While about three-fourths of all full professors received merit pay in 1998 and 1999, only about a third of all lecturers did. By rank, female full professors, associate professors and lecturers all proportionally receive significantly more awards than males. There is no significant difference between men and women at the assistant professor rank. However, the high number of male faculty at the highest paying ranks can skew overall numbers systemwide and on some campuses. A large percentage of the CSU faculty was hired during the huge enrollment growth in the 1960s at a time when there were fewer opportunities for women than there are today.
Women receive equal or larger merit awards than men at every rank but lecturer.
It has been the policy of the CSU Trustees for several years that merit pay should be one instrument to help take the CSU to the next level of quality by providing financial rewards to faculty considered outstanding by their peers. The CFA contract has included a merit pay program since 1995. The current merit pay program was agreed to by the CFA and is in their current contract, which expires in June 2001. The current program uses 40 percent of the entire faculty salary increase pool for merit increases and service salary increases. Both the percentage of CSU women faculty overall and the percentage in the highest ranks have risen by about 15 percent over the past five years.