University lifts salary freeze, hires for open positions
Amy Sandquist
Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: News
Due to an improved financial
climate, Lawrence plans to lift the
freeze on faculty and staff members'
salaries for the 2010-2011
fiscal year and to continue filling
open faculty positions.
Last year, Lawrence's board of
trustees voted to freeze the salaries
to combat the economic crisis
and to ensure that the university
would be able to balance its budget.
Though enrollment at Lawrence
was unaffected by the economic
crisis, the university's endowment
fell substantially. However, almost
a year after Lawrence's administration
made the decision to freeze
salaries, Dean of the Faculty David
Burrows explained that Lawrence
is in "much better financial shape."
Both Burrows and President Jill
Beck stressed that the Lawrence
faculty, staff and administration
regarded academic success and
students' intellectual well-being as
more important than all other factors.
Even during the financial difficulties
of last year, Lawrence
placed nine new professors in tenure-
track positions.
Beck described the importance
of "[sustaining] the integrity of
[Lawrence's] faculty."
Burrows said that Lawrence
successfully filled every faculty
position left open by retirement
and resignation.
In a letter sent to faculty
members last month, Beck related
information about Lawrence's fiscal
status as well as plans for a lift
on the salary freeze as discussed
at the board of trustees meeting
in February. More than halfway
through the 2009-2010 fiscal year,
which ends July 1, Lawrence's budget
remains balanced.
During the February meeting,
the board of trustees' financial
committee approved, in principle,
a number of budgetary measures
for the 2010-2011 fiscal year,
including lifting caps on faculty
and staffs members' retirement
funds, increasing faculty and staff
members' salaries, instituting
"Individualized Learning Credits,"
climate, Lawrence plans to lift the
freeze on faculty and staff members'
salaries for the 2010-2011
fiscal year and to continue filling
open faculty positions.
Last year, Lawrence's board of
trustees voted to freeze the salaries
to combat the economic crisis
and to ensure that the university
would be able to balance its budget.
Though enrollment at Lawrence
was unaffected by the economic
crisis, the university's endowment
fell substantially. However, almost
a year after Lawrence's administration
made the decision to freeze
salaries, Dean of the Faculty David
Burrows explained that Lawrence
is in "much better financial shape."
Both Burrows and President Jill
Beck stressed that the Lawrence
faculty, staff and administration
regarded academic success and
students' intellectual well-being as
more important than all other factors.
Even during the financial difficulties
of last year, Lawrence
placed nine new professors in tenure-
track positions.
Beck described the importance
of "[sustaining] the integrity of
[Lawrence's] faculty."
Burrows said that Lawrence
successfully filled every faculty
position left open by retirement
and resignation.
In a letter sent to faculty
members last month, Beck related
information about Lawrence's fiscal
status as well as plans for a lift
on the salary freeze as discussed
at the board of trustees meeting
in February. More than halfway
through the 2009-2010 fiscal year,
which ends July 1, Lawrence's budget
remains balanced.
During the February meeting,
the board of trustees' financial
committee approved, in principle,
a number of budgetary measures
for the 2010-2011 fiscal year,
including lifting caps on faculty
and staffs members' retirement
funds, increasing faculty and staff
members' salaries, instituting
"Individualized Learning Credits,"
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