The average Harvard faculty member’s salary increased by 0.4 percent this academic year—well below the average increase of 1.2 percent in college and university salaries across the nation, the lowest in the 50-year history of the report released by the American Association of University Professors earlier this week.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences—Harvard University’s largest school—saw no change in salaries as a result of the Sept. 2008 decision to freeze all faculty and staff salaries, which comprised the largest portion of the school’s budget.

At the time, FAS faced a $220 million deficit after the University lost nearly 30 percent of its endowment within a period of four months.

In December of this academic year, FAS Dean Michael D. Smith said faculty and staff salaries will increase by two percent in the fiscal year ending 2011.

“I hope this decision provides some reassurance after a very difficult year,” Smith wrote in a letter announcing the end of the freeze.

In the fiscal year ending 2009, Harvard saw a much larger jump in salaries, increasing 4.7 percent from an average of $142,700 to an average of $149,400.

This year’s average salary of $150,000 represents a range from an average of $104,400 for assistant professors to $191,200 for tenured professors.

Despite this year’s smaller increase, Harvard continues to have the highest average salary of universities nationwide, and Harvard’s peer institutions also reported small salary changes.

Yale, which in February announced a two percent cap on faculty and staff salary increases, saw a 0.84 percent decrease to an average salary of $129,400.

Surpassing the national mean, the average Princeton faculty member saw a two percent salary increase to $140,300.

FAS spokesperson Jeff Neal said FAS will “continue working to make Harvard a competitive employer.”

—Staff writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Elyssa A.L. Spitzer can be reached at spitzer@fas.harvard.edu.