Office of the Chancellor

Additional 2 Percent Merit Increase to be Awarded to Faculty and Staff

Sept. 5, 2023
Dear Colleagues,

With this academic year underway and enrollment census day now behind us, I am writing to share some very exciting news with you.

We announced in May that we were optimistic the university would be able to implement a 4 percent merit increase for FY 2024 that would be fulfilled in two steps—the 2 percent merit that we awarded July 1, and an additional 2 percent merit to be awarded this fall that would be contingent on the university meeting enrollment, retention, and revenue goals.

I’m pleased to report that we met or exceeded those goals by just about every measure. Thanks to an enormous amount of work and focus—and concerted efforts across administrative and academic units—Purdue Fort Wayne achieved impressive enrollment gains in a number of critical, targeted areas.

As a result, I’m also pleased to announce that the university will award the additional 2 percent merit this fall.

The numbers are very encouraging:

• New undergraduate student enrollment increased by 6.6 percent from fall 2022, and retention of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students reached 64.3 percent, an increase of 1.5 percent over last fall.
• Direct-from-high-school enrollment increased to 1,319 students, up 14.2 percent from fall 2022.
• Undergraduate credit hours are up 1.2 percent.
• New graduate student headcount is up 1.3 percent from fall 2022, and graduate credit hours are up 15 percent.
• PFW and IUFW combined credit-hour production increased 2 percent from fall 2022.
• We now have 1,599 students living in university housing, a record for our campus. The fact that we now have 21.5 percent of our students living in university-contracted housing is proof positive of PFW’s transition to become a residential campus, as well as a strong indicator of our ability to attract students nationally and internationally.
• We also saw gains in every category in the diversity of our students. Additionally, fall 2022 to spring 2023 retention of degree-seeking underrepresented minority students reached 86.3 percent, and fall 2022 to fall 2023 retention of underrepresented minority students reached almost 60 percent. Nearly half of our students are first-generation students.

Please note that the additional 2 percent merit increase will be applied to permanent base salaries for eligible faculty and staff. To be eligible, a faculty or staff member must have been in a benefits-eligible position on June 30, 2023, and must currently be in good standing (not on a performance improvement plan or reappointed with reservations).

The merit increase takes effect November 1 for employees paid monthly and will be included in their November 30 paychecks. The merit increase takes effect November 6 for employees paid on a biweekly basis and will be included in their November 29 paychecks.

Thank you for all that you do to advance the mission of Purdue Fort Wayne. I wish each of you a successful and productive year.

Sincerely,

Ron Elsenbaumer
Chancellor