Regents to vote Friday on raising chancellor pay
Non-doctoral salaries could increase to $215,249
Alison Pelleymounter
Issue date: 2/9/06 Section: Campus News
The UW Board of Regents will likely vote Friday on whether or not to raise the salary ranges for executives at each of the System's 13 non-doctoral campuses, as well as UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee.
After gathering data from peer institutions, as required by Board policy when deciding System salary changes, a System report revealed UW chancellor salaries are, on average, between 8 and 17 percent lower than those of comparable universities.
Peer institutions are defined by the Board as systems that have at least nine, four-year institutions and had a 1990 student enrollment of more than 100,000, according to a Regent executive summary.
All of the 13 chancellors of UW comprehensive campuses have current salaries below the minimum salary suggested in the
System report.
At UW-Eau Claire, Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson's salary is $168,622.
Under the proposed increase, the minimum salary for non-doctoral chancellors would be $176,113, and the maximum salary would be $215,249.
Additionally, System President Kevin Reilly's current salary range is $277,541-$339,217.
His new range would be $297,707-$341,864. Reilly currently makes $320,000 a year.
However, if the Board of Regents votes to increase salaries, System executives will not receive immediate pay raises. They will be eligible for raises as part of the System's unclassified pay plan, effective July 1, said Eau Claire Vice Chancellor Andy Soll.
Soll said, if approved, the salary increases likely would not affect students' tuition.
"The adjustments under consideration would not be sufficient enough to affect tuition," he said.
Soll also said discrepancies between the salaries of the 13 UW System comprehensive campuses are most likely due to length of service. He said executives hired recently probably have higher salaries because of competitive recruitment.
Student Senate President Aaron Olson said he fully supports raising executive salaries in order to compete with universities around the country.
"A chancellorship is just like being the CEO of a company," Olson said. "They make a lot of money, but they deserve to make a lot of money."
He added that in order for a university to be run effectively, quality administration must be recruited.
During the chancellor search at Eau Claire, Director of Communications for the System Doug Bradley said the process took more time because the university wasn't able to offer a higher salary.
"We had to start the search from scratch," Bradley said in a Feb. 6 issue of The Spectator. "We are challenged to be competitive in terms of our salaries."
In addition to voting on new salary ranges, the Board of Regents will consider offering resident undergraduate tuition prices to non-resident students at all System institutions
except Madison.
After gathering data from peer institutions, as required by Board policy when deciding System salary changes, a System report revealed UW chancellor salaries are, on average, between 8 and 17 percent lower than those of comparable universities.
Peer institutions are defined by the Board as systems that have at least nine, four-year institutions and had a 1990 student enrollment of more than 100,000, according to a Regent executive summary.
All of the 13 chancellors of UW comprehensive campuses have current salaries below the minimum salary suggested in the
System report.
At UW-Eau Claire, Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson's salary is $168,622.
Under the proposed increase, the minimum salary for non-doctoral chancellors would be $176,113, and the maximum salary would be $215,249.
Additionally, System President Kevin Reilly's current salary range is $277,541-$339,217.
His new range would be $297,707-$341,864. Reilly currently makes $320,000 a year.
However, if the Board of Regents votes to increase salaries, System executives will not receive immediate pay raises. They will be eligible for raises as part of the System's unclassified pay plan, effective July 1, said Eau Claire Vice Chancellor Andy Soll.
Soll said, if approved, the salary increases likely would not affect students' tuition.
"The adjustments under consideration would not be sufficient enough to affect tuition," he said.
Soll also said discrepancies between the salaries of the 13 UW System comprehensive campuses are most likely due to length of service. He said executives hired recently probably have higher salaries because of competitive recruitment.
Student Senate President Aaron Olson said he fully supports raising executive salaries in order to compete with universities around the country.
"A chancellorship is just like being the CEO of a company," Olson said. "They make a lot of money, but they deserve to make a lot of money."
He added that in order for a university to be run effectively, quality administration must be recruited.
During the chancellor search at Eau Claire, Director of Communications for the System Doug Bradley said the process took more time because the university wasn't able to offer a higher salary.
"We had to start the search from scratch," Bradley said in a Feb. 6 issue of The Spectator. "We are challenged to be competitive in terms of our salaries."
In addition to voting on new salary ranges, the Board of Regents will consider offering resident undergraduate tuition prices to non-resident students at all System institutions
except Madison.