Bascom Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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The University of Wisconsin-Madison last semester gave out $726,436 in raises and $8 million in research support to retain 40 top faculty members competing universities tried to lure away, according to information obtained by the Journal Sentinel through an open records request.

The $8.72 million went to individuals who got job offers between July 1 and Dec. 31, took them to central administration, and agreed within that time frame to stay at UW-Madison. Additional retention efforts within schools and colleges were not included in those numbers.

If the state's flagship campus hadn't succeeded in keeping the 40 in Wisconsin, they collectively would have taken $18 million in federal research grants elsewhere, Chancellor Rebecca Blank told the UW Board of Regents last month.

"Staying on the top, in terms of quality and reputation, requires continual investment," Blank said. "I can't afford not to."

Campus officials said they have seen an increase in the number of professors entertaining job offers from other universities since state lawmakers last summer cut $250 million from the UW System's 2015-'17 budget, weakened layoff protections for tenured faculty and reduced the role of faculty governance in campus decisions.

No new state funding was allocated for pay raises, and there was no across-the-board salary increase for faculty or staff.

The raises to faculty retained by UW-Madison's central administration during the last six months of 2015 ranged from 4.34% to 49.68%. Some of the $726,436 was associated with promotions.

Many who got the smallest raises, relatively speaking, got the largest research grants to pay for research assistants, equipment, labs and other items that support faculty research programs and graduate students, according to university officials.

Three oncology professors in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research got the top research grants for staying: $813,000 went to Christopher Bradfield, who also got a $17,729 (10.1%) raise; and $500,000 each went to Elaine Alarid and Shigeki Miyamoto.

A stem cell researcher and an astronomy and physics professor each got the next highest research support. Emery Bresnick, who also is director of the Blood Research Program, and astronomy and physics professor Ellen Zweibel each got $450,000.

The remaining faculty received between $31,644 and $400,000.

Typically, faculty retention awards to support research come from indirect cost recovery from federal research awards, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and private gifts, university officials said.

UW-Madison also was able to hang onto Barry Burden, the oft-quoted director of the Elections Research Center, and Bas Rokers, a neuroscientist and contributor to the National Geographic "Brain Games" TV series.

Morale problems cited

But the $8.72 million investment in 40 faculty members won't help morale among the rest of the faculty, said Anna Haley-Lock, an associate professor of social work who is leaving for Rutgers. She was among six faculty members listed as receiving retention offers but deciding to leave, though she said she did not seek a retention offer.

"I find it disappointing there's this big focus on targeted retention," Haley-Lock said. "It's about how to retain superstars instead of the importance of making all faculty feel valued and protected."

The biggest salary increase — $56,421 — went to Marcy Carlson, an associate professor of sociology whose pay was bumped up 49.68%, from $113,579 to $170,000. She is affiliated with the Center for Demography and Ecology and the Institute for Research on Poverty.

Carlson turned down a job offer from Cornell University that would have made her a full professor and director of a demographic research center, the Cornell Population Center. While it wasn't part of her retention offer, Carlson will be promoted to director of the UW-Madison Center for Demography and Ecology this fall.

"UW was very responsive in their retention offer, matching everything that Cornell had offered," Carlson said in an email to the Journal Sentinel.

Carlson said her salary had been below what several other associate professors in her department earned before she got the raise. In addition to the raise, she received $240,928 in research support.

Her husband, Tim Smeeding, is a distinguished professor in the UW-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs. He didn't request a pay increase, but received $44,672 in additional research support.

"We really value and believe in this university. It's a great place to be a social scientist," said Carlson, who told Cornell that she was happy at UW in 2014 — the first time the university recruited her.

Faculty fear decline

Several faculty members who agreed to stay at UW-Madison after getting outside job offers told the Journal Sentinel they're still nervous about the flagship university's future.

In particular, they said they worry UW-Madison will be challenged to maintain its world-class status if repeated cuts in state funding and the erosion of tenure protections and shared governance make outside job offers increasingly attractive.

"At a certain point, people aren't going to stay because they worry about the health of the institution," said Dhavan Shah, who was recruited last year by Michigan State, Penn, University of Texas-Austin and Syracuse but decided to stay at UW-Madison.

"The implications of change are gradual," Shah said. "The decline will be real. It will be felt over time."

Shah is a communications professor who says he has attracted some $27 million in grants for interdisciplinary research at UW-Madison. His research interests include how technology can be used to help older people "age in place," and to reduce relapses in addiction.

Shah said he and his wife, who also is a professor at UW-Madison, decided to stay for family reasons, and because "we have a nice life here."

Shah's pay was increased $32,683 to $196,000. He also received $200,000 in research support. But he said he still left more than $100,000 on the table between the salary and additional research support offered by Michigan State.

The University of Minnesota in one fell swoop last summer attempted to hire away five of UW-Madison's seven international relations faculty members in the political science department.

All five agreed to stay, but it cost UW-Madison about $1 million: $123,412 in pay raises, plus $320,000 over four years to cover a majority of the cost for a new faculty position, plus $320,000 to the group for a special initiative to recruit top graduate students in international relations. Each faculty member also received additional research support totaling $325,000.

Professor Jon Pevehouse, co-author of what is widely considered the leading textbook on international politics, received the highest raise: $52,603, bumping his pay up 30.5% from $172,397 to $225,000.

The other four international relations faculty who agreed to stay included: associate professor Mark Copelovitch, whose pay was increased $22,789 (20.3%) to $135,000; associate professor Helen Kinsella, who got a raise of $21,245 (20.8%) to $123,000; associate professor Jessica Weeks, who got a $14,100 (12%) boost to $131,000, and assistant professor Jonathan Renshon, who got a $12,675 (15.2%) boost to $96,000.

The five professors were recruited by John Coleman, who taught political science for more than 20 years at UW-Madison and chaired the department before leaving to become Minnesota's dean of the College of Liberal Arts in August 2014.

Another UW-Madison political science professor who directs the Elections Research Center said the department "has been fighting off offers from other universities in a serious fashion" all academic year — universities in both the U.S. and other countries.

"Like many faculty, my decision was a complicated mix of considerations," the professor, Barry Burden, said in an email to the Journal Sentinel. "In the end it was my excellent colleagues, family considerations, and additional resources from the university that helped me decide to stay in Madison."

Burden received a $32,186 (22.5%) raise to $175,000, plus $100,000 in research support.

"I have to believe," he said, "that the university can weather the budget cuts and uncertainties of recent years."

Haley-Lock, the associate professor of social work, and her husband, Eric Lock, a senior lecturer in social work, both got better pay offers at Rutgers — his was considerably more. But it wasn't all about the money, Haley-Lock said.

Faculty at Rutgers have strong union representation, she said.

Haley-Lock said she's concerned a cultural shift is taking place in Wisconsin, including the weakening of tenure protections and shared governance.

"The demonization of unions and shared governance concerns me personally, and it's also what I study," she said. "When you begin to curb effective representation of employee interests, that correlates to bottoming out work conditions for workers and reduced job satisfaction."