2024 AAUP Updates

The AAUP has joined other education organizations in endorsing the bicameral Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act of 2024, which would nearly double the maximum amount afforded to recipients and ensure greater access to higher ed for working families and students.

The report describes key institutional finance trends in US higher education and documents the ongoing shift in the makeup of the academic workforce from mostly full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members to mostly faculty members holding contingent appointments that are ineligible for tenure. 

Key findings on compensation include the following. From fall 2022 to fall 2023, nominal average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 3.8 percent for all academic ranks combined. However, real average salaries for full-time faculty members are nowhere near prepandemic levels. Economic conditions remain dire for part-time faculty members, who make up just under half (48.7 percent) of the academic workforce. In 2022–23, part-time faculty members earned an average of $3,903 per three-credit course section. 

Delegates to the AAUP's Biennial Association Meeting voted today for new officers and two at-large members of the AAUP's governing Council. A warm welcome to incoming president Todd Wolfson, vice president Rotua Lumbantobing, secretary-treasurer Danielle Aubert, and at-large Council members Paul Davis and Chenjerai Kumanyika.

Today, the AAUP’s newly created Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom announced the appointments of fifteen fellows who will examine the evolving threats to academic freedom and institutional autonomy in American higher education over the next two years.

The AAUP is pleased to announce this year’s awards recipients ahead of their official recognition at the 2024 AAUP Conference and Biennial Meeting. The Outstanding Achievement Award will be presented to Kent Ervin (University of Nevada, Reno). The Georgina M. Smith Award will be presented to Dr. Deni Galileo (University of Delaware AAUP chapter). The Marilyn Sternberg Award will be presented to two recipients: Dr. Kenneth Davis (Edward Waters University) and Stephen Mockabee (University of Cincinnati). Congratulations and thanks for your outstanding work in service of higher education!

The AAUP has joined the Double Pell Alliance, a group of organizations and associations advocating for increased investments in the Federal Pell Grant program, in calling for the maximum Pell Grant amount to be increased to $13,000 per year for fiscal year 2025.

Today, the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom released a new white paper, Manufacturing Backlash: Right-Wing Think Tanks and Legislative Attacks on Higher Education, 2021–2023, detailing well-funded and widespread political and legislative attacks on higher education.

AAUP president Irene Mulvey released a statement along with the presidents of Rutgers, Northwestern, and UCLA ahead of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on May 23.