Pay Rises for Leaders of Colleges, Survey Says

In its ninth annual examination of the pay of 185 public university leaders, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Monday that the median rose to $436,111 in 2008-9, an increase of 2.3 percent when compared with the year before. (When adjusted for inflation, The Chronicle said, the median increase was 1.1 percent.)

By contrast, in the previous four years, The Chronicle said, public university leaders’ salaries and benefits rose, on average, by at least 7.5 percent each year, and, in 2005, by 19 percent.

As in 2008, E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University, topped the Chronicle’s ranking for 2009, with an annual compensation package valued at nearly $1.6 million.

He was followed by Mark A. Emmert of the University of Washington ($905,000); Patrick T. Harker of the University of Delaware ($810,600); John T. Casteen III of the University of Virginia ($797,050); and Francisco G. Cigarroa of the University of Texas ($787,260).

The Chronicle also calculated the pay of the leaders of 64 community colleges, and identified the three who were paid the most last year: Eduardo J. Padrón of Miami Dade College ($548,460); Michael B. McCall of the Kentucky Community College and Technical College system ($532,910); and Orlando J. George Jr. of Delaware Technical and Community College ($450,070).