New Mexico State University is implementing the first phase of a multi-year plan that will help bring faculty salaries in line with other universities.
The board of regents recently approved an allocation of $1.6 million to make salaries at the Las Cruces campus more competitive.
The university says the 378 faculty members who will be assisted by the funds represent about half of the Las Cruces faculty. They include those faculty members who earn less than 90 percent of what their peers at other universities do.
Regents Chair Mike Cheney says the goal is to be able to keep and recruit the best faculty for NMSU students.
The new salaries will take effect with the start of new contract period, which begins later this summer.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.