Annual Merit Increase

1. MERIT ASSESSMENT

• All full-time faculty with their primary appointment in Gallatin complete an annual Faculty Activity Report by mid-May and submit an updated faculty CV. The information gathered addresses contributions to scholarship, teaching, advising, and service activities for the current academic year.

• The Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs review the faculty’s annual merit information (including teaching evaluations and/or advising surveys) and provide an assessment of merit for each faculty member to the Dean.

• The Dean reviews the recommendations presented by the Associate Deans; independently reviews the information about faculty activity and contributions in all four areas (research, teaching, advising and service); and determines the merit award.

2. ANNUAL COMPENSATION POOL DISTRIBUTION FOR FY2026

• For fiscal 2026, the University has allocated a tiered merit pool approach for all Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, and Other Faculty, as noted below: 

  • Tenured/Tenure-track faculty and Other Faculty earning a combined salary below $150,000 in FY25 (Tier 1), across all appointments and positions, will receive a 2.5%. 

  • Tenured/Tenure-track faculty and Other Faculty earning between $150,000 and $299,999 (Tier 2), the pool will be 2.0%. 

  • Tenured/Tenure-track faculty and Other Faculty with a combined salary of $300,000 or more in FY25 (Tier 3), will not be eligible for a merit increase.

  • As of June 30th, the University has not yet issued guidance regarding Continuing Contract Faculty—both bargaining unit and non-bargaining unit. We will follow up separately once additional information becomes available.

• It has been Gallatin’s past practice to withhold 0.5% of the total merit pool allocation to address special cases, including salary compression, inversion, or exceptional performance in research, teaching, and service. However, due to the unique structure of multiple salary tiers and the limited size of the merit pool for fiscal year 2026, Gallatin will allocate the full amount within each salary tier.

• For jointly-appointed faculty, Gallatin provides the recommended merit increase and discusses the recommended merit increase with the joint faculty member’s secondary department, prior to Dean review.

3. DEAN’S RESERVE

Additional faculty salary adjustments, for tenure, promotion, equity, retention or other increases are provided for by funding maintained in a Dean’s Reserve. These increases are not funded through the funds made available in the Annual Merit Increase pool. 

4. DEAN REVIEW AND DETERMINATION

• The Dean reviews the recommendations from the Associate Deans for each faculty member, and in some cases, may confer with the Associate Deans for additional information. For faculty with joint appointments, the Dean review also includes consideration of input from the secondary department.

• The final determination for all faculty merit increases is made by the Dean. For faculty with joint appointments, Gallatin informs the secondary department of the final determination.

5. NOTIFICATION TO PROVOST AND FACULTY

• The Dean submits Gallatin’s FY26 salary recommendation for each full-time faculty member to the Provost with written justification for merit increases that are less than 1 percent, or greater than 5 percent.

• Following Provostial approval, the Dean informs each faculty member of their annual base salary for the upcoming academic year through an email communication to be sent in the third week of August.