By Kennedy Gilbert
TAMPA, Fla. — On Feb. 28, 2025, the monthly Faculty Senate meeting was held in GHS 104 at 4 p.m. Various issues on the agenda were addressed, such as the ad hoc committee appointed to investigate underpaid salaries being dissolved, issues with faculty representation, and more.
As discussed in the previous meetings, for the ad hoc committee, a significant matter that has been deliberated has been the underpaid salaries of UTampa faculty.
In the Feb. 28 meeting, a total of 30 minutes was dedicated to reviewing the ad hoc committee’s presentation, which consisted of five members taking turns presenting their findings.
A timeline of previous meetings and what was discussed in relation to this issue was noted, as was the emphasis on the dissatisfaction with President Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg’s stance toward the issue of underpaid salaries.
The Segal Study, which includes 167 comparative schools, looks at elements such as “cost of living, executive pay, faculty pay, endowment, enrollment, and nature/reputation,” according to Kevin Fridy, one of the ad hoc committee members. In UTampa’s case, the study places faculty salaries at or around the 50th percentile.
“The ad hoc salary committee’s argument is that UTampa is bigger than most of those comparisons, has higher paid executives than most of those comparisons, and is in a more expensive place than most of those comparisons,” said Fridy.
In order to determine how far off UTampa’s salaries were from the 50th percentile, the ad hoc committee used the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). According to their website, “IPEDS is a system of 12 interrelated survey components conducted annually that gathers data from every college, university, and technical and vocational institution that participates in the federal student financial aid programs.”
“It is our contention, based on this analysis, that our university’s characteristics put us closer to the 75th percentile than the 50th,” said Fridy.
It was established that it would require an estimated $5 million to $7.5 million to reach that 75th percentile.
“In the budget meeting today, they talked about changes for next year,” said Faculty President Ryan Cragun. “Tuition is going up about 3.9%, the current salary adjustment is targeting at 4%, and overall the increase to the budget next year for compensation is 11%. They were very clear in saying the largest increase to the budget is compensation, that said we are still the cheapest by $10,000 in comparison to all of the other schools.”
The ad hoc committee presentation cited from the American Association of University Professors, stating that “The faculty should actively participate in the determination of policies and procedures governing salary increases.” This quote reaffirms the idea of “shared governance,” highlighted in the Feb. 28 meeting.
“Shared governance” is the idea that faculty and higher administrators such as presidents, deans, provosts, and so on should collaborate on enforcing decisions to better an institution.
Ultimately, the Senate all voted in favor of dissolving the ad hoc committee.
Faculty representation in planning committees was further discussed.
“We have not been invited to be a part of any strategic planning committee at all,” Cragun said.
The motion that passed was, “Faculty Senate will send a request to Dr. Thomas Witherspoon (VP and Chief Diversity Officer) asking for faculty seats for the Senate Executive to assign on any university committees considering strategic priorities and institutional values,” according to Cragun’s presentation.
One of President Dahlberg’s future hopes for UTampa is paid internships being offered for all students.
There is an exploratory committee for the “Internships for All Program,” and because the decisions made by this committee will directly affect the curriculum, the following motion was passed.
“Faculty Senate requests that members for this exploratory committee give regular updates to the faculty senate for feedback, given the role of curriculum in this community’s work,” stated Cragun’s presentation.
As for students, a motion on Workday, a software used to manage student and staff information and the UTampa undergraduate experience, was passed. Some of the aspects that were mentioned were to alter Workday to make it more user-friendly for students to utilize.
For example, a point was made to revise Workday to make it to where Spartan Studies, the current general education program in place for undergraduate students, is its own program on the site. As of now, only honors students have this distinction. This would allow students to comprehend that Spartan Studies isn’t merely a list of requirements.
All of the Feb. 28 Faculty Senate meeting agenda was not covered because of time constraints.
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Thumbnail image caption: Outside of room GHS 104, where the Feb. 28 Faculty Senate meeting was held. Photo courtesy of Kennedy Gilbert.