Board Approves Pay Increases for Penn State President, Two Vice Presidents

Penn State President Eric Barron is getting a salary increase for his final year on the job.

The university’s Board of Trustees on Friday approved Barron’s 2021-22 salary of $876,612, an increase of $21,384, or 2.5%.

The board’s Subcommittee on Compensation recommended salary adjustments for Barron and two vice presidents based on general salary increases included in the university’s 2021-22 budget approved in July, as well as experience, performance, areas of oversight and duties and a comparative analysis.

Top executives at the university last received a salary increase in 2019. Last year, amid budget cuts stemming from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, executives did not get raises and Barron and several other members of senior leadership gave back 10% of their salaries to student and employee assistance funds.

Penn State had no general salary increase for employees in 2020-21. More than $27.5 million from the university’s 2021-22 budget was dedicated to general faculty and staff salary increases, contractual increases and promotions.

Barron received $1,149,852 in total compensation in 2020, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s most recent national survey of executive compensation at colleges and universities released in August. In addition to salary, that included a $200,000 retention payment, deferred compensation and benefits.

He was the seventh highest paid university president in the Chronicle survey.

Now in his eighth year as Penn State’s 18th president, Barron announced in February that he will retire when his current contract ends in June 2022.

Also receiving pay increases were Executive Vice President and Provost Nick Jones and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Sara Thorndike.

Jones received a 2.25%, or $12,828 increase, to bring his salary to $582,828.

Thorndike’s new salary is $448,800. The amount of her raise was not clear. Hired in November 2020, Thorndike’s initial salary at the university was not made public and a Penn State spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for the figure.

Jones and Thorndike are classified as Tier II executives. Their salaries are set by the Subcommitte on Compensation and do not require the approval of the full board.