All Posts Tagged With: "University Salaries 2010"
The million dollar president
UAlberta buys president’s house for $930,000
University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera has had a very good year. Not only did she bag a whopping $936,000 in compensation and benefits during the 2009-10 fiscal year, but she also made a lucrative real estate deal − by selling her house to the university.
Yes, that’s right. The University of Alberta purchased Samarasekera’s home on July 1, 2009 for $930,000, according to the Edmonton Journal. The house was bought to be the official residence of the president and Samarasekera continues to live in it, although she now pays rent to the university.
A handful of other universities including the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto also own houses in which the president lives. The residences double as venues for meetings and social activities related to university business. The added bonus of housing is a perk that also comes in handy when recruiting new presidents, Brian Heidecker, chairman of the board of governors, told the Journal. “The fact that you have a very good quality home available makes recruiting infinitely easier, and it makes the transition for the president much easier if they happen to be an outsider.”
What is odd about U of A’s decision to buy the home is not only that they purchased it from the current president, but that the home is off campus. Customarily, president residences are on-campus estates that are maintained by the university and conveniently located for university functions. U of A hasn’t provided housing for presidents for decades, and one of the last presidents to make use of an official residence (Walter Johns, who was president from 1959 to 1969) didn’t like being roused from his sleep by drunk students walking through campus in the middle of the night. Since then, presidents have lived off campus.
Before the sale, Samarasekera’s home was used for some university functions, and the university paid some operating costs to her. According to Heidecker, the house worked so well for these events that the board decided it should be owned by the university. “It was to our mutual benefit that we owned the house instead of Indira.” While I’m sure that the house serves its purpose as a venue to entertain just fine, it’s seems only prudent to look for other houses that would be more appropriate, and its unclear if the board shopped around before the purchase.
The Journal also makes the valid point that the timing of the deal could be seen as unfortunate by critics. When the sale was being arranged, U of A knew of looming funding cuts that would lead to layoffs, increased fees for students and unpaid furloughs for staff.
House sale news aside, the other interesting nugget of information in the Journal report is Samarasekera’s compensation. With a base salary of $479,000, her non-cash benefits pushed her total compensation to $936,000, making her one of the highest paid university officials in Canada by a wide margin. The top paid academic in Ontario in 2009, according to data released by the Ontario government, was Amit Chakma, vice-president academic and provost at the University of Waterloo, who bagged a whopping $737,640 in compensation plus $3,505 in benefits. The second highest paid university official was William Moriarty, president and CEO of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation, who was paid $605,728 in 2009.
Photo: University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera
Knocking on the glass ceiling
Although female students have outnumbered their male counterparts for decades, male professors still rule the roost in academia
When the University of Calgary announced last week that engineering dean Elizabeth Cannon would be its next president, the appointment was widely applauded. Cannon — who is by all accounts an excellent scholar and administrator — will be UCalgary’s very first female president in its 43-year history. Both major universities in Alberta are now headed by women.
“This sends the message that anything is possible,” Anne Katzenberg, an archeology professor and former women’s issues advisor, told the Calgary Herald.
Hurray! Right?
Considering that the number of female university students overtook the number of male students way back in 1988, why is the appointment of a female president being praised as a milestone in 2010? Women accounted for nearly 60 per cent of post-secondary students in 2009 and the gender gap is continuing to grow. However, when it comes to who is standing in front of the classroom, men still overwhelmingly dominate.
In the past few decades, universities have taken considerable steps towards hiring and pay parity. Nevertheless, male professors with tenure still vastly outnumber female professors, they are paid more than their female counterparts and they are more likely to be promoted to senior positions. It seems that no matter how many more women than men graduate from our universities, men continue to reign in the upper echelons of the ivory tower.
Among the lower ranks of professors there are nearly as many female professors as male professors. For example, in 2006-07 there were slightly more female lecturers than male, according to Statistics Canada. But look at higher ranks—full, associate and assistant professor—and the gender gap widens. Only 20 per cent of full professors were women in 2006-07, and women made up only 33 per cent of all professors.
Last week’s release of Ontario’s Public Salary Disclosure—popularly known as the “Sunshine List”—further illustrated how the number of women declines in the upper ranks of universities. While salaries are nearing parity in the lower ranks, men vastly outnumber women in high paying upper administration jobs. For example, 413 men working for universities in Ontario make in excess of $200,000 (including benefits) while only 115 women are members of the $200,000-plus club.
High profile examples of top paid female university administrators exist; University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera was the highest paid university president in the country in 2008 with compensation over $620,000. Uof C’s Cannon will also take her place among the best paid university administrators in Canada; her contract includes a base salary of $430,000, an “annual incentive payment” valued up to 20 per cent of her base salary, a car allowance of $16,000 and other benefits.
Ontario’s top female earner in 2009 was Tina Dacin, director of corporate social responsibility at Queen’s School of Business, who was paid over $475,000 including benefits. Roseann Runte, Carleton’s president, was the highest female president with compensation over $400,000. She ranked fourth after Carole Stephenson, dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western, who earned $405,000. Interestingly, the fifth top paid woman doesn’t even work at an Ontario university any more; Lorna Marsden, former president of York University who stepped down in 2007, netted $396,567.00.
Click here to view details on all women earning more than $200,000 at Ontario universities.
For more coverage of university salaries, see The high cost of status
Despite these examples, women account for only about 30 per cent of administrative positions, according to a 2005 survey conducted by Karen Grant for the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada. Also, on average women continue to make less than men at every level of employment at universities. In 2006-07, the median salary for female university professors was $113,450 while men earned an average of $119,725, according to Statistics Canada. Women with senior administrative duties earned an average of $123,400 while their male counterparts earned $128,300.
Hey administrators. Quit your job, earn big bucks
Ontario’s salary leaders aren’t current university presidents, but senior administrators who stepped down
Salary figures released Wednesday under Ontario’s “sunshine law” showed that the province’s most well compensated university officer was not a president, the traditional top university job. Surprisingly, vice presidents took the first and third prize for highest paid university employee in the province—or, rather, former vice presidents.
The highest paid academic in Ontario in 2009 was Amit Chakma, vice-president academic and provost at the University of Waterloo, who bagged a whopping $737,640 in compensation plus $3,505 in benefits. But his annual take didn’t end there. He left Waterloo mid-year to accept the position of president of the University of Western Ontario starting on July 1, 2009. Western added $220,000 in salary and $9,294 in benefits to his annual pay, for a total nearing the $1 million mark.
The second highest paid university official was William Moriarty, president and CEO of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation, who was paid $605,728 in 2009. In the past two years senior financial managers have topped the salary list.
Right on Moriarty’s tail is yet another vice president who stepped down. Feridun Hamdullahpur, former vice president research and international at Carleton University, earned $503,247 plus $12,000 in benefits before leaving in July to assume top earner Chakma’s former position at Waterloo.
2009’s top earners are the latest examples of a trend that has been receiving growing attention in recent years: senior administrators receiving ultra sweet severance packages worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although details aren’t available on Chakma’s severance package, he made a more modest $408,456 plus $5,955 in benefits in 2008 compared to a total Waterloo compensation of over $740,000 in 2009. Hamdullahpur made $230,434 at Carleton in 2008.
McMaster University attracted criticism in 2008 when it released president Peter George’s contract to the Hamilton Spectator after nearly two years of fighting against public disclosure. The contract detailed the generous package George will receive starting when his contract ends in July of this year. In addition to his pension, he will be paid nearly $1.4 million after he retires.
George’s contract was particularly controversial because he will be paid $99,999 per year for 14 years. Because Ontario universities did not fall under freedom of information legislation when the contract was signed in 2005, McMaster would have avoided having to disclose his compensation because it was one dollar short of $100,000. All public sector compensation in Ontario over $100,000 must be disclosed.
Paul Davenport, former president of Western who retired in 2009, is also set to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a retirement package. Davenport—who became president of UWO in 1996—will collect a regular university pension, as well as what the contract describes as a “Supplemental Pension Arrangement” (worth 5 per cent of his salary since 1996) and a “Special Executive Pension” (worth $123,030 per year if he begins drawing from it after his 65th birthday).
Lorna Marsden, former president of York University, is also one of the top paid administrators in Ontario, even though she stepped down in 2007. Despite the fact that she retired in 2007, she is listed for the second year in a row as “president emerita” and earned $394,980 in 2009.
The high cost of status
Top administrator salaries point to universities’ pursuit of global recognition, and it’s hurting education quality
Take a guess: who earned the largest paycheque last year at Carleton University? If you guessed President Roseann Runte, with her $358,000 annual salary and $43,000 in taxable benefits, you’re wrong. Some high level financial manager, you say? Nope; vice-president of finance and administration Duncan Watt made a measly $256,000 annually plus $4,000 in benefits.
The highest paid employee at Carleton in 2009 was Feridun Hamdullahpur, vice-president research and international, according to Ontario public sector salary disclosure figures released Wednesday. Having earned $503,000 plus $12,000 in benefits, Hamdullahpur ranked third highest paid university employee in Ontario.
But to say Hamdullahpur enjoyed the highest salary is somewhat misleading. He stepped down from his post at Carleton in July 2009 to become vice-president academic and provost of Waterloo University, meaning that much of his 2009 compensation was likely a severance package, possibly including pension and other supplemental benefits. (He earned $230,000 in 2008.) Nevertheless, his comfortable salary and generous severance package demonstrate just how much Carleton valued Hamdullahpur’s work.
Hamdullahpur’s compensation also illustrates a trend that is impacting universities from coast to coast. Universities, particularly large research-focused schools, are putting more and more resources into pursuing global status.
In Hamdullahpur’s case, his work overseeing international activities at Carleton was one of Waterloo’s reasons for hiring him. A Waterloo press release announcing his appointment states, “Hamdullahpur will play a key role in helping the university achieve the ambitious objectives outlined in its strategic plan, Pursuing Global Excellence,” and goes on to describe those objectives as including the expansion of Waterloo’s global reach. He will surely continue to be handsomely rewarded for his efforts at Waterloo; his predecessor ranked as Ontario’s number one earner having pocketed a whopping $737,000 in 2009 (which also likely included a severance package).
These staggering numbers are indicative of a slow shift of vision that has been occurring for years on Canadian campuses, according to Bill Smith, an independent researcher who was formerly the general manager at the University of Alberta Students’ Union for 17 years. “The focus has switched from [on] campus to off campus,” he says.
Smith’s research—a 20-year analysis of university spending based on numbers submitted by universities to the Canadian Association of University Business Officers—shows that the average university spent almost $9 million on external affairs in 2007-08. The Top 5 schools, which are most eager for global recognition, spent $15 million on average.
Smith wrote about his research in Maclean’s in January. Click here to read: “Where all that money is going.”
To Smith, the salaries of university top brass aren’t the most troubling aspect since they only account for a small portion of overall spending. What is of concern, he says, is ballooning central administration costs. “It’s all the infrastructure under these people,” he says. “These are bright people with big dreams and the only way they can make them happen is by building a big support infrastructure and then you start seeing things like international vice presidents, vice presidents of external affairs. Before too long, you’ve really jacked up central administration costs.”
Attracting high quality people to pursue goals like boosting a university’s global status is expensive, and has contributed to escalating central administration costs. In 1987-88, the top 25 universities in Canada spent 7.8 per cent of their general operating expenditures on administration costs, which rose to 11.7 per cent in 2007-08. At the top five schools, administration spending grew from 7 per cent of all expenditures to 12 per cent.
While “pursuing global excellence,” in Waterloo’s words, seems to be a noble objective, there is no indication that it benefits students. Take, for example, the University of Alberta. President Indira Samarasekera has pledged the university will be recognized as one of the top 20 universities in the world by 2020. “Was there ever any public discussion about whether that is a legitimate goal? Is that goal important to the public that is funding these universities?” Smith questions. “I don’t know if anybody had any clear idea of what the price tag was going to be.”
As an aside, Samarasekera is among the highest paid university presidents in the country. Administration costs at the University of Alberta have doubled since 2000-01 and have quadrupled since 1994-95.
With university budgets as stretched as they are, money spent on administration is money not spent in the classroom. In 1987-88 the top 25 universities spent 65 per cent of general operating funds on instruction and non-sponsored research; now only 58 per cent is spent on teaching, meaning some $30 million has been deflected from the classroom.
This is why Smith argues that some universities appear to have become preoccupied with status rather than excellence. The dangers of ballooning administrative costs go further than the erosion of education quality and threaten universities’ overall financial sustainability, he says. “When enrolment falls, and it will at some point, this massive residue of central fixed cost is going to act as a millstone and drag universities into a much deeper crisis than they’re in now.”
