Presidential Pay Rising Rapidly

According to The Chronicle’s latest survey of executive compensation, competition for university leaders is pushing presidential salaries through the roof, especially at private universities and large public research institutions. The survey showed that …

* In the 2005-6 fiscal year … three presidents who are still at their institutions — William R. Brody at the Johns Hopkins University, Shirley Ann Jackson at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and James W. Wagner at Emory University — had pay packages of more than $1-million.

* Among private institutions, the median compensation of leaders of research institutions rose 37 percent in the last five years of the survey, to $528,105.

* 81 presidents of private institutions made more than $500,000 in the 2006 fiscal year, up 200 percent from five years earlier.

* Eight public institutions paid at least $700,000 to their presidents, compared with two that paid that much the year before.

Meanwhile, community-college presidents earn significantly less than their peers at public four-year institutions, Elyse Ashburn reports in The Chronicle’s special issue on executive compensation. Read more.