UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As part of an ongoing commitment to investing in faculty and staff, Penn State will be contributing more than $4.8 million toward faculty promotions in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget and $5.4 million in fiscal year 2025-26.
Along with support for tenure-line promotions, the University will now also fund non-tenure-line faculty promotions at all campuses centrally starting in fiscal year 2024-25 — meaning these promotions and salary increases will not be funded out of individual college, institute or campus budgets. Previously, only tenure-line faculty promotions were funded centrally.
This change coincides with additional central support from the Office of the President for a new professional development program for non-tenure-line teaching and clinical faculty. The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs will move forward with developing a program of professional development for teaching and clinical non-tenure-line faculty members and professors of practice. Faculty Affairs, in consultation with deans at the academic colleges, will develop a centralized mechanism for administering the program, including eligibility and selection guidelines.
“Penn State strives to support our faculty members’ continued professional advancement as one of the many strategies we are looking at when it comes to competitive faculty retention and recruitment,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “Our faculty members are among the most talented within higher education. The breadth and depth of their expertise are not only integral to our mission as a research institution, but they are absolutely critical partners in fostering the Penn State student experience that is our hallmark.”
Approximately $4.2 million will be committed to non-tenure-line promotions across the two years. The percentage increase will be the same for tenure-line and non-tenure-line, and that percentage is set annually.
“As we continue through budget planning it became clear that this is a priority that we want to invest in directly,” said Tracy Langkilde, interim executive vice president and provost. “Moving forward, this procedural change will free up funds in our units to use for additional needs and priorities in support of their educational and research missions.”
This update comes in alignment with ongoing budget planning for the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2025. Penn State’s overall budget will be presented to the Board of Trustees for approval at its meeting this July.
Tenure-line and non-tenure-line faculty promotions for 2024-25 will be announced by June, as is done annually.
Ongoing updates around compensation, budgeting and other University initiatives and priorities are available on Penn State’s Road Map website.