Message from the President and Interim Provost
June 17, 2021
Dear Faculty and Staff,
Since last March, you and your colleagues have worked tirelessly to promote UTRGV’s safety and success. Not only have your efforts ensured that we would get through this pandemic, but it is now evident that your determination is the reason why we are emerging from it stronger than ever.
Whether it was enrolling a record number of students for the Summer, Fall and Spring semesters or serving on the frontlines when you were needed most, your contributions have been invaluable.
That is why we are pleased to announce that, pending final approval of our budget by the Board of Regents in August, we are making a significant investment in our faculty and staff salaries. These investments, which will be effective September 1 and reflected on your October 1 paychecks, will take place in the following ways:
- New Institutional Base Wage
We are increasing our base wage from $9.85 to $13 per hour for classified staff. This 32% increase will have an important impact on our dedicated employees and further demonstrates UTRGV’s commitment to being a top employer in the region.
- More than 4% in Equity and Merit
- Market and Equity Salary Adjustment
As part of our ongoing commitment to address market and equity salary issues, we will once again adjust faculty and staff further along their approved salary ranges. Market is a comparison to other institutions and Equity is an internal comparison to address compression, inversion and gender inequities.
For faculty, placement in the salary range will be based on a review of several variables including Carnegie classification, discipline and rank. The methodology for these adjustments will be reviewed by faculty committees with details forthcoming.
For classified and A&P staff, placement in the salary range will be based on a review of several considerations including education and relevant experience.
- Merit Program
We will have a separate allocation for merit, independent from equity. Increases will be based on the most recent annual performance evaluation period and other eligibility requirements similar to the process followed in prior years. Details will be forthcoming.
- Market and Equity Salary Adjustment
As stated before, this is a significant investment by UTRGV that has the potential of increasing your salary in more than one way. Overall, we are investing $14 million in permanent salary adjustments this fiscal year (2022). In total, since UTRGV opened in 2015, the university has invested $38 million in salary adjustments.
More detailed information regarding how we operationalize these salary adjustments will be forthcoming to managers and supervisors across the institution. Once the process is complete and decisions are finalized, every employee receiving an adjustment will receive a personalized letter outlining their total salary increase and the breakout of increase type. Please remember that our budget must receive final approval from the Board of Regents, but we feel good about the prospects of that approval.
How were these salary investments made possible?
Our efforts to increase enrollment last year and our work during the recent legislative session have provided a unique opportunity for UTRGV to make this significant investment in our faculty and staff salaries.
As many of you have probably heard by now, the legislative session that ended on May 31st was a good one for UTRGV. While the pandemic created financial difficulties for Texas, as it did elsewhere, the state has rebounded nicely and the legislature funded enrollment growth (i.e., Weighted Student Credit Hour [WSCH] growth) this session, which resulted in an overall General Revenue Appropriations increase of over 14%, helping UTRGV overcome the cuts that we sustained in FY20-21.
Nevertheless, we will begin the FY22-23 biennium (which starts September 1, 2021) in much better shape than in past years. Our success this session is largely the result of a plan that was presented to you after our disappointing 2017 legislative session. We indicated then that we needed your help and cooperation in turning things around; our success is due to your efforts. Thank you.
Fall Presentations
We will visit each of the academic and administrative units this fall to conduct presentations like we did after the last two legislative sessions. These presentations will provide more information on the 2021 session and what it means for UTRGV, but here is a brief update now.
First, as you may remember, the General Academic portion of the institution and the School of Medicine (SOM) are funded in two separate bill patterns. Because of WSCH growth in the General Academic and the headcount enrollment growth in SOM, both did well. The General Academic will receive a net increase of $22.3 million over the next biennium. All of this is due to WSCH growth, particularly at the graduate level. SOM will receive an additional $4.6 million in net revenue over the biennium as the result of headcount enrollment growth.
While we will await the arrival of the new Dean, Dr. Michael Hocker, to make final plans for SOM, our preliminary plans for using the $22.3 million for the General Academic are as follows. Please note that these plans are only tentative until we have Board of Regents approval of our budget, which we anticipate in August.
- First, because of our commitment to our faculty and staff, a significant portion of our increased appropriations will be used for the compensation plan described above.
- Second, we will invest significant new resources to hire additional faculty and staff. We have a number of staffing needs, and the increase in state appropriations will allow us to begin doing this. We currently plan to invest approximately $3.75M in new faculty beginning this fall and $1.74M in new staff.
- Third, we will once again be able to travel this next academic year and will be restoring faculty travel budgets to their original amounts and will restore the faculty travel support program available through the Provost’s office. This is an investment of well over $2M. Additional information on the travel support program will be forthcoming later this summer.
Investing in YOU
But we’re not done yet. While the plan for FY22 outlined above represents a significant investment in our faculty and staff, we know that it does not elevate every position to its market level. As mentioned above, we have made steady progress since becoming UTRGV and will continue to prioritize these efforts. We believe the number one investment this institution can make is in its people, and we are committed to supporting further increases in employee compensation as the university can responsibly do so.
Over the past 15 months, we’ve experienced everything from fear and uncertainty to sadness and loss. As we prepare to enter a post-pandemic world, now is the time to show appreciation for one another and to enjoy what we’ve accomplished together.
Sincerely,
Guy Bailey & Janna Arney
President Deputy President & Interim Provost