Science Departments Utilize New Junior Faculty Pay Scale

An alternative pay scale for junior Faculty members designed to aid recruiting for natural science departments that have found it difficult to attract young scientists has been useful, but may not have solved the problem, several department spokesmen said yesterday.

"The real concern for most good young scientists is tenure, and they know Harvard has a limited number of tenured postions which only come up once every four years or so," Robert E. Kaufmann '62, assistant dean of the Faculty for financial affairs said yesterday.

"Basically, some institutions that aren't really as good as our departments can offer an assistant professorship for five years and then basically promise them tenure at the end of it," he said.

The new "beta" pay scale was instituted this spring in an effort to raise junior faculty salaries in the sciences without creating salary differentials between disciplines.

Under the plan, departments that choose to go on the beta scale offer junior faculty slightly more money but do not give them the semester leave included in the original, or "alpha," scale.

The Biology, Biochemistry and Physics Departments and the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics have all chosen to go on the beta scale.

Lawrence Bogorad, chairman of the Biology department, said yesterday his department has not tried to recruit anyone since the beta plan was instituted. However, he said he believes many of the junior faculty already in the department have opted for the new pay scale.

Matthew S. Meselson, chairman of the Biochemistry Department, said yesterday nearly everyone in the department has switched to the beta plan, but he said salaries are still not competitive with those at the Medical School's Biochemistry Department.

"We're still very short on the salary side, if we're going to try to keep up the quality of the department," Meselson said, adding that the problem is also acute for younger senior faculty, who can get higher salaries elsewhere.

William Klemperer '50, chairman of the Chemistry Department--which last year had four openings and was unable to fill any of them--was unavailable yesterday for comment.

Plan May Not Matter

George F. Carrier, acting dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, said yesterday that although the division has hired several new junior faculty members, he is not sure the changed pay plan makes a large difference.

Michael Tinkham, chairman of the Physics Department, said yesterday he does not believe salary levels have been a major consideration for faculty entering the department in the past, though members of the department have switched to it.