Board of trustees approves salary increase for university leaders

The Board of Trustees’ Compensation Committee approved an increase in salary of 2.25 percent for the 2018 calendar year for eight of Pitt’s senior leaders. This is the first adjustment made in three years, according to a press release from the university.

The press release also said the salary adjustment reflects the same cost-of-living and merit increase applied to the University’s staff and faculty earlier this year.

The senior leaders included in the adjustment are Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia Beeson, Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine Arthur Levine, Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Arthur Ramicone, Chief Investment Officer and Treasurer Amy Marsh, Senior Vice Chancellor for Business and Operations Greg Scott, Senior Vice Chancellor for Engagement and Secretary of the Board of Trustees Kathy Humphrey and senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Legal Officer Geovette Washington. The Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, Rob Rutenbar, was ineligible for a salary increase since he arrived at Pitt during the summer of 2017.

Gallagher’s adjusted base salary for 2018 will be $536,813, according to the release. Gallagher’s contract also includes deferred yearly retained bonuses of $100,000, which he will be paid in a lump sum in July 2019 if he is still employed by the University at that time.

Eva Tansky Blum, chair of the board of trustees, said in the release that increasing the salaries of university leaders — who have not received adjustments in several years —  in line with those given to Pitt faculty and staff is “appropriate,” especially in comparison to other universities.

“Despite a challenging environment for higher education, our University of Pittsburgh continues to flourish in creating a rich educational experience for our college students as well as inspiring innovation and economic activity for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Blum said in the release. “The progress we’re seeing doesn’t happen by itself; it begins with stellar leadership provided by Chancellor Gallagher and his senior team.”

According to a report published by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Gallagher’s base pay for the 2015-16 school year was $525,00. His total overall compensation was $536,520. He was ranked 85th out of 254 chief executives of public universities and systems. The lowest earner on the report was Kirk H. Schulz who, as president of Washington State University, received a base pay of $7,102 in 2015-16 with no other compensation. The highest earner cited in the report was Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest University who received a base pay of $839,944, a bonus of $92,000, nontaxable pay of $63,297 and other pay of $3,009, 376 for a total of $4,004,617. The highest base pay earner for 2015-16, according to the report, was president of Columbia University Lee C. Bollinger. Bollinger received $1,340,781 in base pay, bonus pay of $700,000, nontaxable pay of $418,741 and other pay of $48,115 that year. He was ranked sixth on the list.