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October 29, 1998

Board sets senior administrators' salaries

Arthur S. Levine will be Pitt's highest- paid administrator when he becomes senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the medical school on Nov. 1.

Levine will earn $498,000, nearly twice Chancellor Mark Nordenberg's salary and $60,000 more than what outgoing Senior Vice Chancellor Thomas Detre was making.

Detre, however, did not serve as medical dean — although he doubled as UPMC president during much of his Pitt career.

Nordenberg would not say how much George Michalo-poulos was earning as interim medical dean. (The IRS requires Pitt to release only the salaries of its officers and five highest-paid non-officer employees.) But combining the positions of medical dean and Health Sciences senior vice chancellor represents a net salary savings for the University, Nordenberg said.

Levine's salary "is a reflection of my conclusion that Dr. Detre was, in fact, always somewhat underpaid on a comparative basis," Nordenberg said. "I knew going into the search that we probably would have to make an adjustment in recruiting a worthy successor to him." On recommendations from Nordenberg, the Board of Trustees compensation committee on Oct. 21 approved salaries for Levine and four other officers:

* James Maher, provost and senior vice chancellor, whose salary jumped from $175,000 to $210,000. Nordenberg said the 20 percent raise reflects duties Maher has taken on in recent years, including responsibility for Computing and Information Services and developing campus facilities and technology plans.

"For at least a significant slice of our institutional history, the responsibilities of the provost were relatively narrowly defined. That has not been my approach to the position, perhaps because I had a year's worth of experience in it" as interim provost, Nordenberg said. "It has always seemed to me that if we are an academic institution, then our chief academic officer should be directly and actively involved in a broad range of initiatives."

* Jerome Cochran, whose salary increased from $149,500 to $200,000 and whose title was upgraded from assistant chancellor to executive vice chancellor. The 33.8 percent raise and new title reflect Cochran's growing list of job duties since he returned to Pitt in 1995, Nordenberg said.

Cochran is Pitt's chief business officer and serves as the chancellor's chief troubleshooter, taking on what Nordenberg called "special opportunities that need aggressive and effective pursuit." Several months ago, for example, Cochran took over as general counsel following Lewis Popper's resignation. (Pitt will soon launch a search for a new general counsel, Nordenberg announced in an Oct. 21 Campus Update.)

* Carol Carter, vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement, whose salary was increased by 3 percent to $154,000. Carter has built "incredible momentum" in Pitt's fundraising and a strong team of professionals and volunteers, Nordenberg said.

* Robert Dunkelman, secretary of the Corporation and the Board of Trustees, whose 3 percent raise boosted his salary to $127,500. Nordenberg said Dunkelman "has served Pitt and served it well" over the years. "He played a major role in my development while he was in the Provost's office and I was law dean," Nordenberg told trustees. "You know well how much he does contribute, day in and day out, to the successes of the institution."

— Bruce Steele

Filed under: Feature,Volume 31 Issue 5

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