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GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Academic staff across the University of Wisconsin system received a total of $17.3 million in extra duty pay last year, after lawmakers lifted a limit on academic overtime.
The overage, also called overload, rose 18 percent across the university system for the 2013-2014 school year, Green Bay Press-Gazette Media reported (http://gbpg.net/11Z2PHc ). Salary data shows 43 professors received at least $20,000 in overages, compared with two professors who received that amount or more the year before.
Overage is pay for academic responsibilities that go beyond a base workload. It had been capped at $12,000 per calendar year prior to July 2013, but not always enforced.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay led the state in extra duty pay, averaging at $6,260 per professor — $1,700 more than any other school. The school employed three of the five professors with the highest overage amounts in the system. It also employed 14 professors that were paid more than $20,000 in overages.
UW-Green Bay Human Resources Director Sheryl Van Gruensven said overage pay went up when current faculty members were used to develop and teach new courses in engineering technology, business and environmental technology. She said she expected overages to drop after the school hires new business and engineering professors.
"I think it was helpful for us to deal with some of these recent changes we've been dealing with, but we don't expect to continue those types of situations in the future," Van Gruensven said.
An annual study of out-of-state universities with similar enrollments, degrees, budgets and missions shows that pay for professors in the UW system remains below what many of their peers are getting.
UW-Madison paid full professors an average of $109,300 — 25 percent below the median among 11 comparable schools around the nation.
The salary data shows that athletic personnel remain the highest paid employees in the UW system, led by UW-Madison men's basketball coach Bo Ryan at $2.4 million. Football coach Gary Andersen made $2.2 million and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez was paid $1.1 million.
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Information from: Press-Gazette Media, http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com
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