The presidents of Maryland's leading public universities are modestly compensated compared to peers in other states, according to a survey being released today by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
C.D. "Dan" Mote Jr., president of the University of Maryland, College Park, made $498,284 in salary and retirement benefits, according to the survey of the 2008-2009 school year. But Mote ranked 60th among 186 public university presidents across the nation.
William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the university system, made $490,000, almost $60,000 less than the previous year, and turned down $100,000 in deferred salary. He ranked 65th in the survey.
Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, made $467,900 in total compensation and finished 70th in the rankings. No other Maryland presidents were included.
Overall, presidential pay leveled off after years of increases, with one-third of those surveyed seeing no increase in base pay in 2008-2009.
"The pay is really stagnating," said Chronicle editor Jeff Selingo. "I think we're finally seeing the impact of the economy on presidential pay."
College presidents are often among the highest-paid public employees in their states and thus receive plenty of scrutiny in tough economic times.
Mote received a raise of about $35,000 and Hrabowski a raise of about $23,000 in 2008-2009. But Selingo said Kirwan was hardly the only president to refuse part of his compensation in 2008-2009.
"Presidents don't want to be seen as taking big pay increases and boards don't want to be seen as giving them," Selingo said.
As a result, public university presidents often make less than their peers at private institutions. Only one public president made more than $1 million in 2008-2009 while 23 private college presidents made more than $1 million, according to the Chronicle's 2007-2008 survey (the private college survey for 2008-2009 won't be released until the fall).
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee earned total compensation of $1.58 million. But some of the highest-paid officials work in Maryland's neighboring states. The presidents of the University of Delaware, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech all made more than $730,000 in 2008-2009 and ranked in the top 10 in the survey.