Report lists average starting faculty salaries, adjunct fees

Newly hired U.S. psychology faculty members made an average starting salary of $51,967 in doctoral-level departments and $44,340 in master's departments for the 2004-2005 academic year, according to a report released earlier this year from APA's Research Office. That's a 2.2 percent and 3.1 percent increase, respectively, from the previous academic year when controlling for inflation.

Departments give a slight boost to new faculty who have two years of postdoctoral experience, the report notes: For the 2005-2006 academic year, departments reported that they expected to offer new psychology doctorates an average salary of $52,147 in doctoral departments compared with $55,009 for new faculty members with postdoc experience, and $44,428 compared with $46,241 in master's departments.

The report also lists the fees U.S. psychology departments pay adjunct professors per course. The median fee for 2003-2004 was $3,500 in doctoral departments and $2,400 in master's departments.

The data for the 2004-2005 Faculty Salaries in Graduate Departments in Psychology cover 4,703 U.S. and Canadian doctoral-level faculty members at 239 doctoral and master's programs. The report breaks down their salaries and benefits by region, years of experience, gender, type of psychology program, private versus public institution and more.

-D. SMITH BAILEY