NORMA JEAN GARGASZ/Tucson Citizen
University of Arizona professor Vicki Chandler, a world-leading plant geneticist, stayed at UA because it made a good counteroffer to one from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research includes looking at the genes in corn, or maize.
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Juan Garcia was about to lose a rock star.
University of Arizona professor Vicki Chandler, one of the world's leading plant geneticists, was entertaining an offer from the University of Texas.
Part of Garcia's job as UA's vice provost for academic affairs is to try to stem the Wildcat brain drain that has cost the local economy millions of dollars.
In Chandler's case, he succeeded.
More investment in academic support and more successful efforts to find money for salaries have helped UA slow the outbound tide of top-echelon faculty to other colleges and universities.
"It's not that I wanted to leave," Chandler said. "But they made me a very attractive offer" that included more money and a chance to focus on research.
Garcia scrounged for a raise for Chandler, put more research assistants under her and agreed to help finance her new plant genetics research.
She agreed to stay.
The stakes are high for keeping such researchers in southern Arizona. A report prepared by the state's three universities cites a U.S. Department of Commerce study showing 39.5 jobs are created for every $1 million in research spending.
And Chandler is a one-woman economic development machine. Had she bolted she would have taken to the Lone Star State more than $10 million in federal research grants she had secured for the next several years.
Plugging the drain
Last year, UA kept 60 percent of the 103 faculty who had offers to leave. In 2002-03, the university kept 55 percent of 134 faculty with offers.
And this year should be even better because UA has set aside $4.3 million to keep key people such as Chandler.
UA President Peter Likins said the outgoing tide of professors is beginning to come in.
"We've lost more than we should have in the last 10 years, but we are beginning to win more than we lose," he said.
Money is part of the picture.
UA's salaries for tenure-track faculty are in the bottom 17 percent nationally, according to a survey by the American Association of University Professors.
It would take $47.2 million annually to bring UA salaries to the middle of the pack, according to a personnel report prepared for the Board of Regents last month.
Comparatively, the $4.3 million is a "tiny little number," but it's a good start, Likins said.
The battles will continue as universities try to pluck the best people from one another to improve reputations and bring in the cash.
"There's lots of demand for the best talent because we operate at the highest levels of research," Garcia said. "It's sort of like the NBA. It's a very competitive deal."
Just as superstar athletes know the market value for their talents, professors know the value of their research.
Though they often aren't driven by paychecks, good cancer researchers can earn more in the private sector. And UA researchers don't like seeing 80 percent of their peers making more money for other teams, Garcia said.
