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STORRS, Conn. (AP) — The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees on Monday extended President Susan Herbst's contract until June 2019, increasing her annual base pay from $525,000 to $585,000. Annual raises and performance awards could bring her pay to more than $900,000 in four years.
The agreement raises Herbst's pay in future years by 5 percent a year, bringing it to about $711,000 annually by 2019. She also will receive $195,000 in bonuses unless the board determines she has failed to meet goals and objectives. By 2019, her total pay would be $906,071.
The UConn Foundation is increasing private money, from $145,000 to $300,000, to help fund Herbst's pay.
UConn said her pay is in line for a chief executive of an institution with a budget of $2 billion, more than 30,000 students, seven campuses and more than 9,000 employees.
Board Chairman Lawrence McHugh said that when Herbst was hired in 2010, she was offered a contract that paid her less than her predecessor and what many other presidents of comparable institutions were paid.
"The board's view was that if President Herbst excelled on the job, we would act to increase her compensation over time based on performance and merit," he said. "This contract is a reflection of that and offers compensation that is in line with that of many other presidents at large public research universities across the nation."
He said the contract acknowledges her success and "that the board would like for her to remain at UConn, and that she would like to stay."
Herbst said the state has made "incredible investments in UConn and rightfully has very high expectations in return."
The UConn trustees approved a nearly $1.2 billion budget in June for the next fiscal year. The 2015 budget represents a 4.6 percent increase in spending over 2014 levels and includes a previously approved tuition hike of 6.5 percent.
Spending accounts for the hiring of 61 new faculty members, part of a plan approved in 2011 to add almost 300 positions by 2016.
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