Wisconsin's stagnating state higher-education budget has forced the university to keep faculty salaries far below average. When professors get feelers from elsewhere, they learn that a move can easily mean a 100-percent salary increase--sometimes more. Budget problems have also depleted money for perks that keep faculty members on board--funds for…

The author began using student assistants when she arrived at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Eau Claire in the fall of 1996. As a new faculty member, she found herself with a heavy teaching load and no graduate assistant. She observed that some of her colleagues employed undergraduate history majors as tutors for their introductory classes, and…