Faculty salaries, World's Fair, scholarships, talking encyclopedia

The average salary of a full professor at a state university or land grant college in l98l-82 was $35,230, according to the faculty salary survey conducted by the Office of Institutional Research, Oklahoma State University. Law professors received the highest salaries, averaging $46,3l0, while fine-arts professors averaged the lowest salaries, $30,980. New assistant professors averaged $21,070; at the top: those teaching law at $28,790; at the bottom, those teaching foreign languages: $17,290.

The National Association of Independent Schools reports enrollments in independent schools continue to rise. ''Although some independent schools have more qualified applicants than they have places available and could expand their student bodies if they chose to, most prefer to remain small,'' said Marjo Talbott, NAIS director of admission services. ''They value small classes, a human scale, low student-teacher ratios - 10 to 1 is the average - and adequate attention to the individual.'' Single-sex girls' schools and boys' schools show the greatest growth; coeducational schools remain high and stable. Independent schools are spending more on financial aid than ever before. The 828 NAIS member schools collectively granted over $100 million in scholarship aid last year. Independent schools are nonpublic, nonprofit schools governed by boards of trustees or advisers.

Over 200,000 students (and many others) have already visited the World's Fair in Knoxville, Tenn. Despite the fair's theme of energy, the most popular exhibits so far are not energy oriented. In the US pavilion, movies shown on a huge Imax screen make observers feel like participants. The Chinese and Mexican exhibits emphasizing art, painting, sewing, and cuisine have also been extremely popular. Outside the fairgrounds but nearby in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the American Museum of Science and Energy is attracting record numbers of visitors.

High school seniors can compete this fall for more than $200,000 in scholarships being awarded by the Century III Leaders program. Applications, which must be completed by Oct. 15, may be obtained through local high school prinicpals' offices. All high schools are mailed entry kits early in September by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

The gentleman's C may be graded $$, if Sen. Claiborne Pell has his way. A principal author of federal student aid programs, the Democratic Senator from Rhode Island has introduced legislation to cut off support to students who fail to maintain a grade average of ''C'' or above.

Under existing law, a student can get federal aid as long as the institution he is attending will confirm that he is in''good standing.'' It is left up to each school to define ''good standing.''

Following a US Supreme Court ruling last June that required states to provide schooling for illegal aliens, Texas authorities predicted an increase of l00,000 enrollees. The actual increase is about ll,000. Some parents may fear registration because of possible disclosure to immigration officials. School records indicate that approximatley 55 percent of the state's 2.9 milion school children are anglo, and about 30 percent are of Hispanic descent. The Hispanic figure has been projected to reach 50 percent by 1990.

World Book Inc. (encyclopedia publishers) of Chicago and the American Printing House for the Blind, Louisville, have added taped cassettes of the World Book Year Book supplement to the Talking World Book first published last year. The first Talking Year Book contains the contents of the 1980 and 1981 World Book Year Books; the next Talking World Book will be published in March 1983 and will contain the text of the 1982 annual Year Book. Cassettes are housed in special volumes with indexes in Braille and large type.Once the cassette is located from the index, it is placed on a custom-developed tape player that quickly searches out the requested information, enabling a visually handicapped person to find material in about the same time it takes a sighted person.

John M. Opie, a Denver teacher since 1967, objects to deductions of union dues from his paycheck. He wants Article 31-3 of the collective bargaining contract between the School District and the Denver Classroom Teachers' Association declared ''null, void, and unenforceable.'' The article requires the Board of Education to deduct union dues from all teachers' paychecks, whether or not they belong to the union. Mr. Opie is being represented in his suit by an attorney with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Springfield, Va.