Board of Trustees approves salary increases for seven officials, Chancellor

Pitt’s Board of Trustees Compensation Committee approved salary increases for seven University officers and Chancellor Mark Nordenberg. 

During a 15-minute conference call meeting Tuesday morning in Posvar Hall, the Committee voted to increase the salaries of seven officers, bringing the seven salaries to a total of $3,707,500. Nordenberg himself received a 3-percent increase, bringing his salary to $597,500 for his final term as chancellor.

In addition to Nordenberg, the increases — which will be retroactive to July 1, 2013, the beginning of the current fiscal year — were also for Patricia Beeson, Jerome Cochran, Barbara Jean Ferketish, Arthur Levine, Amy Marsh, Arthur Ramicone and P. Jerome Richey. 

Stephen R. Tritch, chair of the board and the committee, noted the progress the University has made in the past year: a record-breaking number of applications (27,634) , which is 11 percent larger than the pool for 2012. 

Tritch noted that Pitt succeeded in “surpassing a very ambitious $2.5 billion fundraising goal.” He continued by citing the numerous scholarships and fellowships awarded to Pitt students as well as the University’s ascent in rankings, with respect to beneficence from internship, research productivity and academic settings. 

The average Pitt faculty member received a 4.3 percent salary increase, with 23 percent of faculty members receiving increases higher than 5 percent. 

Tritch introduced Nordenberg after stating the changes that have occurred in the past year, describing his term as an “extended period of really remarkable progress.” He highlighted the chancellor’s activity in civic associations around the city, particularly with respect to education. 

“I have enormous respect for all of the people of Pitt and am deeply grateful for the contributions that have been made by so many — faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends — to the University’s progress,” Nordenberg said. 

Noting that it was his last chance to publicly comment on the officers, Nordenberg described them as “an extraordinary group in terms of individual talents and the commitment to Pitt that is regularly demonstrated.” 

“It is also an extraordinary group in terms of their demonstrative willingness and ability to function as a team, something that never should be taken for granted,” he added. 

The board stated that an independent consultant compares the salaries of Pitt officers to the salaries of officers at similar institutions and noted that Pitt pays its officers less than their counterparts elsewhere. 

“Throughout his service, Nordenberg’s compensation has lagged behind the compensation received by many of his peers,” Tritch said. 

Nordenberg had repeatedly requested during previous salary negotiations that his increase be lower than any of the other percent increases to officers. He had resisted increases in previous years as well, Tritch noted. 

“The existence of that gap is not reflective of any reluctance on the part of the Compensation Committee to raise his compensation. Instead, it is the product of his own resistance to any salary increases beyond those of a modest size,” Tritch said.