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November 24, 2004

Nordenberg’s Compensation Package Ranks 8th Among Public Higher Eds

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg can count himself among the academic financial elite – he was ranked by the Chronicle of Higher Education as the 8th highest paid leader of a public university nationally.

With a total compensation package of $553,414 for fiscal year 2003, Nordenberg easily surpassed the median compensation of $328,400 for academic leaders surveyed from 131 public research universities and public-college systems. In that same category, Mark A. Emmert of the University of Washington, earning $762,000, topped the Chronicle’s list for executive compensation.

The Chronicle defines executive compensation as the sum of salary, benefits, deferred income and, sometimes, reimbursable expenses. The newspaper listed executive compensation in multiple categories including public and private institutions separately.

Generally, compensation packages were higher for private institutions than public higher education systems. According to The Chronicle, 17 chief executives earn more than $500,000 in public universities while 42 presidents from private colleges passed that same benchmark.

Although Nordenberg ranked 8th in total compensation of an academic leader at a public institution, he is by NO means in the ranks the highest paid executives in academe. According to the Chronicle, the top earner across all categories is Maurice Samuels of Harvard Management Company, whose compensation package topped $35.1 million in FY03. Samuels is senior vice president of international fixed-income investments.

In Pitt’s own backyard, Duquesne University Chancellor John Murray’s earnings package totaled $977,827 in the Chronicle’s category of private institution compensation. Among public universities and colleges, Penn State’s Graham Spanier received $399,489 (in FY99, the most current information The Chronicle cold secure) and Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon’s compensation totaled $480,953.

The Chronicle’s compensation summary for Nordenberg in FY03 listed: A salary of $390,000 and said he received $144,289 in benefits and deferred compensation, $11,257 in expenses and $7,868 in tuition benefits for dependents.

Pitt was one of three institutions surveyed in the public university/college category that did not disclose current compensation figures, saying it was a “quasi-public” institution. Instead, the Chronicle used data from the University’s federal tax filings for FY 2003. Campus reaction to Nordenberg’s ranking was positive.

“Chancellor Nordenberg is worth every penny,” said Senate Council President Nicholas Bircher. “He is scrupulously fair and scrupulously honest — qualities which are not guaranteed at any price in the corporate world. As an attorney, if he were the managing partner in a billion-dollar-a-year law firm, he would be making much more, I suspect.”

Bircher said Nordenberg’s skills as an attorney and a manager coupled with his background as a faculty member, give him “expertise much greater than some of his corporate counterparts.”

Staff Association Council President Rich Colwell also praised Nordenberg’s abilities and track record, but he would like to see staff recognized as well for the University’s successes: “This year has been touted as being one of Pitt’s best in a variety of measures: increased applications, increased research funding and NSF rankings, quality of students and a rise in endowments. These achievements could not have taken place without the hard work of dedicated staff members.”

Colwell added that faculty salaries have gained ground but “it is time for staff to be recognized for their contributions to this effort and staff salaries ranges to be increased along with the increases of faculty and the upper administration.”

-Mary Ann Thomas

Filed under: Feature,Volume 37 Issue 7

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