Professors often receive money from several departments or have a higher salary due to administrative appointments, such as dean, head or director. The Daily Illini composed a list of the highest-paid professors per department, not including administrative raises or a salary from other departments, meaning the salaries earned as listed below may be lower than the professor’s final salary or the salaries of other top University or departmental administrators.

Professors from the College of Business – finance, accountancy and business administration – earned the top three salaries per department, followed by a professor in electrical and computer engineering, a professor in law and LAS professors in entomology, biochemistry and chemistry. Of the top 20 earning professors, seven were from LAS, six from the College of Engineering and three were from the College of Business. While LAS professors constitute several of the highest-earning salaries, they also made up some of the lowest-earning departments, primarily comprising social sciences positions teaching language, culture or race.

– College of Business

Department of Finance 

Heitor Almeida 

$325,000 as professor 

Average college salary: 

$172,393

– College of Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Ravishankar K. Iyer

$286,864 as professor

Average college salary: 

$126,924

– College of Law

Department of Law

Heidi M. Hurd 

$286,059 as professor

Average college salary: 

$154,120

– College of LAS

Department of Entomology

May Berenbaum 

$281,534 as professor

Average college salary:  

$96,793

– School of Labor and Employment 

Relations

Craig Allen Olson

$220,634 as professor

Average college salary:  

$122,211

– College of Applied Health Sciences

Department of Kinesiology and Community Health 

Edward McAuley 

$211,580 as professor

Average college salary:  

$96,547

– College of Veterinary Medicine 

Department of 

Pathobiology 

Herbert Whiteley 

$200,802 as professor 

Average college salary: 

$76,518

– College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences 

Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics

Scott H. Irwin  

$190,966 as professor 

Average college salary:  

$96,816

– College of Library and Information 

Science 

Bertram Ludaescher 

$175,000 as professor 

Average college salary: 

$99,776

– College of Education

Department of Special Education

Susan A. Fowler

$171,611 as professor 

Average college salary:  

$98,251

– College of Media

Department of Journalism

Walter Harrington 

$157,343 as professor 

Average college salary: 

$85,532

– College of Fine and Applied Arts

Department of Art and Design

Elizabeth Goggin 

$140,695 as professor 

Average college salary: 

$82,693

– School of Social Work

Sandra Kopels 

$113,857 as professor

Average college salary: 

$78,253