Evaluation & Compensation
Compensation is a crucial aspect of retaining engaged, quality faculty. CU Boulder strives to provide our students with a quality education, with the faculty being the essential element in ensuring we offer superb instruction. Faculty are also engaged in high-quality research and scholarship and serving the campus, the state of Colorado, and the academic community. There is a direct correlation between competitive faculty compensation and the quality of the University’s academic programs. As such, the quality compensation afforded our faculty maintains a high priority during the annual budget planning process. Merit is the key factor in determining faculty compensation; each unit conducts a faculty review of annual merit. The campus may also use structural adjustments for career merit, salary equity, and promotion.
Evaluation and compensation guidelines are governed by:
- Regent Law Article 11: Compensation and Benefits
- Regent Policy 11: Compensation and Benefits
- CU System Administrative Policy Statement (APS) 5008: Faculty Performance Evaluation
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Faculty may take on compensated, professional responsibilities in addition to their full-time appointment. Examples of additional jobs include overload teaching, administrative service, consulting duties, etc. However, faculty salary supplementation is limited and regulated by both federal and university administrative policies. All units are responsible for ensuring that any additional faculty jobs adhere to the policies governing additional compensation.
Salary adjustments for faculty are made annually. For tenure-track and tenured faculty and teaching faculty, these adjustments generally take effect January 1. Recommendations for merit increases are to be determined by the primary unit chair in consultation with department colleagues as defined by department rules and college/school guidelines.
The Faculty Report of Professional Activities (FRPA) is designed to serve as an annual inventory of a faculty member's professional activities. This information is used within the department as well as by Academic Affairs and other CU Boulder offices for compiling campus statistics, identifying outreach and service opportunities, and for annual merit evaluations.
CU Boulder is committed to providing fair and competitive compensation that will attract, retain, and reward a high-performing faculty with the requisite experience and skills to execute the university’s scholarly, creative work, and teaching mission. In accordance with state and federal law and CU Board of Regents policy, CU Boulder provides equal pay for substantially similar work and strives to ensure fair and competitive pay while ensuring good stewardship of public funds.
Faculty Salary Equity Policy (Interim)
Faculty Salary Equity Grievance Policy (Interim)
Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act
The FSPWG was formed in May 2022 as a joint initiative of the Boulder Faculty Assembly and the Office of the Provost to identify and recommend guiding principles and improvements to current campus, college and unit-level procedures that may contribute to faculty pay inequity.