Compensation Committee Gives Senior Leaders First Increase in 3 Years

PITTSBURGH—The Compensation Committee of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees today approved the first salary adjustments for Pitt’s senior leaders in three years, reflecting the same cost-of-living and merit increase applied to the University’s staff and faculty earlier this year.

Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and seven members the University’s leadership team will receive a 2.25 percent increase, effective for the 2018 calendar year.

The committee was presented with an independent comparative review of leadership salaries at public institutions in the Association of American Universities (AAU), which showed that adjusted salaries for both the chancellor and provost remain below the median among their peers.

“Despite a challenging environment for higher education, our University of Pittsburgh continues to flourish in creating a rich educational experience for our college students as well as inspiring innovation and economic activity for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Chair of the Board of Trustees Eva Tansky Blum. “The progress we’re seeing doesn’t happen by itself; it begins with stellar leadership provided by Chancellor Gallagher and his senior team.”

The University has been named the best public university in the Northeast by The Wall Street Journal for two consecutive years, demonstrating a rising national profile. Pitt also set records the last two years for the number of patents issued, is bringing in higher levels of research funding and is attracting a more diverse field of student applicants as well as those with increasingly higher standardized test scores.

Despite historically diminishing state support, the University helps to cover the costs of in-state tuition for Pennsylvania students and is ranked by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance among the best-value public colleges in the nation. The University, which contributes $3.95 billion in economic impact to the region, is a central partner in a new innovation district designed to encourage the launch of enterprises that contribute to Pittsburgh’s economic growth.

Blum said the upward trajectory of Pitt is clear. Providing increases that are in line with those given to the rest of the University staff and faculty for a group that has not received adjustments in years is appropriate, she said, particularly when considering the salary comparisons with competing universities.

Gallagher, whose adjusted base salary for 2018 will be $536,813, has not received an increase since he was appointed chancellor in 2014, which is the last year that other senior University leaders received adjustments. Gallagher’s contract includes deferred yearly retention incentive payments of $100,000, payable in a one-time sum on July 31, 2019, if he remains employed by the University.

The other senior leaders included in the adjustment are Patricia Beeson, provost and senior vice chancellor; Arthur Levine, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine; Arthur Ramicone, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer; Amy Marsh, chief investment officer and treasurer; Greg Scott, senior vice chancellor for business and operations; Kathy Humphrey, senior vice chancellor for engagement and secretary of the Board of Trustees; and Geovette Washington, senior vice chancellor and chief legal officer. Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob Rutenbar was not eligible for a salary increase due to his recent arrival this summer.

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