Someone much more informed than me who shall remain nameless sent, in part, the following alternate way to look at the salaries, based on EMU’s own numbers:
There were 162 associate professors at the start of Fall 2004. The range of salaries (8-month) was from $46,519 (a librarian) to $105,797 (Computer Information Systems in School of Business), which is quite a range! The “median” salary (as Excel calculates it) was $62,101 and there were 56 associate professors earning more than this amound and 106 earning less. The “average” (defined as the total salaries divided by the 162 professors) was $58,147, and there were 81 associate professors earning more than this amount and 81 earning less.
Now, this person cautions that this is 2004/05 data (the EMU web site is citing more recent data), and so that accounts for some of the differences. Still, I have to think that this basic distribution is still in place.