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Please indicate the following: School size, rank/position, starting salary, teaching load, geographical region, urban/rural, misc comments.

Please specify as well candidate status and job level: ABD, Post-Doc, TT, non-TT, starting Assistant, advanced Assistant, Associate, etc. since these factors influence salary levels too.

Would be interesting to see gender given that everyone says women receive lower initial offers and are less likely to negotiate!

For example: Research I, starting assistant prof., $54k, 2/3, midwest, small city, negotiated up from $53k

NEW PAGE for AY 2013-2014: English Lit Salaries for AY 2013-2014

Back to English Literature 2012-2013

AY 2012-13 English Lit. Salaries[]

SLAC, southeast, assistant professor (tt), salary 52k and full benefits, all moving costs, choice of computer and software, 1-2 conferences fully funded, 3/3 load, one year towards tenure, female; negotiated spousal hire senior Admin position, 70k and benefits

SLAC, southeast, ass't professor (TT), salary 55k and benefits, moving allowance, computer, 3/3. PhD, male.

SLAC, southeast, VAP; salary 52k, 2k moving expenses, 1500 conference travel, full benefits. 3/3. ABD, male.

Small private liberal arts college, northeast, starting assistant professor (TT); salary 58K (negotiated up 3K); full benefits; 4/4 load; ABD; female.

Small private liberal arts college, southeast; starting assistant professor (TT) salary 52K; full benefits; 3/3 load. 1500/yr conference travel; one year towards tenure; all moving expenses; computer and equipment. female with completed PhD.

Small private liberal arts college, northeast; 1-year VAP; 64K salary, full benefits, 2k moving, 1500 conference travel, optional 2k for directing a play for theater dept; negotiated for teaching assignment of 2/2 with 1 short-term spring course. ABD, male.

Large Public Liberal Arts College in large city; starting assistant professor (TT) salary 71k and change, negotiated up from 70k plus benefits. 4/3 load with competitive course releases, moving $1500, $10,000 over three years startup/travel, computer. MFA, Female.

Small private Liberal Arts college; starting assistant professor (TT); salary 53.5k plus benefits (negotiated up from 52k); moving expenses 2k (negotiated up from 1k); 1100/yr conference travel; 4/4; ABD, female.

Private R1; starting assistant professor (TT); salary mid-60s (negotiated up 2K from low-60s); moving expenses 5K (up from 3K); computer setup; teaching load 2/2; Rust Belt, city. ABD, male.

Small Liberal Arts college; starting assist. professor TT, salary low-40s with amazing benefits so that helps; reimburse for moving expenses; 1400/yr conference travel; teaching 2/2; southeast; ABD; male.

Small Liberal Arts College; starting asst. prof (TT); 50k; moving expenses 5k; 3/3; midwest, small city; female with completed PhD (1st year out) .

Small Liberal Arts; assistant prof (TT) 85,500; moving 3k; 30k start-up; 2/3; accellerated tenure (2013); northeast; Ph.D.; female.

Small Liberal Arts; starting assistant professor (TT) 53.5k; moving expenses 4k; 4/4; northeast; Ph.D.; male.

Private R1; starting assistant prof (TT); salary 65k (negotiated up from 60K); 15k start-up (negotiated up from 12k); moving reimbursed; computer; 2/2; 1-year position for spouse. South, city. ABD, male.

Public R1; Midwest; city; starting assistant professor (TT); salary 54.5; moving 3k; computer; conference travel 1500 per year; first year 2/2, thereafter 3/3 with competetive teaching load reductions. Female with Ph.D.

Private small school; Midwest; small city; assistant prof (TT); 51K (negotiated up over 5k) 2500 moving, 3/3; 1 to 2 conferences funded per year, laptop, family tuition. pre-tenure course reduction. MFA/PHD, male.

SLAC; asst. (TT); 49K, 2K moving, 2K startup, $1.1K travel, accelerated tenure, 4/4 (with 1st yr. course release). Midwest, rural, PhD, female.

SLAC; asst. professor (TT); salary in low 50s, 5K start up and 5K moving (both negotiated up from 2500 each), 3/3 but 2/3 in first year, office set-up with new desktop, competitive conference funding. Midwest, small city. ABD male.

Liberal Arts; Northeast; city; advanced asst. prof (TT); 67.5K (negotiated up from 62K); 4K moving (negotiated up from 2K); 2K conference/travel; 8K first summer research funds; computer; 1 year campus apartment, accelerated tenure; 3/3. Female with Ph.D.

Small Liberal Arts College; northeast; starting assistant professor (TT); 70K (up from mid-60s); 3K moving; 6K yearly fund; 1-2 conferences/year; 2/2; MFA; male.

Public; West Coast city; TT Assistant Professor; 61K (negotiated up from 60k); 4K moving; 1K/year travel-research funding; 4/4 (3/3 first year with competitve course releases for research and service thereafter); Ph.D. (1st year out); female and white.

Private R1; East Coast city; Asst. Prof.; 72K; 20K moving/startup; 2/2; computer; PhD; Male.

Private R1; South, city; starting assistant prof (TT); 55K; 15K startup (negotiated up from 9K); 2K yearly conference travel; 2/2; ABD; female.

Public R1; midwest city; assistant prof (TT); 62k (negotiated up from 60); 18.5k startup (negotiated up from 12.5k); 3.5k moving; computer (standard); airfare for house-hunting trip; 2/2 with 2/1 first 4 years; PhD; female.

Private R2; East Coast city; Asst. Prof.; 69K; 10K moving/startup; 2/3; computer; PhD; female.

Private R2(?), East Coast city; Ass. Prof. (tt); 65K, (negotiated up from 62) moving, 2/3; computer, 4.5K first summer research funds, White Female with Ph.D.

Public PUI; East Coast city; Asst. prof. (TT); 74K (negotiated up from 68), 3k moving; 1K start-up (negotiated) + competitive travel; computer; adjuncting for spouse; ~3/2 + competitive releases; ABD; female.

Public R1, Urban; Advanced asst. prof. (TT); ~80K, 20K start-up, moving costs covered, computer / software set up, 2/2 + course releases; female with PhD.

Public R2, smallish city, Asst Prof (TT), 50k (non-neg.), 2k startup, 1k moving, computer, 3/3 + future competitive releases; PhD; dude.

Public R1; southeast city; Assistant Prof (TT); 68K (up from 65); 8K startup (up from 6K); computer; 4K moving; 1K for conferences; 2/2; MFA; female.

Public, Northeast, starting TT assistant professor, 60K; 6K startup (up from 5K); laptop; 1.5K conference travel;1.5K moving; 3/3 + 2 releases; PhD; female.

Midwestern Flagship, starting TT assistant prof, 2/2; 70k; 35k startup; 4k moving; computer; one course release; negotiated multiyear non-TT position for spouse. Male with PhD.

Public R1; southeast city; Assistant Professor (TT); 67K (negotiated up from 65K); 5K startup; 4500 moving; 2/2; MFA, PhD; female.

Private SLAC; Midwest, Adv. VAP; 56K; 1200 moving; MFA,PhD, female.

Public liberal Arts; Northeast; urban; advanced asst. prof (TT); 64K (negotiated up from 63.5K); 2K moving; computer; 3/3. Female with Ph.D.

Private R1; West Coast; Asst. prof. (TT); 78K (negotiated from 70k), 20K start-up + 17k research over 6 yrs. (negotiated), moving costs covered, 2/2 + 1 sem. leave + 1 sem. course relief & 1 sem. parenting leave (negotiated); male with PhD.

Private University West Coast Urban: Asst. Prof (TT); 60K, 7.5 moving, $2500 year conference and travel; 3/4 with competitve research release, male PhD

See also[]

Questions and Discussion[]

Q: Out of curiosity, for those of you with the large start-up funds, are you working in fields that require expensive materials?

A: Don't know if this helps, but I included a detailed plan of how I'd spend the money--including travel funds for research on two books I have underway, workshops in a new genre (nonfiction) to help round out my writing and teaching, rented cabins for solitude to write. I doubt I'll use all the money I was alloted--probably more like half--but I do think the estimate-in-writing helped.

-->Agree. Provide a budget to make it concrete for them why you need the money.

Q: Question for the person with the 85.5k salary: are you moving from one tenure track position to another?

A: No. But I do have a good deal of teaching exerience, excellent evaluations and solid publication record. Other places that had scheduled interviews with me (which I cancelled) offered between 75k and 92k for a 2/2 load (I teach a 2/3) for a person with my credentials. My research started here (link at end)--and my best advice on salary is to look over this list and know what you are worth--then ask for no more or less than that:

http://chronicle.com/stats/aaup/index.php?action=result&year=2010&state=&search=&category=&institution=0&offset=25&withRanks=1&sort=institution&limit=25&showall=0

Followup Q: Just curious - what did you negotiate it up from? The AAUP averages don't give any indication of within-rank or across-field variation - if the average Asst Prof is $70k at an institution, that collapses first-year and sixth-years, and treats sciences same as humanities, so you can't just ask for what the average is, right? $85k seems shockingly high to me, but probably just b/c my experiences are with publics (also, $30k startup in English?!). For anyone negotiating w/ publics make sure to check out the public salary data (available from any region's newspaper, usually) so you can actually see people's salaries in your would-be home department, and get a sense of how frequently raises happen. (Just in case anyone doesn't already know to check these databases and is negotiating w/ a public.)

A: Probably more pertinent, how many books/prizes do you have? 50-65 k seems about right for someone ABD with a book at a modest press and not much teaching experience--the first job I accepted started in that range. 40k for the equivalent seems, to me, like exploitation--but the 2/2 teaching load will help that person write his way out of that situation. The ABD fellow who got 70k at the public R1 for a 2/2 is averaging a little more pay-per-class than I am--I'm betting he's a super star with stunning books and real promise. As to the AAUP being off--it's right on target for the pal of mine who accepted a position at a top 5 program last year--at the assistant professor level, with 2 high quality books--private university--2/2--she started at 93k (AAUP quotes 92, average for her school). Universities who have offered me positions in the past thave all been within 5k of the quoted salary ranges.

^^^I am guessing the above poster works in creative writing, at least in part. Is that correct? Being a high-profile creative writer + recent PhD (or being a creative writer-scholar hybrid-type PhD) might get you to a higher starting salary than would be expected for a recent PhD in some field of literary criticism. At least I think that could be the case. The tip-off for me is that people just completing their PhDs in lit crit usually don't speak in terms of having one or more books completed at the time they finish their degrees, but people completing creative writing PhDs or MFAs frequently do. Might be a good idea for creative writers adding to the list above to note that they work in a field of creative writing as well?

A: Yes--this page is linked with the CW wiki so that's a good point.

Q: Please share your experiences negotiating spousal/partner hires.

--> Just ask - include it among your first negotiation points, don't present it initially as a tradeoff, and see what happens. Don't be shy about asking; they're used to the question, even if they can't do anything about it. They really want you, so if it's an institution that has some means, they'll seriously look into it. If not, they'll tell you it's not possible. Think through how much of a dealbreaker or not it is for you, and what levels of position your partner is willing to accept (only TT, only permanent full-time, one-year ok, academic v. support staff, etc.) - and if there are other tradeoffs you might accept.

Q: Can people share retirement plan info? I.e. whether the school matches / contributes to a fund? This can sometimes be 10% or more of salary, so it matters!

--> Private R1. School matches 8% to retirement account when I contribute 5%.

--> Liberal Arts. School contributes 11% to retirement account regardless of personal contribution.

--> Private R1. School matches 10% to account when I contribute 3%

--> Public R1. Good pension that school pays into; employee has to put in about 3% per year

Q: This may seem basic, but people who negotiated up, how did you do it? Did you suggest a counter-offer and meet in the middle (or have them just accept it), or say "I'm sorry, I need more than X," or what exactly? This is a skill that lit PhDs aren't always taught.

--> You may find this page from my grad institution helpful: http://literature.duke.edu/graduate/job-market-resources/interviews-campus-visits/getting-the-offer-now-what-. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules to this, unfortunately. On salary, personally I wouldn't suggest a number; just ask if there is any room to move.

--> I suggested a specific number beyond where I thought the school would go in order to get to a number closer to what I thought was acceptalbe. I also mentioned that I had another offer without revealing the fact that it was much lower.

--> My two cents based on my experience - suggest a specific number that's higher than what you actually think they'll be able to offer, as the above poster said. They will likely then offer you something in between. I think it's reasonable to suggest 5-10% more than what they initially offer; they'll probably come up 1.5-4% (at least, this is how it's happened for me in two different negotiations - I didn't have better offers to leverage in either case, though I did already have a job the second time). If there is anything you can add to make your case, do it (another offer, another publication on the way, another part of the package that you were expecting but they weren't able to provide), though the Dean likely already has in mind what s/he's willing to go up to. Some lines you can use: "In terms of the salary number..." or "Let's talk about the salary..." then "I was thinking more like [number]," "I'd like to see that somewhere more around [number]," "Could the University offer more on salary? A number that sounds right to me is [number]."

Comment: Thank you to all the posters for their candor. It is helpful and very much appreciated.

-->On negotiation, my sense is that austerity measures have changed the situation significantly in the last few years. At my public R1, when I got my job two years ago, I was told there was no wiggle room on the salary--it was a firm number. But I negotiated my startup fund from $3,000 to $10,000 (using a specific budget, as others have suggested) and moving from $4000 to $7500. Salary caps come from on high, but deans usually have other immediate funds to work with. So they compensate for university-wide salary limits by beefing up the start-up perqs. Compared to two years ago, the startup packages people are getting this year are astounding. So I will be suggesting to our applicants in the future to negotiate hard on start-up. (Counterexample: I have heard from somebody who got a job at our university this year that now the deans are not even negotiating on startup. It's now a take-it-or-leave-it offer--though that was in Art History, where it was the only R1 job posted this year in that field.)

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