes this is a goal everyone in the College of Business and Economics would like to achieve.
As of 2018, female professors are least represented in the College of Business and Economics at Towson University while male professors are least represented in the College of Education.
There are even a few departments that have zero male representation. These departments include health science, and women’s and gender studies. Additionally, early childhood education, nursing and dance have low male representation with one tenure-track professor in each.
The accounting and economics departments have the lowest representation of female professors.
Towson University is using searches and outreach to increase the representation of women in colleges that are heavily male. Seeberger gave two examples of how Towson University is doing so. The first example was if the school is in need of female biology professors they may reach out to a biology association with significant female membership. Towson would then request that the caucus release a vacancy announcement to inform the females of the job opening, said Seeberger.
Additionally, Towson might contact schools with high numbers of women who are close to obtaining a doctorate degree. The intention is to inform these females of the job opportunities available.
In 2015, Seeberger created the Diversity Faculty Fellows Program at Towson University as a way for professors to diversify curriculum and institutional practices. An economics professor who is participating in the fellowship this upcoming year has a goal to increase female faculty in the economics department due to its gender imbalance.
Seeberger said that she believes this is a goal everyone in the College of Business and Economics would like to achieve.
As of 2018, female professors are least represented in the College of Business and Economics at Towson University while male professors are least represented in the College of Education.
There are even a few departments that have zero male representation. These departments include health science, and women’s and gender studies. Additionally, early childhood education, nursing and dance have low male representation with one tenure-track professor in each.
The accounting and economics departments have the lowest representation of female professors.
Towson University is using searches and outreach to increase the representation of women in colleges that are heavily male. Seeberger gave two examples of how Towson University is doing so. The first example was if the school is in need of female biology professors they may reach out to a biology association with significant female membership. Towson would then request that the caucus release a vacancy announcement to inform the females of the job opening, said Seeberger.
Additionally, Towson might contact schools with high numbers of women who are close to obtaining a doctorate degree. The intention is to inform these females of the job opportunities available.
Female professors make up about 6 percent more of department chairs than men. This data seems to correlate with the overall population of female professors at Towson University.