Academic Affairs Leadership Update

August 5, 2025

Dear MSU Denver Faculty,

Welcome to fall semester 2025!  I hope this message finds you well. As part of my commitment to continue our work of improving compensation structures and practices at MSU Denver, I am writing to give you an update on compensation work taking place.

This past academic year the Faculty Compensation Committee (FCC) met regularly to discuss and create an action plan grounded in recommendations from the Compensation Equity Study in fall 2024.  I joined the committee when I became Interim Provost in January 2025.  The group included Faculty Senate President, Dr. Liz Goodnick, Council of Chairs President, Dr. Jess Retrum,  Accounting Chair, Dr. Greg Clifton, AVP for Faculty Affairs, Dr. Cath Kleier, Professor of Secondary Education and Associate Director of the Honors Program, Dr. Philip Bernhardt, Chief Human Resources Officer, Stacy Dvergsdal, Executive Director of Total Rewards, Amanda Berry, Compensation Manager, Ali Fogal, Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, Dr. Patricia McKenna, Assistant Dean for Enrollment and Operations in CHHS, Amy Middleton, and Dean for the School of Hospitality, Dr. Lynn Minnaert.

Based on the committee’s work and recommendations, the University will adjust our faculty compensation structure and practices to be more competitive and transparent.  We focused our efforts last year on finding ways, within the constraints of our budget realities, to increase pay for faculty, especially those at the rank of Assistant Professor.  MSU Denver presently compensates faculty members based on years of service (YOS) in conjunction with salary data from the College University Professional Association for Human Resources, known as “CUPA.” CUPA data are used to provide benchmarks for faculty salaries based upon an average of salaries disaggregated by rank and discipline from 61 peer institutions.  The percentage we refer to when using CUPA data represents the position of a faculty member relative to peers at comparator institutions.

The work we have begun, and will continue to do into the next several years, will start with a transition away from the YOS model for salary adjustments to Years in Rank (YIR).  By moving to a YIR model, faculty members can get to 100% of the CUPA average faster than in the YOS model.  The result of this transition will be salary increases, particularly at the rank of Assistant Professor.  We anticipate in the new model that Assistant Professors starting salaries will increase by 3-5%, Associate Professors by up to 3%, and Professors by up to 2%.

The enhanced compensation structure is on track to be implemented in August 2026 for academic year 26-27.  To move from YOS to YIR we have launched a crucial effort to validate faculty records in Workday.  When you are asked by your dean and chair, please review your Workday personnel record carefully, paying particular attention to your start date and changes in rank.  More information and instructions will be coming this academic year about this.

To improve transparency and clear communications, faculty compensations practices, structures, and updates will be published on the Office of Faculty Affairs website by mid-August, 2025.  The site will include clear documentation of pay practices, along with a detailed explanation of what CUPA is and how we use it at MSU Denver.  The FCC will continue to meet this coming academic year as well.  The list of topics we have tentatively planned for includes but is not limited to:

• Lecturer salaries and advancement schedules
• Summer pay policies
• Affiliate faculty compensation.

Faculty compensation letters and contracts for academic year 25-26, including a 2.5% raise for all tenure and tenure track faculty members approved in this year’s budget, will soon follow this message.  Compensation letters will be available in Workday on August 6th.  You will receive an e-mail notification to view and acknowledge receipt of the letter.  This ​Workday job-aid​ can help you complete the process of acknowledgement.  Faculty contracts will be issued the following day, August 7th.  They will also be available through Workday, similarly, this ​job-aid​ can assist you in accessing and signing your contract. Faculty need to sign/acknowledge their compensation letters and contracts by Friday August 29th.

Once again, welcome to the start of a new academic year!  While the challenges we face are many, we will meet them together, always in service of our students, community and each other.

Sincerely,

Matt

Matthew S. Makley, PhD

Provost & Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs

Metropolitan State University of Denver

Campus Box 48, PO Box 173362| Denver, CO 80217-3362

303.605.5853 (office)