In an attempt to keep Iowa State’s faculty and staff salaries competitive, the state Board of Regents approved an average 4.1 percent pay raise for university employees, said Ellen Rasmussen, assistant to the provost.

“It makes it difficult to hire the best people if you can’t be competitive,” she said.

Associate Provost Edwin Lewis said: “It was an effort to try to make salaries of the top administrators consistent with salaries of their counterparts within other universities, particularly public universities.”

ISU’s top administrators were evaluated by either university president Martin Jischke or ISU Provost John Kozak before a salary recommendation was made to the state Board of Regents, Jischke said.

The recommendation was based on job performance, goals achieved and accomplishments throughout the year, Jischke said. Jischke said previously made plans for the year are also looked at.

If these areas of the evaluation are satisfied, the faculty member gets a 1.3 percent pay raise. If his or her performance is outstanding and above average, then Jischke or Kozak will recommend a pay raise of more than 1.3 percent, Jischke said.

Jischke added that pay raises may be “an adjustment to trends in the national market,” and that the average pay raise for faculty and staff members of universities throughout the country was 4 percent last year.