PROVIDENCE – University of Rhode Island President David M. Dooley earned $426,333 in 2018, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education report issued this week.
Dooley’s compensation ranked him the No. 169 highest-paid president of a public university in the United States of the 268 included in the report. Dooley earned $369,200 the year prior.
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In 2018, Dooley’s base pay was $385,700. He earned bonus pay of $35,000 and $5,633 in nontaxable benefits. His retirement pay for the year was $82,551. Dooley was the only public college president included in the report in Rhode Island.
In Massachusetts, Robert E. Johnson, chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth earned $521,519 in 2018. Johnson had a base pay of $520,434 and received dental insurance and parking fee payments of $1,085. Johnson was paid $72,135 for retirement for the year. Johnson ranked as the No. 114-highest paid head pf a public university included in the report.
Seventeen presidents of public U.S. colleges earned more than $1 million in compensation in 2018, compared with 12 in fiscal 2017. Median pay rose 10% to about $484,000.
Compensation is increasing as presidents are required to manage more than traditional academic duties. Boards are creating more sophisticated pay packages based on meeting targets and creating incentives to stay, said Dan Bauman, the publication’s data reporter.
“They’re not just leading a college, but a health care system, dealing with athletics, dealing with donors, dealing with the legislature,’’ said Bauman, who compiled the data. “You’re the public face of the university.’
With all the challenges, presidents are sticking around for shorter periods. The average tenure for college leaders fell to 6.5 years in 2016 from 8.5 years a decade prior, according to a 2017 survey conducted every five years by the American Council on Education.
The highest compensation in the survey went to William McRaven of the University of Texas System, with $2.6 million; Michael Young of Texas A&M University at College Station, with $1.9 million; and Eric Barron of Penn State University at University Park, with $1.8 million. Those schools collectively enroll about 350,000 students.
McRaven, 63, didn’t serve for the full year as he stepped down as the system’s chancellor in May 2018. His compensation included a $1.28 million payout from a three-year deferred-compensation package and a $670,000 bonus, according to the Chronicle.
Many of the presidents in the top 10 earned pay in addition to their salaries from deferred-comp packages, a common retention tool for key administrators.
Bryant University recently announced this year that it paid President Ronald Machtley $6.2 million in 2017 – which also included deferred compensation.
Janet Lorin is a reporter for Bloomberg News. PBN contributed to this article.
Dr Dooley is deserving of every single penny he is awarded for the great job he has done in his tenure at URI!!
Our Superintendent of Schools in Middletown makes over $165K. It is a shame we have over 36 school districts in this state. And we are not getting a good education from K to 12.
I don’t know what is happening but I think it is the teachers unions! They just keep funding the same old constituents because they are on their side. They support them for lousy educations. We are the fifth state in the union with the highest union membership. Check it out at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_affiliation_by_U.S._state
I think if we had a education system like MA does we would be humming along. And we are last, 50th in terms of doing business in this state.
Thanks for listening,
Kevin