Willow AustinUnder the Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act, the earnings of all University of Alberta staff members making more than $125,000 in the calendar year must be released annually as a “sunshine list.”
On June 30, the U of A released its first-ever sunshine list for the year of 2015. The list revealed salaries (and inequities) in its top-paid administrators and professors who exceeded an income of $125,000. It also included the names of 23 Board of Governors members, though these positions are unpaid.
The U of A’s list included 1,505 entries — we created a few visuals to make sense of it all.
Types of staff on the sunshine list
More than half of all faculty made more than $125,000 in 2015, though this includes faculty who are primarily administrators. Also listed were a quarter of the university’s administrative and professional officers — individuals who do not teach, but manage and direct areas within the organization.
For visual purposes, this graph does not include support staff (listed: 17/8735) and other staff (listed: 0/650).
Pay distribution across the sunshine list
Most of the university’s high earners ended up in the $150,000-$199,000 bracket. The 11 staff in the highest category combined made twice as much as the 22 staff in the lowest category combined.
This graph does not include the 12,719 U of A staff members who were not above the $125,000 earning threshold.
Gender gap in the top 200
Most earners in the top 200 were male, with salaries ranging from $601,772 to $252,975. In lower earning positions, such as assistant professors and contract instructors, gender is closer to parity — though it takes time and effort to move gender equity up the pay scale. Women currently make up 56 per cent of undergraduate enrollments, which is not reflected in the higher levels of the university pay scale.
Faculties of the top 200
Top earners were skewed by faculty as well as gender. These 200 individuals took roughly six per cent of the university’s total staff compensation budget and were not dispersed evenly throughout the institution.
In Medicine and Dentistry, top earners were typically researchers. In Business, top earners were involved in research and faculty administration. Top earners in Science and Engineering often held research chair positions and headed labs. In the Arts, top earners were often research chairs as well. Excluding those in Medicine and Dentistry, many top earners listed as “Professor” were former members of central, faculty, or department administration. These individuals appeared to retain high salaries despite no longer being in a leadership role.
Excluding top earners in Medicine and Dentistry, many of the top 200 listed as “Professor” were former members of central, faculty, or department administration. These individuals appeared to retain high salaries despite no longer being in a leadership role.
This graph shows how top earners are not distributed according to where students (undergraduate and graduate) are in the university.
How your deans are paid
A dean, by definition, is the chief executive officer of a faculty. The sunshine list showed Business and Science paying their deans the most. Lesser-funded faculties such as Arts, Education, and Campus Saint-Jean fell lower on the scale.
In 2015, some faculties were led by interim deans. Interim deans temporarily take on the roles of “permanent” deans after they resign or before they arrive to begin their term. Interim deans tend to have shorter terms, which end when a “permanent” dean arrives.
- The Dean of Business is (annually) worth a Pizza Hut franchise — It costs $422,000 to open a higher-end Pizza Hut restaurant. Unfortunately, Boston Pizzas are too expensive to list here.
- The Dean of Nursing is (annually) worth four episodes of Steve Buscemi — At a rate of $97,000 per episode, it will cost about $385,000 to hire Steve Buscemi onto four episodes of that TV show you’re producing. You could also just make a four-part mini-series about Buscemi himself.
- The Interim Dean of Engineering is (annually) worth a Pacific island — An island in Fiji can be bought for $323,000. But the island is only 40 acres, it’s undeveloped, and it does not include that yacht you’ve always dreamed of.
- The Interim Dean of Native Studies is (annually) worth a car from the Fast and the Furious — A Paul Walker-driven Toyota Supra was sold for $185,000 at an auction last year. The car had appeared in The Fast and the Furious.
- The Interim Dean of Pharmacy is (annually) worth a combine harvester — A 2014 John Deere S670 is worth $379,900. This three-speed combine is designed to take on small grain. Features include suspension seating, a seven-inch touch screen, and HID lights.
Business time: Compensation in the highest-paid admin team
Business appeared at the top of the deans’ ranking by income — that trend continued through the rest of the administrators in the faculty. Business administrators (nine individuals including the dean, vice-deans, associate deans, and assistant deans) earned more than their peers across faculties. Earnings within the administration of the Alberta School of Business were$3.7 million — higher than those of any other faculty, based on sunshine list data. The second-highest earning administrative team was in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at $2.4 million (11 individuals including a former dean, an interim dean, vice-deans, associate deans, and assistant deans).
This assessment does not include department chairs. The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry listed 21 chairs who earned a total of $6.1 million, averaging $291,179 each. The Alberta School of Business listed three chairs who earned a total of $1.2 million, who averaged $384,854 each.
- 10 administrators, two women: Only two women were among the Alberta School of Business’ 2015 admin team. These women were also the second and third-lowest earners.
- Associate deans earning above average: The average earnings for an associate dean in 2015 was $226,531. Excluding Elaine Geddes, all of the Alberta School of Business’ associate deans earned above average — one earned almost double the average.
- Most Business administrators in the U of A’s top 150: The Alberta School of Business administrative team, excluding Elaine Geddes, Heather Christensen, and Kenneth Crocker, are all in the U of A’s top-earning 150. While this is normal for deans, this is not so normal for associate deans. In fact, only the associate deans in the U of A’s top 150 are from Business; associate deans in other faculties earn less.
