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I aim to become faculty at a dental school.Does anyone have any idea how much do they pay fulltime and partime faculty in texas and other states.
Riya
Riya
I aim to become faculty at a dental school.Does anyone have any idea how much do they pay fulltime and partime faculty in texas and other states.
Riya
Gary "Mathemagician Ruska here,
Part-time faculty usually don't get paid - they volunteer. They may be eligible for benefits such as discounted rates for parking or maybe even health insurance or umbrella malpractice, but in general, most do so because they want to give back to the school.
Full-time faculty salaries are actually quite variable, based on a) specialty, b) academic rank and c) funding source (state/private/hospital).
Faculty incomes generally as calculated as follows: Base Salary (based on academic rank) + Discretionary Funds (research grants, bonuses for being chair or program director, etc.) + Clinical Productivity (a percentage of the total billing, can be anywhere from 25-45%).
For example:
Assistant Professor: Base Salary = $50 - 70,000
Associate Professor: Base Salary = $70 - 80,000
Professor: Base Salary = $85,000+
Deans, etc.: Base Salary > $120,000
Where it gets tricky is that you, as a faculty member, are responsible for covering your own salary. Each department has an allocated set of funds for faculty. Faculty salaries will be paid to you whether you work a ton or do nothing. However, if you do nothing, you will likely not remain faculty for very long.
So, let's say that you are an associate professor who has a salary of $75,000. The department is paying you $75,000 out of their budget and, for it to be a worthwhile investment, you have to generate at least $75,000 in clinical productivity or research grants. A percentage of anything you generate above that is given to you as additional income.
How does this work in real life?
Take an academic OMFS who does not do research and is an assistant professor and residency program director:
Academic Salary: $60,000
Grant Funding: $0 (let's say not into research)
Clinical Income: Generates $500,000, after overhead becomes $250,000, $60,000 of which is used to cover salary. Of the remaining $190,000, you get approximately 35% = $66,500.
Residency Director: $25,000
Total: $151,500
Take an academic prosthodontist who is an associate professor and heavy into biomaterials research:
Academic Salary: $75,000
Grant Funding: $125,000 (covers salary + $50,000)
Clinical Practice: Generates $100,000, after overhead is $40,000, of which you get 35% = $14,000
Total: $139,000
Finally, imagine a situation in which you are an academic chairman, with the rank of professor:
Academic Salary: $100,000
Clinical Practice: Generates $600,000, after overhead is $300,000, after covering salary is $200,000, of which 35% is given to you = $70,000
Administrative Bonus (for being chairman) = $50,000
Total: $220,000
Now the big variable is clinical income: some specialists can bill a ton and make a killing as academics (though not reaching their private practice counterparts). However, the tough part is that, in order to advance in an academic position, you usually need to publish quite a bit, which requires research. Doing research takes away from clinic time and can thus decrease your salary, especially if you don't have grant funding. This is why very few academic faculty participate in full-time basic science research. With cuts to NIH/NIDCR funding, grant money is becoming more difficult to obtain.
Take GR's mentor, an associate professor of OMFS at a major academic health center with academic position at affiliated private medical school.
Academic Salary: $100,000
Grant Money: $20,000
Clinical Practice: $500,000, after overhead is $250,000, of which $100,000 goes to cover salary; of the remaining $150,000, gets to keep 50% (which is on the higher end) = $75,000
Administrative Bonus (program director) = $40,000
Total = $235,000
Many parttime faculty are graduates who haven't yet pass the board so they volunteer their service until they get their license. Then when they finally go to private practice, advertising their "FACULTY" experience sounds impressive to the general public. At my school there was this AGD resident and clinical instructor who hadn't passed the board after four attempts; yet he was teaching board reviews! Getting a faculty position is generally more about who you know than what you know.
If you say that you are a faculty at XXX Dental school at a local bar, they will think that you are the "professor" and look at you with awe. But there are many ranks in academic. Ranging from lowest to highest:
1. Lecturer
2. Instructor.
3. Assistant Professor
4. Associate Professor
5. Professor
All are considered faculty but a nice thing about starting at assistant professor level is that many students will address to you as their professor regardless of the rank! Boy, do I miss my teaching days.... DP
And we miss you Dr. Phan! There is no doubt in my mind that you would have been on the fast track to Professors. You donated more of your time and cared more then anyone at that school. Thinking about coming back?
Each year, several graduates of the residency that I am in go into teaching. I asked them "why" and a lot of them mentioned that they had never wanted to teach before but it had its perks as someone fresh out of residency.
One important factor other posts have failed to mention is that you can qualify for federal loan repayment if you take a full-time position as a faculty member. Thus, by working as a faculty member, you get the following compared to private practice:
1. guaranteed minimum income per month
2. free benefits (health ins, dental ins, 401K, etc) (free cuz it is the school that pays it, not you as your own boss)--this stuff really adds up
3. free continuing education
4. $25,000/yr federal loan repayment (and remember, you won't pay taxes or interest on that $25,000!)
5. Reduced tuition for your dependents and spouse
6. Free subscription to journals
7. Covered licensure fees
8. And for both females and males alike, maternity/paternity leave--and you don't have to worry about a reduction in salary!
In ds, I never once heard a prof complain that they couldn't pay back their loans and send their kids to expensive private colleges on their salaries.
According to my classmates who are just about to graduate and who are going into teaching, the financial rewards of teaching are equal to private practice.