All Posts Tagged With: "Compensation"

It may be more than you guessed. Click to see where your school stands.

Professor photo courtesy of Rainer Ebert on Flickr

What does your professor make? Assuming he or she is a full (tenured) professor, it’s probably more than you guessed. The median pay among full professors at 31 Canadian schools is $128,480, according to a recent study.

That said, if your professor is at the University of Northern British Columbia, she likely makes a far less than if she’s with the University of British Columbia. A report by Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Studies shows that salaries in the 2009-10 school year followed no apparent pattern. Some highly-ranked schools pay less than not-so-prestigious schools. A few smaller schools — Trent for example — pay profs much better than bigger neighbours. The report presented data from 31 schools. That’s fewer than half of the 81 schools profiled in the Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities, meaning this list is far from comprehensive.

It’s worth reiterating that these figures are for full professors only. Assistant professors, associate professors and contract faculty make much less and many academics work for more than a decade before getting full status, if they ever do. Still, these numbers show that professorship is a lucrative career from coast to coast.

Trent – 158,876

Calgary – 154,008

British Columbia – 151,145

Alberta – 145,585

Athabasca – 144,689

McMaster – 144,366

Lethbridge – 144,255

York – 143,091

Wilfrid Laurier – 142,905

Windsor – 141,831

Ottawa – 141,417

Guelph – 139,934

Lakehead – 137,827

Manitoba – 137,765

Brock – 137,666

UOIT – 135,000

St. Mary’s – 129,603

Victoria – 128,122

UPEI – 126,903

Memorial – 126,623

Nipissing – 123,754

New Brunswick – 123,546

St. Thomas – 123,307

Brandon – 117,494

Acadia – 110,000

UNBC – 103,796

Cape Breton – 102,622

Mount Royal – 101,974

OCAD – 101,086

Kwantlen – 84,896

Trinity Western – 78,778

University executives are paid top dollar and, regardless of their success, never leave empty-handed

This story from the National Post reviews the ongoing controversy over executive compensation at McGill University. The story notes that Ms. Ann Dowsett Johnston, former editor of the Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities, was paid $761,000 in compensation for less than two years in the position of Vice-Principal.

The story alleges that Ms. Dowsett Johnston, who was hired to head McGill’s $750 million fundraising effort despite a lack of experience in the area of fundraising, was a personal friend of McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum. Intrigue aside, the article raises some important points about the issue of inflated executive compensation at Canadian universities:

. . .the large payout to Ms. Dowsett Johnston is symptomatic of a larger trend in Canada’s publicly funded universities, where raises in executive pay have far outstripped inflation in recent years. As universities adopt the credo that they must function more like corporations, their top executives expect to be paid accordingly. And as in the business world, when things don’t work out, they do not leave empty-handed.

It was spent on the senior administration.

After paying thousands of dollars in tuition, sitting through lectures with hundreds of other students taught by sessional lecturers making less than an assistant manager at McDonald’s and finally having the privilege of paying a graduation fee, it’s no wonder students find themselves asking; Where did my tuition money go?

Students at Hamilton’s McMaster University are learning exactly where their money is going: retirement “bonuses”, social clubs, financial advisers, car allowances, social club memberships, and country clubs for already well paid administrators.

The Hamilton Spectator, in a front page story today, revealed the contracts of McMaster’s 17 vice-presidents, assistant vice-presidents and associate vice-presidents.

The Spectator requested the contracts under Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The Spectator, to its credit, has posted all the contracts on its website.

The contracts reveal a wide ranging assortment of perks for senior administrators of the university which, despite facing another budget deficit, seems unable to restrain itself in providing the highest compensation to its senior administrators of any public university in Canada.

The most shocking revelation in the contracts is the massive retirement payout afforded to Dr. John Kelton, the university’s vice-president and dean of health sciences. His current contract, which expires June 30, 2011, includes a $1.44 million payout if he retires at that time.

This is the largest known retirement payout of any university employee in Ontario and likely the largest payout in Canada’s post-secondary sector. The payout is on top of any pension he receives as a former senior executive at McMaster University and slightly higher than a planned $1.4 million payout to McMaster president Peter George. By comparison, the largest known payout at another university is in the ballpark of $900,000. That is the expected payout to David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo and former principal of McGill University.

Kelton’s total compensation in 2007 was $403,000 which is more than presidents at all but four other Ontario universities.

Many of the VPs receive memberships in expensive social clubs as part of their perks. This is not shocking and can be justified. In the case of the president, membership in these clubs gives him access to individuals with high wealth; the kind of people who can donate to the university. Surprisingly, the university’s vice-president administration Karen Belaire receives payment of her membership fees (including initiation) at the private Beverly Golf and Country Club in addition to the standard package.

Belaire was paid $264,274.03 in salary during 2007.

The vice-presidents also receive compensation for financial planning expenses and a $700 or $800 car allowance as part of their compensation packages.

You can read the entire Spectator article and see the contracts for yourself by visiting: http://thespec.com/News/Local/article/458156