I have now been at UW for 7 years with not one promotion discussion. I have received a few minimal 2% merit salary increases after the initial salary freeze but in the city of Seattle, this is not livable. The average one-bedroom apartment costs ~$1,900 which would be more than 50% of my income. Many landlords and property owners require your salary be 3x the rent. Most people are priced out. I wanted to move into the next phase of my life and buy a house to start a family. It was sadly obvious that UW was not invested in helping me realize that dream. I really enjoyed research and wanted to continue doing it, but the only way I saw I was going to be given an opportunity to advance would be to get a masters or a doctorate degree. It’s sad that a progressive institution like UW treats people like me as expendable, even though it needs hundreds of us to succeed in research.
Read the article here.