New Prof Arriving At University of Cincinnati: $295,000 A Year To Teach 'Real Estate'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The $295,000 that the public university reportedly has agreed to pay John Glascock annually to head its real estate department in the College of Business seems to be a really fat paycheck for a professor. It more than doubles the average salary -- $109,569 -- for full professors at public doctoral universities in the USA. Indeed, the average salary for a professor at Ohio State University is $121,552. Pay scale data for academics was compiled earlier this year by the American Association of University Professors and is available here
and here.

Glascock is coming from Cambridge University in England. Cliff Peale, who covers higher education for the Cincinnati Enquirer, was first to report that Glascock will get a $100,000 summer supplement along with the $295,000 annually. Glascock is an expert in real estate finance.

The University of Cincinnati is Ohio's second largest school after Ohio State and apparently plans to offer a major in real estate. That might be straying from Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's push to refocus the state university system on programs that will drive Ohio's economy in the future. Real estate is neither cutting edge nor a growth industry. Developers already know all to well how to finance everything from condos to shopping malls.

Higher Education Chancellor Eric Fingerhut has been traveling across Ohio spreading Strickland's message that the public campuses need to begin "drawing on our strengths to reclaim our premier role in the global economy." Perhaps the University of Cincinnati intends to make Ohio the world's premier spot for real estate agents. Maybe it can figure out how to sell the glut of foreclosed homes that have wrecked the housing market in Cleveland and other cities across the state. Maybe the $295,000-a-year real estate professor can figure out how to bring jobs back into Ohio so people can afford to buy homes. Somehow, though, the school's move seems totally out of tune -- dare one say ivory towerish --- with the economic gameplan currently embraced by the state's elected leaders in Columbus. On paper, that effort has been to emphasize the role of higher education in the overall economic success of the state. Does a $295,000 a year academic who specializes in real estate really meet that goal?