Penn State President Eric Barron and four other university executives are getting pay increases.
The Board of Trustees on Friday approved a 2 percent merit increase for ‘exceptional performance,’ as recommended by the board’s Committee on Compensation. The $16,360 annual raise, which is retroactive to July 1, brings Barron’s salary to $834,364.
In the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education survey of executive compensation at colleges and universities, Barron ranked sixth highest among public university leaders. That report was based on data from 2015-16.
Prior to the raise being recommended, ‘Barron received a 360-degree evaluation… in which 100 people were asked to complete the assessment,’ according to the university. ‘The evaluators were asked to take into account the president’s goals and objectives and his performance in light of those established goals.’
Other executive raises required approval by the compensation committee but not the full board.
Among them was athletic director Sandy Barbour, who received a $3,612 increase to bring her annual salary to $735,420.
Executive vice president and provost Nick Jones received an $11,940 raise to make his salary $542,532.
Senior vice president for finance and business David Gray got an increase of $21,036, bringing his annual pay to $511,476.
Craig Hillemeier, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center dean and CEO and senior vice president for health affairs, got an increase of $18,696, for an annual salary of $953,700.
Trustees Anthony Lubrano and Ted Brown voted no on the raise for Barron, though Lubrano said his vote wasn’t about Barron’s performance.
‘I’m going to vote against this resolution, not because I don’t think there’s a merit deserved. I am not going to weigh in on that,’ Lubrano said. ‘But because, you know, we are talking about affordability, we are talking about very difficult appropriations period in Harrisburg and difficulties going forward with the state budget. I think that we would do well if we decided not to approve this and maybe come up with a different approach.’
Trustee Jay Paterno, who began his first term in July, abstained because he was not on the board for the evaluation period.
At Friday’s meeting, the board approved a budget plan that includes a request for a $19.8 million increase in appropriations from the state. If fully funded, it would result in tuition increases of 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent, which the university referred to as ‘as low as possible.’
