Associate Professor Turnover at America's Public and Private Institutions of Higher Education

Abstract

This paper uses data from the American Association of University Professor's annual salary survey to compute continuation rates for associate professors during the 1996–97 to 2001–2002 period. Findings demonstrate that average continuation rates are higher for private academic institutions than for public academic institutions in bachelors-level, masters-level and doctoral-level institutions. Furthermore, multivariate analysis finds that, all other things held equal, institutions with higher average faculty compensation have higher continuation rates. However, the magnitude of this relationship is not sufficient enough to warrant change in compensation policies at academic institutions, particularly between public and private institutions.