Rhetoric/Composition Salaries for AY 2013-14

If you wish, please feel free to use this page to share information about salaries offered for positions in Rhetoric and Composition. This would be helpful to all current and future seekers. If you're willing to do this, make a note of the kind of job, the level (asst/assoc/full), the region, the kind of university, the salary, and any very significant perks/incentives (if any), male or female, and if you negotiated.

Example: "Assistant Prof TT, South, Public University, $62,500 9 month contract, + summer teaching extra, $5,500 moving, $5000 startup, female (negotiated moving expense)"

See 2009 Detailed Hiring Info (for Rhet/Comp jobs), Rhetoric / Composition 2010 Positions and Details, Rhetoric/Composition Positions and Salaries 2011-12 AND Rhetoric/Composition Salaries 2012-13 for results from the last several seasons.

Salaries for TT Jobs starting in AY 2013-14 - Asst. or Assoc. Professor of Rhet/Comp

Asst. Prof TT, female, northeast public R2: 2/2 teaching load (first year 1/2), salary $56k (negotiated up from $54k), $4k start-up (negotiated from $0), $4k relocation budget, new computer, negotiated for Adobe Creative Suite for me and computer classroom, fab benefits for me and spouse, $1200 per year for conferences/research.

Asst. Prof TT. South (public), $57,000. 2/3 load. $2000 start-up. Decent travel support. Summer teaching (up to 25% of base salary) optional. Negoatiated salary.

Asst. Prof. TT, $63,800, with pay raise each year (negotiated $2500 from original offer). $3,000 moving (negotiated from $2000), $2000 start-up, $1000/yr travel funds, new computer, optional summer teaching.

Asst. Prof. TT, West (public), $67,500; $3,500 research start up; $3,500 unrestricted first year bonus; up to $2,000 moving reimbursed; $500 annual travel, optional summer and winter session teaching (at 10% base salary per course); new computer, laptop, iPad, and any reasonable software requests; female. [Negotiations: I went up on salary by $1000, asked for the maximum research startup that I offered to justify with my research estimates if needed, and ensured I would have the Adobe Creative Suite. The three hardware devices were part of the original offer package and may send me into a technology loop .]

Assistant prof TT, male, midwest public U, 2/2 teaching load, $56k, a few k in startup pay, 6k moving, 6k research, more than 1k per year research/travel. Negotiated startup pay.

Asst. Prof TT, midwest public, 2/2, $59k, 5k startup, course release, computer and software, more than 1k per year travel. Opt'l summer teaching. Negotiated base salary and software. Female. ABD.

Asst Prof, TT, West, Public 4-yr, 47k, 9 mo, 3/2, overload & summer optional, free tuition for spouse & dependants, 1,500 relocation, killer benefits. Male PhD.

Asst. Prof TT, female, South private, 4/4 teaching load, $44k, $500/year travel/research, $1k moving.

Asst. Prof TT, female ABD, South, public, 50k (negotiated), very generous travel funding, 1k moving, choice of new computer, course release.

Assoc. Prof. TT, male, $64K with annual raise, Midwest community college, 4/4 load with optional summer teaching. $2600 annual travel/research/technology budget.

Salaries for TT Technical/Professional Writing Positions starting in AY 2013-14

Advanced Assistant (some administrative work invovled), SouthWest, public, 66+22k (88k), 7500 moving expenses,

Assistant prof, female, midwest (urban area). 60K + optional summer overload and generous research stipends, 8K moving expenses and NTT position for spouse. Folks, keep that TC salary data comin'.

Assistant prof, female, south (public). $60K, very generous start-up, 6K moving, new computer, summer optional; 2/2. Tried to negotiate salary--unsuccessful.

Assistant prof, female, north (public). $65K, $2000 moving, $5000 research/start-up, new computer, no summer teaching; 2/2. Negotiated $2500 more in salary.

Assistant prof, female, south (public). $57K, no moving (state law), new computer, $500 start-up; 3/3. Salary negotiations unsuccessful.

Asst. Prof, TT, Midwest, Public University. 61K (9 month contract + summer teaching extra), 10K start-up (renewable for up to three years), 8K technology (computers, software, etc.), 3K moving expenses, and NTT position for spouse. Female, ABD.

Assistant prof, southeast (public). $70K + optional summer teaching. $7K startup summer bonus. $7K moving expenses. $2K annual research. New computer + iPad + specialty software. Male, ABD.

Assistant prof., TT, mid-atlantic rural (public). $55K + optional summer overload, $5K technology, no moving (state law), 4/4 (2 f2f/2 blended). Negotiated $5000 more in salary. Female, ABD.

Asst. Prof, TT, female PhD, Northeast public, 4/4 + program coordinator extra $, grad classes & summer extra $, $58k (negotiated from $52k--but union was in contract negotiations, which accounted for at least $600 of the neg, probably more) with 5% annual raise, $1000 travel/research, no startup ("we don't do that"), $1000 moving, union benefits, new computer/Adobe CS. Attempted to negotiate more moving, startup, and a 1-course release for first year, but was unsuccessful.

Salaries for WPA Positions starting in AY 2013-14

Asst. Prof/Writing Program Director, TT, Northwest, Public University. 62K negotiated for 9 month contract (summer teaching/program work extra), negotiated early start date with 2K stipend, negotiated 3K start-up funds to be used for prof travel over first 2 years, 1 course release per semester for WPA work + 1 additional course release in year 1 for new faculty, new computer of choice + standard software, 4K moving expenses, and NTT position for spouse. Female, ABD.

Salaries for VAP / Lecturer [non-TT] Postions starting in AY 2013-14

VAP Multi-year appointment. Southern institution. Male. 45k initial offer. Negotiated to 47k, 1k moving expenses. Sadly, request for pony was rejected.

Comments / Questions

Hey, I see a few of the posters above have negotiated startup funds. What are such funds used for in our discipline? What kinds of tactics might you take to negotiate more of them? Thanks in advance!

Uses: I likely can't anticipate all of the uses/justifications for startup or research funds but in our field they may be used for books/monographs (to stay current/build your library), to cover translation fees of primary sources, to provide nominal remuneration to interview subjects (for transportation or participation) in qualitative research, very typically it is used as a publication subvention for an anticipated book contract (and sometimes for image or other cited source permissions). As a "last resort" it can also go toward research-related travel, but my advisor said that is less desirable if there is already a set conference travel fund or at least campus-wide competitions.

Tactics: My gut is your sense is right: it would be sound to reference particulars when seeing if that amount can negotiate upward rather than just saying "I want more." I have also read that institutions sometimes bound by less ability for salary negotiation may be able to be more flexible in this area or on moving costs. Even beyond particulars, it might be a good idea to crate a very "drafty budget" of anticipated or typical research costs to be able to justify asking for more. For example, I do anticipate needing to work with a translator so I returned to my video/audio/transcripts that I possessed already and created a ballpark estimate of how many hours/words I had and what transcription and translation costs might be (based on a few queries I made to professional translation services/translators). One might also consider researching typical publication subvention amounts with publishers in our field. "Typical" permission rates are much harder, since those range very broadly based on the source. While I never submitted the draft of the translation budget, I did reference it when we discussed the startup amount.

Running average of Rhet / Comp salaries: 56K. Running average of Technical / Professional writing salaries: 62.1K.