Early Bird

Update on Faculty Compensation Structure Project

Learn more about next steps and project milestones.

By Jessica Ward

December 16, 2020

Over the coming months, Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Human Resources Team as well as a committee of faculty leadership will partner with consulting firm Hays Cos. of Denver to develop a competitive base-pay structure for faculty members and review the University’s overall pay practices.

The Faculty Advisory Committee, consisting of Bill Henry, Ph.D., interim provost; Katia Campbell, Ph.D., president, Faculty Senate, and associate professor, Communication Studies; Ann Murphy, Ph.D., dean, College of Business; Andrew Bonham, Ph.D., chair, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and president of the Council of Chairs and Directors; Kim Starr, manager, Strategic Planning and Financial Analysis; and Maggie Thulson, assistant to the interim provost, will engage in the project by:

• Providing insights into faculty positions and pay practices
• Offering direction
• Sharing internal concerns and challenges
• Reviewing and approving milestones of the project

During December, Hays will conduct benchmarking of MSU Denver positions against the external market.  In January/February, the HR team and Hays will work with nearly 50 faculty leaders to review and validate the findings as well as confirm individual position placement and overall data integrity. Once validation is complete, Hays will work on the design and analysis of the structure in February and March. 

After the structure is approved in March, faculty members can expect to receive training on the structure in April and May. The recorded training will also include live Q&A sessions via Zoom. Following training, personalized compensation statements will be developed for every faculty member and distributed May 20.     

It is HR’s intention to provide periodic updates throughout this project as milestones are met. The next communication can be expected toward the end of February once validation is complete. From there, employees can expect to see monthly updates as well as specialized communications around trainings and statements. 

The University does not expect this project to result in across-the-board pay increases to all faculty members. Instead, the intention is to learn the structure and utilize it to plan for future increases to ensure that the University is staying competitive with the external market and that we have appropriate internal equity among faculty members. 

Please submit additional questions to compproject@msudenver.edu. Thank you in advance for your support of this important project.