UW knows sometimes it has to pay to keep its best faculty members

Each year, universities must fend off attacks from poachers â?? outside institutions looking to pick off underpaid or underappreciated faculty members. There were 148 such offers made at UW-Madison in the last academic year, and the university kept about 80 percent of them by making counteroffers. The university also took a more offensive posture than in past years, making 54 â??preemptive moves,â? increasing the pay or benefits for faculty who are perceived at risk of leaving.