Regents approve pay hike for UW leaders

Pay raises approved by the Board of Regents move university and UW System leaders closer to what other university executives earn nationally, but they still lag behind their peers.

“While the salaries we approved fall short of what peer institutions in other states are paying their executives, we have taken a step toward investing in the kind of leadership we need to keep the university strong,” Regents President San W. Orr says.

Chancellor David Ward will receive $193,000 for 1999-2000, the top end of his salary range as determined by the legislature’s Joint Committee on Employment Relations. JCOER established the new salary ranges after a study by the Department of Employment Relations revealed that the UW System was at a disadvantage nationally in recruiting and retaining top executives.

Ward’s 1998-99 salary of $165,025 was more than $100,000 below the median for his national peer group. The presidents of the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota, meanwhile, earned $287,375 and $275,000 respectively in 1998-99.

While approving the new executive salaries, the regents highlighted Ward’s outstanding leadership as chancellor of the UW System’s flagship institution. UW–Madison is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top public research universities, and under Ward’s leadership the university has raised $739 million in private funds since he became chancellor in 1993.

“The duties of a university chancellor are diverse and complicated,” Orr says. “In addition to being excellent administrators they must be fundraisers, ambassadors of their institutions to the larger communities, and have the skills to manage complicated budgets.”

Provost John Wiley will receive $180,000 under the new pay plan, compared to his 1998-99 salary of $152,900. UW System President Katharine Lyall will receive $199,000. Existing pay plan funds and budget reallocation will pay for the salary increases, which are retroactive to July 1, 1999, due to late passage of the state budget.