Rodin salary tops list of US. colleges, universities

When benefits are included, University President Judith Rodin ranks third in thenation, at $514,878. With salary and benefits of more than $500,000, University President Judith Rodin made more than twice as much money as President Clinton did last year -- but hey, most people would say she's had a better year. At $498,536, Rodin made more in salary alone than any college president in the country for the 1996-97 fiscal year, according to a report this week in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The annual article is based on the federal tax filings of 475 private colleges and universities for the 12-month fiscal year ending June 30, 1997. Public schools were not included in the report, although their heads do not make as much as their private counterparts. While 1996-97 was a pretty good year for Rodin -- she earned a $375,000 base salary and $78,029 in benefits, including a large contribution to her retirement package -- this year saw Rodin getting a raise some in corporate America would envy. The 1997 package represents a 32.9 percent increase in salary and a 13.7 percent rise in total compensation over 1996. Although Rodin, 54, earned an additional $16,342 in benefits, her total compensation package remains third nationally and first in the Ivy League, the same positions she held in last year's rankings. University Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos said the Trustees, who set Rodin's salary, factor in the unique demands of running an institution like the University -- which also includes overseeing the expansive Penn Health SystemE-- when determining her compensation. "You have to extrapolate," Vagelos told the Chronicle. "Take a top university, an Ivy League president who has no direct responsibility for a major hospital. We see what that person, or what those kinds, receive. Then we make a judgment as to what the added responsibility will justify." Rodin said last month that she is "grateful to the Trustees for the confidence they have in me," stressing that her salary is "competitive" for the chief executive of a university of Penn's size and stature. Bolstered by a $133,333 bonus to his benefits package, Rockefeller University President Torsten Wiesel earned $546,996 to top this year's list. Wiesel, 74, a 1981 Nobel Prize winner in medicine, had until this year refused a raise in his $300,000 salary. He will leave his post next month. Not far behind Wiesel was Vanderbilt University President Joe Wyatt, 63, whose $525,496 salary again placed him second in the Chronicle's rankings. Following Rodin for fourth on the overall list and second in the Ivy League is Columbia University President George Rupp, 56. New York University President Jay Oliva, 65, who runs the largest private institution in the country, rounded out the top five. In a trend that probably has a lot of university presidents cheering, the Chronicle reported that salaries are continuing their upward trend with 13 presidents earning more than $400,000 in total compensation last year, up from nine in 1996. Additionally, 33 presidents earned between $300,000 and $400,000, up from 29 the year before. "Salaries are market-driven," Penn spokesperson Ken Wildes said. "This should come as no surprise to anyone." But Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said the rising salaries may not bode well for higher education. "I'm not saying any particular person isn't worth it, but this is a trend we ought to watch carefully," he told the Chronicle. Despite her salary, Rodin is far from the best-compensated Penn employee. Medical School Dean William Kelley, 59, who also heads the Penn Health System, earned more than $1.1 million in compensation in 1996-1997. After Kelley, the next five highest-paid Penn employees are all Medical School professors who earn at least $700,000 each, mostly from their clinical practices.