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MUH ranks high for salaries

Taylor Dolven, Senior Staff Writer

Miami University Hamilton (MUH) was recently ranked by an educational publication as one of the highest average professor salaries.

The publication, Inside Higher Education, said the average salary for a MUH professor was $97,300.

According to the survey by American Association of University Professors (AAUP), MUH is the eighth highest paying community college. The average salary for Oxford campus is $102,800 and Middletown campus is $86,900, according to the AAUP survey.

A professor's salary is determined by many different factors including how long they have been teaching for.

"We have several professors who have been here for 25 and 30 years so they are going to make a lot more," said Perry Richardson, communications director at MUH, of the Hamilton salary.

Another contributing factor comes from research funds. The Oxford campus is more likely to receive research funding that contributes to faculty salary, according to Claire Wagner, associate director of university communications.

"We have more facilities and labs for research," she said.

Wagner said classifying the regional campus as a community college may not be accurate.

"I think people who are familiar with Miami and the fact that we have two terrific regional campuses know the caliber of what happens on those campuses is very high," Wagner said.

Richardson said the campus offers both associate and bachelors degrees with the intention of expanding bachelor degrees in the future.

"The bottom line is we do not see ourselves as a community college," Richardson said. "We see ourselves as a regional campus of Miami."

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Wagner said MUH has a very strong relationship with the Oxford campus, and a lot of professors work at both universities.

"Our professors are tenured to Miami and many have PhDs the same as they do in Oxford," Richardson said.

Richardson and Wagner both stressed the Hamilton campus' ties to Miami.

"Our regional campuses are a part of our larger university, so some professors teach here and there," Wagner said.

As far as categorizing MUH as a community college, Wagner is unsure how this happened.

"Quality educational opportunities matter at all of our sites," Wagner said. "There is a different level of opportunity when you are allied with a large four-year university."

Community colleges are strictly two-year colleges. Richardson does not know why the Hamilton campus was included on the list of community colleges, because it is a regional campus that offers both associate and bachelor degrees.