Next SUNY Chancellor to make 200K More
By Michael Kelly and Will James At a press conference on Wednesday, the woman who is set to take over SUNY administration in June spoke on topics ranging from campus safety to textbook prices. But she didn’t address a growing point of interest – her salary. Nancy Zimpher, the SUNY chancellor-designate, is set to have a compensation package of approximately $545,400 a year, roughly $200,000 more than her predecessor, John R. Ryan (Ryan left SUNY in 2007 to become the president of the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. He had made approximately $340,000 a year). David Henahan, director of media relations for the chancellor’s office, responded to requests to discuss the next chancellor’s salary. Henahan said that in comparison to chancellors and presidents at top private universities and other states' equivalents to SUNY, Zimpher’s salary is hardly an outlier. Rather, her annual compensation package is significantly less than the $760,196 the state of Michigan is paying Mary Sue Coleman to lead their state system, and relatively slight step up from Zimpher’s current salary of $510,000 as president of the University of Cincinnati, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Zimpher has been president of the University of Cincinnati since 2003. Before that, she was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for five years. The SUNY board of trustees was aware of how a salary boost for the chancellor would look amid state budget cuts that are falling hard on schools, Henahan said. But they wanted to make a competitive offer in order to bring in the best talent. "That is the environment in which we are competing" for candidates, Henahan said. "The salary SUNY will pay Chancellor Zimpher was deemed necessary, in order for the system and New York State to attract the kind of experience and talent that Dr. Zimpher will bring to the position," Henahan wrote in a follow-up e-mail. At the time of publication, no members of the board of trustees were available for comment. While Zimpher did not discuss concerns about her salary amidst a national recession during the March 11th press conference, she fielded one question about the recession-driven state budget cuts. She said she was confident the economy would recover, but that cuts would affect the quality of education in the mean time. She said that cuts would affect "student-faculty ratios, the quality of our laboratories, our abilities to remain competitive and the retention of our faculty, our ability to recruit faculty, the balance between full- and part-time faculty and the entire culture of the education experience." "At the same time, our leadership is absolutely required as we join with public policymakers, legislators and the governor in making these incredibly tough choices," she said. Zimpher, who takes office officially on June 1, said she does not yet have a five-year plan for SUNY, because she is waiting to have discussions with other SUNY leaders. Her first priorities in office will be to get acquainted with SUNY campuses, university presidents and political leaders, and to "get organized for the strategic planning process," she said. "I guess, in short, I expect to be really, really busy." |
