Out of 141 administrators and faculty members who have salaries exceeding $100,000 at Iowa State in the 1995-96 academic year, only eight were women.

ISU has a total of 6,102 faculty members. This number includes professors, scientific staff and merit employees. Women make up 48 percent of this number, totaling 2,937.

Although women make up nearly half of the employees, they represent less than one-third of the faculty (there are 491 female faculty, which is 27 percent of the total faculty).

The eight women who made over $100,000 in 1995-96 are: Elizabeth Hoffman, dean of the liberal arts and sciences; Patricia Swan, dean of the graduate college and vice provost for research and advanced studies; Beverly Crabtree, dean of family and consumer sciences; Norene Daly, former dean of education; Rebecca Fritzsche, physician at student health; Pauline Miller, physician at student health; Nancy Eaton, the dean of library services, and Carol Bradley, assistant to the president and director of public relations.

Of the eight women, Hoffman is the highest paid woman at ISU bringing in $135,000 each year. Overall, she ranks 21st out of the 141 salaries over $100,000.

Eaton said, “I guess it was a surprise to see how few women were on the list. It certainly causes one to think that there should be an analysis of why there aren’t more women in those ranks.”

Linda Galvin, a secretary in the journalism and mass communication department, said, “I think we still have a glass ceiling for women at this university so the number does not surprise me.”

Hoffman was not shocked by the salary statistics nor was Barbara Mack, associate professor of journalism and mass communication or Warren Madden, the vice president of business and finance.

Hoffman said most of the higher paid people on campus hold higher administration offices or are professors in science and engineering which reflect a gender difference. She also added that these professors have been at ISU quite a long time.

Mack agreed. “There are some real broad issues the university has been dealing with. Many of the most senior faculty have been at the university at least 20 years and 20 years ago very few women were earning PhDs,” she said.

Madden said, “This pattern has existed for a period of time in many of the disciplines because many fields at ISU have been historically dominated by men.”

Another factor in the salary difference Hoffman mentioned is that most full professors, with long tenure at the university or tenure at a previous institution, and administrators are paid on a 12-month basis while faculty are usually paid on a nine month basis.

In the Iowa State Fact Book for the 1995-96 academic year, only 17.9 percent of the tenured faculty were female.

“I think our very best women faculty are being paid consistent with rank and discipline relative to national rank of the department,” Hoffman said.

Bradley said, “I’m very grateful for my salary. It’s more than I ever imagined making when I was younger in my career.”

Regarding her own salary, Hoffman said, “I feel like I am making exactly what I should be making.”

She said she is paid the “median salary” for deans for LAS across the country and she said she believes she is paid appropriately for the job regardless of her gender.

However, the 1995-96 statistics show only 5.7 percent of the highest paid faculty are women. Program and gender could be the bread winning difference. Hoffman said science and engineering faculty are more highly paid than those in the humanities all across the nation.

The field in which men have typically had higher positions include agriculture and engineering, Madden said. But he also said that ISU is not the only place where these patterns are found and they will change over time.

“I don’t think [the lack of women with high salaries] is a good thing. We have to get to a point where its balanced,” he said. “We need to promote and develop women in these areas.”

Madden said a time will come when women pursue careers primarily dominated by men and gain additional experience.

“I think efforts are underway and those differentials will change over time,” he said.

Hoffman said, “I think the appropriate way to work on the gender difference is to recruit women to administrative positions as senior faculty or in science and engineering positions.”

“In addition [we need to] help those who are here through the tenure and promotion process so they can reach the same rank and length of service as men making those high salaries.”

She said she would like to see more women in the these positions and she hopes to see a change in the future. Women scientists receive the same income as male scientists at ISU Hoffman said.

Mack said, “Some of our most highly compensated faculty are in the fields of veterinary medicine and engineering which have been male dominated for the last 10 to 15 years.”

Each year faculty members receive a raise based on satisfactory performance.

Hoffman said additional “special raises” can be awarded based on merit, market adjustment and equity adjustment.

There is a process to respond to requests for the special pay increases.

Hoffman said, “Each year chairs turn in a list of faculty who have special merit (they have won an award or have done something extraordinary) and should get a special raise.”

“Faculty can also receive a special raise if they are being courted by another university or if they feel they are being underpaid,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said they do not award raises to everyone who requests them. She said typically woman and minorities who feel underpaid are given special priority for salary increases.

There are three sources of money from which raises can be drawn: the department, the college or the Provost.

But not all employees of ISU have three outlets from which they can hope to receive a salary increase.

Gavin said, “The merit system has a step program and once you reach the top step you’re red circled.

Many secretarial staff members have been red circled approximately 10 or 20 years and what increases we receive are a result of bargains made between the union and the Board of Regents.”

The negotiated salary increase given to Gavin and others is the only hike in salary they are given. That bargain process is the only method of receiving an increase. Otherwise Gavin said, “That’s it.”

Over time, the masculine stereotypes historically assigned to professions will hopefully dissipate as women continue to pursue careers and gain experience in presently male dominated fields and as long as equality is strived for and promoted at ISU.