Best Liberal Arts Colleges to Work For 2013

Liberal Arts colleges tend to be unique in ideals when it comes to education. Hallmarks are small class sizes and a collaborative attitude amongst the faculty and students. In compiling this list of the best liberal arts colleges to work for, we evaluated overall work environment, compensation, and benefits.

#1. Williams College

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Location: Williamstown, MA

Website: http://wwww.williams.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Employees appreciate the satisfying work environment, which features opportunities for collaboration with high quality co-workers, and the mission of the college as key factors in making this a great place to work. The tiny 7:1 student:faculty ratio makes for an immensely satisfying teaching environment.

Notable Perks: Strong benefits overall.

Average Salary: Assistant professors earn an average of $74,000 per year, Associate Professors earn $89,000 per year, Professors earn an average of $130,000 per year.

#2. Washington and Lee University

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Location: Lexington, VA

Website: http://wwww.wlu.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Washington and Lee provides employees with the unique opportunity to work within a liberal arts environment that is also conducive to research.  The school offers strong benefits and a quality, satisfying work environment featuring many interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities.

Notable Perks: One of the most unique perks of working at Washington and Lee is the home loan benefit available to faculty and administrators. The university itself lends the employee the money and holds the mortgage. Payments are automatically deducted from the employee’s paycheck.

Average Salary: Assistant professors earn an average of $66,000 per year, Associate Professors earn $91,000 per year, Professors earn an average of $134,000 per year.

#3. Swarthmore College

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Location: Swarthmore, PA

Website: http://wwww.swarthmore.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Good compensation and benefits, in addition to working at the third ranked liberal arts college in the United States (ranking according to U.S. News and World Report) are both good reasons to work at Swarthmore. Another draw for many employees is the overall mindset of the university focusing on small class sizes (the average student:faculty ratio is 8:1 according to the Education News Career Index) and the classical learning style.

Notable Perks: There are numerous perks at Swarthmore ranging from tuition benefits for faculty, staff, and their families, to personal health programs.

Average Salary: Assistant professors earn an average of $69,000 per year, Associate Professors earn $88,000 per year, Professors earn an average of $126,000 per year.

#4. Furman University

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Location: Greenville, SC

Website: http://wwww.furman.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Excellent benefits make up for a lower than average salary. Furman employees enjoy the work environment afforded by a small, tightly knit institution and the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration.

Notable Perks: Comprehensive health benefits allow employees to pick and choose their coverage. Medical, Dental, and Vision are all available in addition to strong life insurance and cancer insurance options.

Average Salary: Professors earn an average of $99,300 per year, Assistant Professors earn $57,107 on average. Associate Professors earn an average of $78,200 per year.

#5. Elon University

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Location: Elon, NC

Website: http://www.elon.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: The collaborative governance of the university helps faculty shape the institution into a place with a fantastic teaching environment and encourages administrators to tangibly demonstrate their appreciation for the faculty. One of the great indicators of job satisfaction is this school’s low 3.3% voluntary turnover rate among faculty according to statistics provided by the Education News Career Index.

Notable Perks: Elon employees working 30+ hours per week at the university may attend two courses per semester for free. Dependents of full time staff working at the university receive a 67% discount on tuition at the start of their third year, this increases to 100% at the start of the fifth year.

Average Salary: Full Professors earn $98,800 per year on average, Associate Professors earn an average of $70,600 per year, Assistant Professors average $62,600

#6. Harvey Mudd College

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Location: Claremont, CA

Website: http://wwww.hmc.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: This small university is dedicated to excellence and its employees. The college’s high standards and its emphasis on mathematics, sciences and engineering ensure that faculty gets the benefit of collaborating with like minded co-workers and students.

Notable Perks: While there aren’t many standout perks, benefits and vacation accrual are strong for the industry and the specialized retirement plan is flexible enough to meet a wide variety of needs.

Average Salary: Postdoctoral Researchers earn $40,000, Assistant Professors earn an average of $72,000, Administration earns an average of $78,000.

#7. Colgate University

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Location: Hamilton, NY

Website: http://wwww.colgate.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Spectacular benefits, a beautiful campus and a friendly, intelligent workplace are key reasons behind job satisfaction at Colgate University. Class sizes are small, averaging a 10:1 student to faculty ratio according to the Education News Career Index.

Notable Perks: Colgate is devoted not only to the professional development and career of it employees, but also to helping their spouse or domestic partner secure employment in the area or even at Colgate as well.

Average Salary: Assistant professors earn an average of $69,000 per year, Associate Professors earn $89,000 per year, Professors earn an average of $126,000 per year.

#8. Manchester University

Administration Building (front facade), Manchester College

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Location: North Manchester, IN

Website: http://wwww.manchester.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Great co-workers encourage a family feeling in this small liberal arts university. According to employee reviews on Glassdoor it is not uncommon for co-workers to take over each other’s responsibilities in emergency situations and supervisors are understanding when it comes to extenuating circumstances.

Notable Perks: Manchester University has a strong devotion to the work/life balance of its employees and seeks to foster a community based around more than just working together.

Average Salary: Assistant professors earn an average of $45,000 per year, Associate Professors earn $50,000 per year, Professors earn an average of $60,000 per year.

#9. Amherst College

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Location: Amherst, MA

Website: http://wwww.amherst.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Employees cite laid back oversight, administrators interested in encouraging innovation and experimentation, and quality, professional, co-workers as key reasons behind job satisfaction.

Notable Perks: Amherst is devoted to professional development and offers employees high quality, educational training opportunities and education assistance programs.

Average Salary: Assistant professors earn an average of $75,000 per year, Associate Professors earn $87,000 per year, Professors earn an average of $135,000 per year.

#10. St. John’s College

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Locations: Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM

Website: http://www.sjca.edu

Why It’s a Great Place to Work: Saint John’s College is a unique work environment. Instead of professors, St. John’s has tutors. The reason behind this distinction is that the tutors do not profess, but rather, facilitate discussion in such a way that focuses on learning with the students, instead of teaching them. Faculty at Saint John’s appreciate the opportunity to continue to enrich their own education, and due to the unique class rotation, any tutor may find themselves presiding over any class.

Notable Perks: The small class sizes and fantastic teaching environment are considered huge perks by the faculty, employees also enjoy strong benefits options.

Average Salary: Faculty starting salary is $55,247.

Sources

Education News Career Index was used for salary information and statistical insight into the work environment.

Other information was obtained from college websites.

April 26, 2013
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