Research facility wants raises to fight drain

RENO (AP) - As faculty members across Nevada absorb pay cuts, leaders at the Desert Research Institute are asking to raise salaries by as much as 12.6 percent to stop a drain of scientists leaving for higher-paying schools.

DRI President Stephen Wells said raises for 130 grant-funded researchers could help stop the bleeding after the institute lost 15 professors and associates over the last two years - three or four times DRI's normal turnover rate.

Established in 1959, the Desert Research Institute is known for its atmospheric, water and environmental research. It ranks 20th in in the U.S. for research-and-development spending in the environmental sciences, topping Harvard and Stanford.

"I would say this situation is a real threat to our future if we can't recruit and retain talent," Wells said.

The regents will be asked to approve salary hikes totaling $1.5 million at its meeting in Las Vegas on Thursday and Friday. Money will come from grants and contracts, not state funds.

The move comes as most of Nevada's professors are getting a 2.5 percent pay cut and six furlough days this year. DRI faculty members are taking furloughs but not pay cuts because their salaries come from outside agencies.

While the school's support staff receives state funds, DRI faculty members do not receive tenure or state support, and only 15 longtime employees get state retirement benefits.

"Our jobs are tenuous. If you don't bring in funding, you lose your job. This is crucial," said DRI atmospheric sciences professor Alan Gertler, a member of the faculty senate. "They are going to institutes where they can receive hard-money support, tenured faculty positions."

But the proposed raises could set a precedent. University of Nevada, Reno Faculty Senate Chairman David Ryfe said grant-supported professors at other state universities should also be entitled to raises if their grant supporters supply the money.

DRI said its research professors are paid 12.5 percent below their peers in the western region and nearly 14 percent below their peers nationally. The average salary for a faculty member or research associate is $90,000 a year.

For instance, DRI research associates are paid 7 percent lower than their peers at Georgia Tech Research Institute. The salary differences average 12.6 percent.