All Posts Tagged With: "ontario salary disclosure"
Which uni presidents make more than Obama?
Compared to politicians, they’re overpaid. But compared to CEOs, they’re a bargain
With a global recession hammering endowment funds and university budgets, we’ve been hearing a lot about how the coffers of institutions of higher education are bleeding money these days.
But to look at the rising paycheques of university leaders, it would be hard to tell how dire the situation in Canada’s post-secondary sector is becoming. In fact, some university presidents in Ontario are paid more than Stephen Harper or Barack Obama receive to run entire countries. On the other hand, university presidents (not to mention Harper and Obama) get paid less—a lot less—than today’s corporate CEOs.
At the top of the university presidential pay scale in Ontario, for the second year in a row, was McMaster president Peter George, who pulled in a total of $ $533,913 in salary and taxable benefits last year. At current exchange rates, that’s slightly more than President Barack Obama’s US$400,000. Although, to be fair, President Obama also gets a hefty expense account, $19,000 for “entertainment” and 10 years of personal security. Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was paid $310,800 including a $2,000 car allowance. (Just to put that car allowance in perspective, that’s about how much I paid for my first car, a rickety 1992 Volkswagen Golf.)
The argument is that university president’s pay packages need to be big enough to attract educated, qualified candidates away from other sectors. And considering the paycheques earned by other bankable Canadians — corporate chief executive officers, for example —it could be argued that university presidents are underpaid. After all, Ed Clark, the CEO of Toronto Dominion Bank, made $8 million in 2008. The CEO of Imperial Oil brought home more than $9 million. (See salary chart at the end of this article.)
Then again, looking at our university presidents’ peers in the U.S. suggests that Canadian presidential salaries might be in the right ballpark. The median salary for the president of a public university in the United States is about $335,000, according to the U.S. College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. And while 10 presidents in Ontario received compensation above that benchmark, so did many presidents at American institutions. For example, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, New York University president John Sexton made $1,324,874 in 2007, and also has the run of a downtown university-owned apartment. Although that’s chump change compared to the $4.4 million garnered by University of Southern California head football coach Pete Carroll.
Canada’s highest paid president appears to be in Alberta. University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera received $627,000 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which includes house and car allowances, performance bonuses and deferred compensation. Her salary is up 6 per cent compared to the year before.
Who is Ontario’s most highly paid professor?
Highest paid are in business, medicine
Every year, legions of new bright-eyed university students aspire to a six-figure salary in business or at a top-tier medical practice. But according to figures released this week on Ontario’s salary disclosure day, the big money could also be in becoming a business or medical professor.
Last year, twelve out of thirteen professors making more than $300,000 in the province taught business or medicine. That means they earned more than most executives at medium-sized universities. On disclosure day, all eyes are on the rapid growth of university presidential salaries, but last year many business and medical professors were quietly clocking big bucks.
Last year, we reported that the top-paid professor in 2007 was Brian Golden of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. In 2007, he earned $303,490. But the bar has since been raised. In 2008, 13 professors, all without senior management responsibilities, made more.
This year’s leading professor appears to be McMaster University assistant professor Gary Chaimowitz, who made $373,321. However, while listed in the disclosure as an assistant professor Chaimowitz also holds an administrative position as Head of Service, Forensic Psychiatry at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. He also holds an MBA, merging his medical knowledge with business management ― a potent earning combination.
Many hospital-based physicians and hospital administrators at university teaching hospitals also hold the title of medical school professor, because of the close relationship between medical schools and teaching hospitals. As we noted in this story, in the United States, almost all of the most highly paid academics are senior physicians or hospital administrators, with some earning more than US$1 million a year. In the U.S., many hospitals are part of a university, and therefore many of those people are considered to be university employees. In Canada, they often aren’t, because of a different corporate relationship between hospital and university. But you get a sense of how much their Canadian medical equivalents (some of whom would also be med school professors) are making from this list.
Leaving medical schools aside, the 2009 title for Ontario’s top paid professor without senior administrative responsibilities goes to John Hull, a finance professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. He received total compensation of $364,335 last year. Closely behind are fellow Rotman professors Glen Whyte and William Strange, who earned $363,290 and $354,231 respectfully.
Ontario’s top paid female professor is Deborah Cook of McMaster University’s Faculty of Medicine, who made $349,943. The most highly paid female professor not at a medical school is Brenda Zimmerman, who is an associate professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business. She made $314,612 last year, in part for teaching a course called “Understanding the Canadian Health Industry.”
Financial crisis in the university sector? What crisis?
To look at the presidents’ paychecks, you’d never know universities were desperately short of cash
Ontario’s public universities cry poor to anyone who will listen and can produce elaborate pie charts and balance sheets to support their claims. Interestingly, none of their advocacy materials mention the increasingly rich financial compensation awarded to the senior administrators of those same institutions.
Today, as required under Ontario’s “sunshine act,” the province’s universities were forced to disclosure the taxable compensation given to senior administrators.
If you were judging only by how much senior administrators are taking to the bank, you’d think universities were richer than ever.
Two university employees made more than a half-million dollars last year. John Lyon, Managing Director of Investment Strategy at the University of Toronto, was paid a salary of $494,598.04 with $62,876.32 in taxable benefits for a total of $557,474.36. Peter George, president of McMaster University, continues to be Ontario’s top paid executive head with a salary of $524,435.14 and taxable benefits of $9,478.34.
The next highest paid president, David Johnston of the University of Waterloo, made $45,000 less than George with a total compensation figure of $488,242.66. Following close behind at $484,357.92 is Mamdouh Shoukri, president of York University. Overall, 13 Ontario university employees were compensated over $400,000 in 2008 with another 59 clearing the $300,000 hurdle.
Province wide, 10,461 university employees made the $100,000 plus list. In fairness, over half of the people on the list made less than $125,000. The grand compensation total of everyone on the list is $1.4 billion. More than half of that went to those earning more than $125,000.
Judging by the record pay cheques for senior and mid-level university executives, one could reasonably conclude that universities are flush with cash and that “business” is booming. Sadly, that is not the case. University endowments are down by double-digit percentages and pension plans are facing major deficits.
To address growing shortfalls, universities are going so far as to exploit loopholes in tuition regulations to increase fees on students, in order to pay for the excesses of the sector. The University of Toronto, for example, is the latest university to exploit a loophole in provincial regulations limiting the maximum tuition the university charges. The rules set the maximum tuition for students taking a 100 per cent course load. Traditionally, student fees are based on the number of courses taken: A student taking four courses paid for four, a student taking five paid for five.
The University of Toronto plans to make students taking three or four courses pay the same fees as those taking five. Ten Ontario universities are already exploiting this loophole to generate additional funds. Other universities are increasing “administrative fees” for services students must use in the course of their university career.
But if the situation is so dire in the Ivory Tower, why are the people at the top taking home growing, record pay cheques?
Administrators are asking low-level staff to take pay freezes and benefit rollbacks. They are increasingly cutting full-time tenure track positions in favour of contract positions. (And then, as budgets squeeze, reducing contract positions). Student services are being cut so that, for example, students can’t get the counselling and other supports they need to succeed in university.
It seems that Ontario universities are only poor when it comes time to deliver the undergraduate education that taxpayers believe their money is going to support.
It’s time for Ontario’s university administrators to follow the lead of University of Winnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy. Axworthy, realizing that he’s asking others to bare the burden of his institution’s financial situation, cut his salary by 10 per cent.
If university administrators are unable to control their excesses, then it is time for the Dalton McGuinty government to step in and force universities to spend taxpayer money on undergraduate education instead of administration.
Administrators taking a pay cut may not amount to much in the big picture, but 10 per cent of McMaster president Peter George’s compensation could, for example, save the job of an entry-level professor facing lay-off as his institutions continues to cut Liberal Arts undergraduate programs.
What do you say university presidents? Do you have 10 per cent to give back to your institutions? Or is it just everyone else who is expected to bail you out?
College presidents: gaining on their more highly paid university peers
The pay of college executives still trails that of universities, but they’re catching up
Colleges are often unfairly seen as the second tier of the higher education universe—and, as we noted last year, that extends to the compensation of college administrators, who have long been paid substantially less than their university peers
So did anything change in 2008? Yes. Ontario’s Sunshine List salary disclosure was released today, and the tally of Ontario college employees earning more than $100,000 (the threshold for inclusion on the list) is, as always, much shorter than the count for universities. However, the number of college senior administrators earning more than $200,000 has grown by nearly two-thirds, and several highly paid college heads are taking home university-president-sized paychecks.
The highest paid college president in Ontario is Frederick Miner of Seneca College. With a salary of $406,000 and taxable benefits worth $5,000, his compensation is enough to put him squarely in the upper tier of university administrators. Miner’s salary is more than that paid to the president of the largest university in the country, David Naylor of the University of Toronto. (The latter’s salary was $380,000).
Conestoga College president John Tibbits was paid $387,000. That’s more than the president of neighbouring Wilfrid Laurier University. (The president of the other university just down the road, the University of Waterloo was however paid about $101,000 more).
The presidents of five other Ontario colleges — Humber, Sheridan, George Brown, Mohawk and Algonquin — earned over $300,000. Their pay is below that awarded the presidents of large Ontario universities, but in line with the compensation given to presidents of smaller Ontario universities. For example, Dennis Mock, president of Nipissing University, Ontario’s second-smallest public university, was paid $271,000. Bonnie Patterson, president of Brock, last year received total compensation of $338,000.
The pay gap between colleges and universities appears to be larger in Western Canada. According to BC public sector salary disclosure, as compiled by the Vancouver Sun, there were 182 employees of the BC university and college system earning more than $200,000. (Data is for either 2006-07 or 2007-08). Of those 182 highly paid individuals, only two were from the college or institute system: the acting and outgoing presidents of BCIT. (What’s more, hardly any of the 182 members of the over $200K club came from the former university college system; almost all worked at one of the province’s four traditional universities, in particular UBC).
Who’s in the $500,000 club?
Who is Canada’s most highly paid academic? Surprise: he isn’t a university president
What does it take to make half a million dollars in a year? According to new figures, released by the government of Ontario today under the province’s decade-old “sunshine law,” two university administrators did just that.
Also, for the second year in a row, the province’s most well-compensated university officer isn’t a president. And one of the province’s most highly compensated university presidents is a former president who stepped down nearly two years ago. These are just some of the revelations in Ontario’s salary disclosures from 2008, which were released mid-day Tuesday on a provincial government website.
John Lyon, University of Toronto’s managing director of investment strategy topped the list with a salary of $494,598, with taxable benefits of $62,876, which brought his total compensation to $557,474.
For full OnCampus coverage of university salaries 2009, click here.
Coming in a close second place was McMaster University president Peter George, who made $524,435, with taxable benefits of $9,478, for total earnings of $533,913 last year. That’s up nearly 6 per cent from his pay the year before, which hit $505,000 in salary and benefits.
Other top earners include University of Waterloo President David Johnston, who made $488,242 total compensation and York University President Mamdouh Shoukri, who, despite his university’s lengthy strike, took home $484,357. In fifth place was University of Guelph president Alastair Summerlee, who made a total of $464,013.
One of the surprises was to find York’s former president, Lorna Marsden, still on the list. Marsden stepped down from the chief executive role in the spring of 2007, and was replaced by Shoukri. However, York in 2008 still has Marsden on the payroll as “president emerita” – and paid her $412,000. That’s more than is paid to most regular, still-on-the-job university presidents.
One other surprise: the most highly paid academic in Canada isn’t at an Ontario university. Ontario university presidents are apparently earning less than some of their peers at Western Canada’s largest universities. Continuing a trend first noticed last year, there are six senior administrators in Western Canada who reported salary and benefits worth more than the package given to Ontario’s most highly paid university president, Peter George. On the list are the president of the University of Calgary, the president of the University of British Columbia, and four executives at the University of Alberta, including President Indira Samarasekera, who received total compensation worth $627,000, or nearly $100,000 more than George. But one of the U of A’s vice-presidents, VP of facilities and operations Don Hickey, earned more than his boss. In 2007-08 he received total remuneration and benefits worth $688,000 — making him Canada’s most highly paid academic.
Go West, ambitious university president
Pay packages appear to be bigger out West — but that may be because BC and Alberta disclosure is more honest
Aspiring university presidents and senior academics looking to maximize their market value may want to look to Western Canada, where the leading universities appear to be offering their top executives compensation superior to that offered in the rest of Canada.
According to the most recent salary disclosures, at least six Western Canadian university administrators are making more than Ontario’s most highly paid university president, McMaster University’s Peter George. In 2008, George reported salary and benefits worth $534,000. During the 2007-08 fiscal year, four senior executives at the University of Alberta, including the president, were paid more. Indira Samarasekera, the U of A’s president, received salary and benefits worth $627,000. Her number two, provost Carl Amrhein, earned $618,000. Two other executives at the U of A earned more: Phyllis Clark, VP of finance and administration, received total compensation worth $654,000 and Don Hickey, VP of facilities and operations, received $668,000.
The president of the University of Calgary, Harvey Weingarten, earned $557,000 in total compensation in 2008. Stephen Toope, president of the University of British Columbia, received total compensation worth $579,000.
In Ontario, the next highest paid president after McMaster’s George is Waterloo’s David Johnston; in 2008, he received $488,000 in total compensation. The third most highly paid Ontario president was York University’s Mamdouh Shoukri at $464,000.
The pay seems higher out West — and that is in part due to the stated objective of some Western universities to offer executive pay that meets or exceeds what’s offered by top institutions in the rest of Canada and the United States. For example, UBC explicitly benchmarks its president’s salary against those peers. “UBC is one of the highest ranked universities in Canada, and one of the top 40 universities in the world,” says the university’s statement on senior administrator compensation. “As such, UBC seeks to retain and attract the best senior administrators it can by remaining competitive in its compensation practices with other large research-intensive universities represented by the G13 (i.e., leading research-intensive universities in Canada), and in particular the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta, and with the global market for senior administrator talent generally.”
David Naylor, president of the University of Toronto, reported $430,000 in total compensation in the most recent year: $380,000 in salary and $50,000 in benefits.
The pay packages appear to be larger out West, but that may be partly an accounting wrinkle: compensation disclosure by Alberta and BC universities is more honest and complete. In Ontario, as in BC and Alberta, executives must report base salary and other compensation. However, Alberta and BC appear to be fully (or at least more fully) expensing the cost of their senior administrators’ supplemental pension payments, whereas Ontario’s salary disclosure does not appear to include this. Pension costs are not cash payments made in 2008, but rather the estimated present cost of the pension benefits earned in 2008. Many Canadian administrators are going to get large pensions on retirement, the cost of which in the present is substantial, and should be recorded and disclosed. Out West, it is.
For example, U of A president Samarasekera’s total compensation of $627,000 exceed that of every Ontario university president. However, her base salary of $436,000 is less than the base pay given to the top three Ontario presidents. What puts her total compensation over the top is $191,000 in “other non-cash benefits.” The largest part of that is pension benefits. UBC’s compensation disclosure for president Toope breaks it down even further: $378,000 in salary, a bonus of $50,000, “other compensation” of $65,000 and pension expense of $85,000. Ontario’s Sunshine Law salary disclosure covers the first three of those items but does not appear to completely cover pension expenses.
For example, it was revealed last year that, on retirement, McMaster’s George is set to receive a golden handshake of $1.4 million, paid out at the rate of $99,999/year for 14 years. This does not appear to have ever been accounted for in McMaster’s disclosures under Ontario’s Sunshine List. (It is not clear how such a payment — which McMaster does not consider a pension — would be treated by Alberta or BC compensation disclosure requirements). Nor does it appear that Peter George’s supplemental pension benefits have been disclosed as completely as those of his Alberta and BC peers. McMaster’s Sunshine Law disclosure says that George received salary of $524,000 and “taxable benefits” of less than $10,000. It seems a safe bet that the cost of his various pension and other benefits is considerably larger than this, but Ontario’s transparency law does not require quite as much transparency as BC and Alberta.
Comparing “total compensation” at Alberta/BC universities with those in Ontario is thus not always an entirely equivalent comparison, as it may somewhat understate the compensation of Ontario administrators. (That wording is deliberately chosen: it’s not that Alberta and BC are overstating executive compensation, but rather that Ontario is understating it). The bottom line, however, is that senior administrators in Alberta and BC are well paid, and at top universities, senior executives’ salaries compete with what is offered by leading universities in Ontario. No matter how you slice it, Western presidents aren’t getting short changed. For example, in 2008, U of A president Samarasekera’s total compensation rose 6.1 per cent.
(Ontario presidents aren’t exactly suffering, either).
And what about those senior execs at the U of A who earned more than the president? The university’s annual report explains that “in the current year, certain individuals became eligible for an additional six month professional leave. Included in non-cash benefits is the equivalent of an additional six months salary for Vice-President Finance and Administration ($176,000) and Vice-President Facilities Operations ($179,000).”
The two VPs, Clark and Hickey, were not paid those benefits in 2009 — but, in another act of Western accounting honesty, the university calculated and reported the cost of their six month leaves (which they will take later, perhaps after retirement) on its 2008 statement of executive compensation.
How much does your president make, 2009 edition
We’ll have complete coverage online later today
UPDATED: For complete coverage of University Salaries 2009, click here.
Ontario this morning released its annual Sunshine List of public sector employees paid more than $100,000. As always, the list includes all university and college employees in the province.
We’re preparing a number of articles right now; look for us for full coverage throughout the day from me, Karen Pinchin and Joey Coleman.
I’m just now taking a look at how university presidents’ salaries in Ontario compare to what we know about pay in Western Canada. The conclusion seems to be: go West, ambitious academic administrator. More in just a moment.
How much does your president make?
For the first time ever, Ontario universities disclose their presidents’ contracts
Give credit to the Hamilton Spectator. And its investigations editor, Steve Buist. The newspaper has sparked a paradigm shift in university transparency — at several southern Ontario schools, anyway.
Last week, McMaster University finally acquiesced to a freedom-of-information request filed nearly two years ago by the Spectator, and released Mac President Peter George’s contract. The Spec published the details of George’s employment agreement with his university—and then the floodgates flew open. It turns out that the Spec had requested the contracts of quite a few other university presidents—and after Mac decided to go public (having been ordered to do so by the provincial information commission, note), so did those other universities.
Today, the paper published the fruits of its labour on its website, making available the contracts of:
- Peter George of McMaster University
- Paul Davenport of the University of Western Ontario
- Max Blouw of Wilfrid Laurier University
- David Naylor of the University of Toronto
- Sheldon Levy of Ryerson University
- Alan Wildeman of the University of Windsor
- Mamdouh Shoukri of York University
- Alastair Summerlee of the University of Guelph
All the presidents’ contracts
How much does your university president make? The definitive guide
Ontario universities began releasing their presidential contracts two weeks ago in response to a two-year old access to information request from the Hamilton Spectator, and many have now made them public.
We have been updating a table with the details of each contract, links to PDFs of the contracts themselves, and local media coverage that has resulted from the disclosures.
Our in-depth coverage began with the contract of long-serving McMaster University president Peter George, and we followed up with a story about Western Ontario president Paul Davenport’s contract when it was released. George’s contract includes a $1.4-million retirement payout in 14 installments of $99,999. Davenport will receive three pensions and a “special executive pension” of $700,000.
We also compiled a chart that illustrates the nearly universal increase of financial compensation paid to Ontario university presidents in the last 10 years. Since 1997, compensation has increased by 97.7 per cent and every school except McMaster has given its president a raise.
Ontario has for more than a decade made public the salaries of all public sector employees earning over $100,000, as part of the province’s so-called Sunshine Law. As a result, the basic annual compensation of all Ontario university president’s has long been public: see our coverage of the this past spring’s salary disclosure, here. However, the details of some of the most important elements of presidential compensation—namely pension and severance arrangements—are not generally part of the Sunshine Law disclosure. And based on those contracts that have been made public over the past two weeks, the severance, pension and administrative leave arrangements accorded some presidents form a significant additional form of compensation.
Several university presidents in southern Ontario won’t have to worry much about finding a new job when their contracts run out at their current digs. On top of their standard pensions, many collect at least an extra year or more of salary at the end of their terms, as part of what is termed “administrative leave.”
According to his contract, Ryerson University’s Sheldon Levy will receive two years “salary continuance” at the end of his term as president if he completes a second term. The University of Toronto’s David Naylor will receive one year’s salary for his duties as president and another 10-months worth for his time as dean of medicine. Wilfrid Laurier’s Max Blouw (who received a $50,000 signing bonus), Guelph’s Alastair Summerlee, and York’s Mamdouh Shoukri will also go on paid administrative leave after completing their terms.
If Levy served two full terms as president, his salary continuance could total at least $625,000. If Levy retired today and collected his retirement money based on his current salary, he would receive no salary continuance (not $625,000, as previously reported in error). Naylor could receive almost $700,000. Blouw could net up to $420,000. Summerlee could also top $400,000 and Shoukri could take in at least $325,000.
These payouts are all on top of regular pensions and in some cases other pensions contained in the contracts.
Professors tend to go on sabbatical once every seven years. Presidents usually serve five-year terms. But they are encouraged to take administrative leave at the end of their respective terms, when they often retire — indeed, these are known as golden handshakes; appreciation for service to the school.
When McMaster president Peter George’s contract was made public last week, at least one group on that campus refused to believe that administrative leave was a legitimate means of paying retired presidents for their service.
The McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) says George’s paid leave is questionable and does not meet McMaster’s own criteria for academic leave.
“Administrative Research Leaves are intended to assist a former administrator in making the transition back to full scholarly life,” MUFA stated in a release sent to Maclean’s. “Neither Research nor Administrative Research Leaves are simply an employee benefit. Their purpose has always been to assist McMaster in maintaining research and educational excellence.”
MUFA pointed to a double standard for faculty at the university. Faculty members who do not use research leaves cannot defer them into compensation.
President’s $1.4-million golden handshake
Retiring McMaster prez to get $99,999/year for 14 years—$1 less than disclosure rules
After nearly two years of fighting against public disclosure, McMaster University released the contract of its president Peter George to The Hamilton Spectator today.
The contract — posted by The Spectator on it’s website — reveals that George will receive a golden handshake of nearly $1.4 million after his scheduled July 2010 retirement.
The money will be paid over 14 years at a rate of $99,999 a year. (George will have served 15 years as president upon his retirement)
This figure is significant as it is the maximum full-dollar amount the university could, under the rules of disclosure in place when the contract was signed in 2005, pay George without revealing the payment.
Until 2006, Ontario universities were exempt from freedom of information. They have been covered by the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act (PSSDA) since it’s implementation in 1996. PSSDA requires universities to disclosure the names of all employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year. If George were paid one dollar more each year after retirement, the university would be required to report it publicly.
Other perks in the contract include two life-insurance policies, $30,000 over the five-year contract for “financial estate planning, including legal counsel, in respect of his personal affairs,” memberships in local clubs, a nearly $11,000 per year car allowance (which is declared as a taxable benefit in his yearly salary disclosure), a $20,000-a-year “Health Care Spending Account” to be used for expenses not covered by the university’s regular staff benefits, and provision for “business-class” air travel on flights longer than four hours.
The contract does not include a salary scale for the president. “The President’s salary shall be subject to annual review on or before June 30 of each contract year,” the contract states.
Last year, George was Ontario’s highest paid university president, with total income and taxable benefits of nearly $505,000.
Who is Ontario’s best paid professor?
Being a business prof pays well, but being an English prof can pay even better—under certain circumstances
English students feeling trepidation about their employment prospects, fear no more. Last year’s top paid prof in Ontario was, for once, an English professor. But if you plan to strive for this distinction, your career path may have to take a minor detour.
RELATED CONTENT Who is Canada’s top paid academic? AND Update: Maybe David Naylor is a (relative) bargain AND Professor pay varies greatly by discipline AND McMaster goes to court to block release of president’s pay package
That’s right: David Atkinson — who is listed as a “faculty member” on Ontario’s salary disclosure list — made off with a whopping $467,835.75 plus $19,323.97 in taxable benefits in 2007. His $487,158 total annual take makes Carleton University’s Atkinson not only the highest paid professor in Ontario, but also higher paid than most university presidents, including University of Toronto president David Naylor.
While everyone else in the $400,000 range on the salary disclosure list has administrative duties listed to explain their salaries, it may be Atkinson’s choice not to be an administrator that earned him the top paid prof title. Atkinson served for 15 months as president of Carleton University starting in August 2005. He abruptly resigned on November 20, 2006 under mysterious circumstances, and returned to work as a professor in the English department.
Perhaps fortunately for the Carleton coffers, its $400,000+ English prof announced in January that he will become president of Kwantlen University College in Vancouver starting in July.
Samy Mahmound, in comparison, was paid $337,173.60 to actually be president of Carleton last year.
Aside from Atkinson, Ontario’s other highest paid professors are, not surprisingly, from business schools, not English departments. Ontario’s second highest paid professor is Brian Golden of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. Golden’s total compensation for 2007, including salary and taxable benefits, was $303,490.32.
Golden barely beat fellow Rotman professors of Strategic Management Joel Baum ($296,748.94) and Brian Silverman ($293,143.20) for the title.
Other University of Toronto professors making more than $250,000 in salary included seven business professors, four medical professors, and one engineering professor. Many business, medical, science, and engineering professors at the University of Toronto made more than $200,000.
The only other professors, without administrative titles, making more than $250,000 in Ontario are Paul Beamish of The University of Western Ontario’s Ivey School of Business and Russell Belk of York University’s Schulich School of Business.
Many part-time professors at Ontario medical schools made over $200,000. Dozens of full-time professors at business and law schools also made over $200,000.
The salary disclosure list confirms a study by the American Association of University Professors which showed that professors in professional schools make at least 50 per cent more than the average humanities professor.
However, for those who make it to the senior administrator level, being schooled in the humanities has no effect on salaries. Both Atkinson, and highest paid university president Peter George of McMaster, have their terminal degrees in the humanities. Lorna Marsden, a sociologist, made $483,124 during her final six months as president of York University.
Which uni presidents make more than Bush?
Compared to Bush, uni presidents make a mint. But compared to CEOs, they’re a bargain
At first glance, you might have mistaken salary disclosure day in Ontario for an elaborate April Fool’s Day joke. But this ain’t a hoax: some university presidents in Ontario are paid more than Stephen Harper or George W. Bush get to run entire countries. Then again, university presidents (and Harper, and Bush) get paid less—a lot less—than corporate CEOs.
RELATED CONTENT Who is Canada’s top paid academic? AND Update: Maybe David Naylor is a (relative) bargain AND Professor pay varies greatly by discipline AND McMaster goes to court to block release of president’s pay package
At the top of the pay scale in Ontario, McMaster president Peter George pulled in a total of $504,792 in salary and taxable benefits last year. That’s $100,000 more than President George Bush’s US$400,000. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was paid $312,922 including a $2,000 car allowance (just for the record, the lease payments on my 2005 Toyota Echo come to more than that each year).
Of course, pay packages for university presidents need to be sufficient to attract qualified candidates away from other sectors. And considering the loot thrown at other highly valued Canadians — professional athletes and CEOs, for instance — maybe McMaster is lucky that president George hasn’t run off yet to join the private sector. Can George skate? The Leafs paid Bryan McCabe over $7 million last year. CEOs at TD, Royal Bank, and Imperial Oil topped $10 million. (See salary chart at the end of this article.)
Looking at our uni presidents’ peers down south, it seems that Canadian presidential salaries might be in the right ballpark. The median salary for the president of a public university in the USA is about $335,000, according to the U.S. College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. And while ten presidents in Ontario are well above that benchmark, so are many presidents at private American institutions. For example, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Yale president Richard C. Levin made $869,026 last year. A number of other presidents cleared $1 million. So did some U.S. college sports coaches.
Canada’s highest paid president appears to be in Alberta. University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera received $591,000 in the 2006-2007 fiscal year. That includes house and car allowances, performance bonuses, and deferred compensation.
Some would argue that comparing university president salaries to corporate CEOs is unfair since taxpayers foot the bill for the former. But CEOs at other public institutions are also making decent coin. Tom Parkinson, CEO of Hydro One, made over $1.5 million in 2007 and Paul Taylor, CEO for the Insurance Company of BC, was paid $480,039.
