BONUSES EARMARKED FOR OUTSTANDING U.VA. FACULTY;
Private Funds Source of One-Time Awards

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 30 -- About 80 University of
Virginia faculty members will receive one-time bonuses from private
funds in recognition of their exceptional work during this academic
year, U.Va. President John T. Casteen III announced today.
	The awards, which will range from $2,500 to $5,000, will be
made in September to selected faculty in architecture, the arts and
sciences, commerce, education, engineering and applied science,
nursing, and the basic medical sciences, Casteen told a meeting of
the Faculty Senate.
	University salaries in these fields, he said, lag further
behind their peers' than those in law, graduate business and
clinical medicine, where faculty will not be eligible for these
awards.  Professors who hold endowed chairs and perhaps other groups
who are compensated more competitively also will not receive bonuses.
	The University's two provosts, Peter W. Low and Dr. Robert
W. Cantrell, will develop a selection process tied to annual faculty
performance reviews and specific criteria to guide departments and
schools in nominating tenured and tenure-track faculty for the
awards.
	"We expect there will be a strong bias toward rewarding
excellence in teaching," Low said.  Awards will be allocated
proportionately among the schools involved, he said.
	Funding for the bonuses, expected to total $300,000, will
come from one of the University's most generous benefactors, alumnus
David A. Harrison of Hopewell, who has given more than $15 million
over the past three years to support programs in law, archaeology,
medicine and athletics.
	"So long as state support remains inadequate, our intent is
to seek private funding in the years ahead to reward outstanding
performance by as many of our employees as possible, including
general faculty and classified staff," Casteen said.
	Calling this year's awards "a modest program" that will
reach only 7-8 percent of eligible faculty, he acknowledged that
"one-time awards do not address the fundamental need for
across-the-board increases in base salaries.  We will continue to
seek more comprehensive solutions to that problem by every means
available." 
	The University's declining faculty salaries in comparison to
its peers, which Senate Chair Daniel Larson labeled "the key issue
of the year," was cited as a serious concern in February by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' reaccreditation team.
It was also highlighted during General Assembly budget sessions and
was the focus of a recent study by a U.Va. Arts & Sciences faculty
committee.
	"This is a wonderful program," Larson said.  "It is
obviously not a solution, but it is a quick and substantive response
to the concerns expressed this year."
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April 30, 1996