Trustees of Hampton University, which joined schools across the nation in recent years in slashing expenses to weather the nation’s economic slide, voted this month to lift a four-year freeze on promotions and tenure.
Observers say the unanimous decision by the Hampton trustees signals the university is confident the worst of the economic downturn is behind the university. They say it also means the university is ready to re-energize its efforts to become a major research institution.
“We were very prudent by taking a number of measures to face the economic crisis,” says Hampton President William Harvey, referring to the trustees’ decision in 2008 to freeze promotions and tenure. “As a result we did not have to lay off one faculty or staff member,” he added. “With the freeze lifted, our faculty can get promoted,” Harvey says.
The promotion and tenure process begins in earnest when the 2012-13 school year resumes late this summer. Still, numerous faculty members who have waited the economy out have already began talking with their department heads and deans seeking guidance on getting the process started again.
Neither Harvey, other school officials nor higher education compensation observers would speculate on how much the university saved by freezing promotions and tenure. Nor would they venture guesses on future costs, noting faculty compensation varies by institution and run the gamut based on rank—assistant, associate or full professor or endowed professor.
At Hampton, a private college with no legal requirement to disclose compensation, faculty salaries are said to start at the $40,000 range and, in some cases, rise into the six figures.
Hampton, with a student enrollment of about 5,500 students, has 339 full time faculty and about 50 adjunct professors teaching in its nine schools, according to Hampton Provost Pamela Hammond.
