HARRISBURG — The board that oversees Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities has approved new contracts for thousands of faculty members and hundreds of sports coaches.

The board of governors of the State System of Higher Education ratified the pacts today.

That covers 500 professors and coaches at Slippery Rock University.

The four-year contracts are retroactive to July 2011.

They provide raises totaling 4 percent for the 5,500 faculty members, while the 600 coaches will get raises totaling 4.75 percent plus performance-based merit pools in the last two years of their contract.

Both groups are represented by the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties.

The state system comprises 14 universities that enroll about 115,000 students.