PROVIDENCE – Brown University President Christina H. Paxson has received a contract extension that is one year longer than formerly announced, the university disclosed Tuesday.
In a letter to the Brown community, University Chancellor Samuel M. Mencoff called Paxson “a proven leader of extraordinary ability, enormous energy, unshakeable values and boundless passion,” noting the early three-year extension announced in February 2020 that lengthened her contract to June 30, 2025.
The university had intended to extend Paxson’s contract for an additional year in 2020 but “set aside formalizing the appointment extension” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mencoff wrote.
In 2021, Brown University’s governing body approved the additional year to Paxson’s appointment, which will now run to June 30, 2026.
The university did not immediately respond to requests for details on the compensation package. Tax filings for fiscal year 2020, the most recent year available, show Paxson earned a base salary of $1.14 million and $293,803 in additional compensation.
Appointment terms for Brown University presidents “can be extended by mutual agreement at any time,” according to the statement.
The former dean of the Princeton School of International and Public Affairs and the Hughes Rogers professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, Paxson was first appointed as Brown’s 19th president in 2012, and is credited with building the university’s 10-year strategic plan launched in 2014. The university also praised her fundraising efforts, including the $3 billion BrownTogether campaign, which has raised about $2.3 billion to date, the university said.
In 2021, Paxson become chair of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Her six-year term ended in 2022.
(Update: Paxson’s most recent reported compensation added in 5th paragraph)
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
