By David Dodson

Chart The Southern Regional Education Board categorizes higher education institutions in 15 states according to size (number of degrees granted), role (types of degrees granted) and breadth (number of program areas in which degrees are granted). The categories allow comparisons between similar institutions in different states. Thus in 1996 the entire University System of Georgia ranks fourth in faculty salaries among public higher education systems in the SREB region. UGA is at present the only Category I institution in Georgia (awarding 100 or more doctoral degrees in at least 10 areas, with no more than 50 percent in one area). Georgia Tech and Georgia State are the only Category II institutions in Georgia (awarding 30­99 doctoral degrees in at least five areas); their inter-state rankings have been averaged to obtain a single line for purposes of the graph.

Faculty salaries at the university are leaving the middle of the pack and gaining on the regional leaders, according to new salary rankings released by the Southern Regional Education Board and projections from the state board of regents.

Upward climb
From 1988 to 1995, full-time faculty salaries at UGA averaged an eighth-place ranking among the 15 states tracked by the SREB in its survey of the largest doctoral-granting public universities in the South. This year, UGA climbed from ninth to sixth place, moving past Texas, Florida and South Carolina in the SREB's top classification. And UGA's salary ranking is expected to climb higher next year.

Reflection of governor's goal
What the SREB rankings reflect, say UGA officials and other higher education experts, is the impact of Gov. Zell Miller's second-term goal "to raise Georgia teacher salaries at least to the national average and to attract the best and brightest to become teachers." Faculty salaries at Georgia's public, four-year institutions averaged $50,060 this past year, the SREB said. At UGA, the average salary was $54,439.

For the past two budget years, Miller has proposed and the state legislature has passed 6 percent salary increases for all University System institutions. According to the SREB rankings, which are based on 1995-96 salary averages, only West Virginia reported salary growth comparable to Georgia's in the 15-state region stretching from Maryland to Texas. But, unlike Georgia, West Virginia's salary growth is expected to fall closer to 4 percent this year.

"I don't know of any state that wouldn't want to switch places with you right now," says Ed Crawford, state relations director with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in Washington, D.C.

"Gov. Miller spoke to one of our CASE conferences in California last year, and of the 120 people in the room who represent their universities to legislatures in 44 states, none of us had heard a more promising commitment to higher education coming from a state governor."

At that California conference last December, Miller said, "I want to be able to demand excellence from Georgia's teachers. And I know that if we want top quality, we have to be willing to pay for it."

Miller has said he intends to propose 6 percent faculty and staff pay raises in his final two years as governor, but to do so will require stable revenue collections and "budget redirection" away from other areas of state government and toward education.

"The purpose (of budget redirection) is to establish clear priorities, like a salary increase for teachers, and then shift our existing resources toward those priorities," Miller said.

Regents' projections
This fall, the University System Board of Regents produced projections showing that four years of 6 percent raises would have the compounded effect of pushing the University System's faculty salaries to the No. 1 SREB ranking by 1998-99, Miller's last budget year as governor. The forecast assumes that four-year schools in the other 14 SREB states would increase salaries in the predicted range of 3.5-4.0 percent.

Likewise, UGA would rise from its sixth-place salary ranking, probably into the top four with Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.

UGA Vice President for Academic Affairs William Prokasy says faculty members are growing increasingly aware of the state's expanded funding of higher education, particularly as it compares with other regions of the country.

"The salary support has clearly helped us in three ways," Prokasy says. "It has enabled us to retain faculty who are receiving attractive offers from other institutions. It has aided recruitment because candidates for faculty positions are aware of the state's strong support of higher education. And it has reduced interest of our current faculty in applying for positions elsewhere."

Other aspects of education agenda
Even other aspects of the governor's education agenda--apart from salaries--are adding to what Prokasy sees as Georgia's momentum.

"Gov. Miller's HOPE Scholarship program receives high marks, too, from the faculty because it not only invests in education but symbolizes education's importance for the future of Georgia," he says. "Excellent faculty colleagues and students are necessary conditions to attract and retain outstanding faculty, but Georgia's atmosphere of support for higher education is giving us a competitive edge."