Seventeen presidents or chancellors of public universities or systems had total compensation of $1 million or more in the 2018 calendar year. Five of those 17 top-paid executives led a university system or institution in Texas, and two each led institutions in Florida, Kentucky, and South Carolina. Almost half of the earnings of the highest-paid leader, William H. McRaven of the University of Texas system, came from a payout of nearly $1.3 million in deferred compensation. Eleven of the 50 highest-paid leaders were women, up from nine in the 2016-17 fiscal year. Find data on more chief executives here.
| Rank | Chief executive | Institution | Total compensation | Base salary | Base salary as percent of total compensation |
| 1. | William H. McRaven* | U. of Texas system | $2,578,609 | $600,413 | 23.3% |
| 2. | Michael K. Young | Texas A&M U. at College Station | $1,893,740 | $1,000,000 | 52.8% |
| 3. | Eric J. Barron | Pennsylvania State U. at University Park | $1,854,881 | $834,364 | 45.0% |
| 4. | Eli Capilouto | U. of Kentucky | $1,534,806 | $821,896 | 53.6% |
| 5. | Renu Khator | U. of Houston | $1,399,581 | $790,949 | 56.5% |
| 6. | John Sharp | Texas A&M U. system office | $1,358,440 | $900,000 | 66.3% |
| 7. | Robert L. Duncan* | Texas Tech U. system | $1,351,282 | $387,900 | 28.7% |
| 8. | G.P. (Bud) Peterson | Georgia Institute of Technology | $1,240,232 | $691,544 | 55.8% |
| 9. | Michael V. Drake | Ohio State U. | $1,206,751 | $856,041 | 70.9% |
| 10. | Michael M. Crow | Arizona State U. | $1,148,457 | $686,538 | 59.8% |
| 11. | W. Kent Fuchs | U. of Florida | $1,131,114 | $892,539 | 78.9% |
| 12. | Anthony A. Frank | Colorado State U. at Fort Collins | $1,110,339 | $612,500 | 55.2% |
| 13. | Ana Mari Cauce | U. of Washington | $1,071,083 | $724,473 | 67.6% |
| 14. | Gregory Postel* | U. of Louisville | $1,061,435 | $942,524 | 88.8% |
| 15. | Harris Pastides | U. of South Carolina at Columbia | $1,046,899 | $878,831 | 84.0% |
| 16. | John E. Thrasher | Florida State U. | $1,030,928 | $573,458 | 55.6% |
| 17. | James P. Clements | Clemson U. | $1,016,773 | $901,730 | 88.7% |
| 18. | David W. Pershing* | U. of Utah | $991,381 | $523,518 | 52.8% |
| 19. | Tedd L. Mitchell* | Texas Tech U. system | $982,692 | $520,977 | 53.0% |
| 20. | Brian McCall | Texas State U. system | $969,410 | $646,698 | 66.7% |
| 21. | Teresa A. Sullivan* | U. of Virginia | $968,341 | $651,601 | 67.3% |
| 22. | Robert C. Robbins | U. of Arizona | $934,646 | $834,615 | 89.3% |
| 23. | Gregory L. Fenves | U. of Texas at Austin | $914,355 | $750,240 | 82.1% |
| 24. | Michael A. McRobbie | Indiana U. system | $909,185 | $622,874 | 68.5% |
| 25. | E. Gordon Gee | West Virginia U. | $902,952 | $794,664 | 88.0% |
| 26. | Judy L. Genshaft | U. of South Florida | $901,866 | $503,899 | 55.9% |
| 27. | Ruth Watkins* | U. of Utah | $894,728 | $547,098 | 61.2% |
| 28. | Margaret Spellings | U. of North Carolina system | $893,631 | $775,000 | 86.7% |
| 29. | Richard Englert | Temple U. | $875,616 | $762,500 | 87.1% |
| 30. | Robert L. Barchi | Rutgers U. | $870,644 | $705,305 | 81.0% |
| 31. | Carol L. Folt | U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | $869,663 | $721,089 | 82.9% |
| 32. | Susan Herbst | U. of Connecticut | $869,358 | $675,226 | 77.7% |
| 33. | W. Randolph Woodson | North Carolina State U. | $866,723 | $656,315 | 75.7% |
| 34. | Jeffrey P. Gold | U. of Nebraska at Omaha | $849,775 | $838,661 | 98.7% |
| 35. | Mark S. Schlissel | U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor | $848,505 | $823,981 | 97.1% |
| 36. | Brooks A. Keel | Augusta U. | $841,848 | $831,227 | 98.7% |
| 37. | Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. | Purdue U. at West Lafayette | $836,270 | $425,250 | 50.9% |
| 38. | Beverly Davenport* | U. of Tennessee at Knoxville | $821,517 | $197,120 | 24.0% |
| 39. | Martin T. Meehan | U. of Massachusetts system | $817,467 | $571,856 | 70.0% |
| 40. | Randy J. Dunn* | Southern Illinois U. system office | $802,075 | $583,420 | 72.7% |
| 41. | Michael H. Schill | U. of Oregon | $798,285 | $675,000 | 84.6% |
| 42. | Neville Pinto | U. of Cincinnati | $788,268 | $669,900 | 85.0% |
| 43. | Lou Anna K. Simon* | Michigan State U. | $782,700 | $664,583 | 84.9% |
| 44. | Rahmat Shoureshi | Portland State U. | $782,100 | $613,788 | 78.5% |
| 45. | Michael Rao | Virginia Commonwealth U. | $778,967 | $569,349 | 73.1% |
| 46. | Joel S. Bloom | New Jersey Institute of Technology | $762,884 | $604,991 | 79.3% |
| 47. | Lesa B. Roe | U. of North Texas system | $754,350 | $575,000 | 76.2% |
| 48. | Ali A. Houshmand | Rowan U. | $753,141 | $577,934 | 76.7% |
| 49. | Satish K. Tripathi | U. at Buffalo | $746,808 | $723,470 | 96.9% |
| 50. | John W. Kelly | Florida Atlantic U. | $734,694 | $470,914 | 64.1% |
* Served for only part of 2018.
Note: Salary data for 267 chief-executive roles at 226 public colleges and systems were collected as part of The Chronicle’s annual executive-compensation survey. Rank is for total compensation in the 2018 calendar year. Included in total compensation, in addition to base pay, are bonus pay, nontaxable benefits like medical benefits, severance pay, payouts of deferred compensation, any other reportable pay, and nonpayroll compensation. Not counted is deferred or retirement compensation set aside in the fiscal year to be paid out in later years. The analysis generally includes all public doctoral universities (except U.S. military academies) in the United States as well as all state college and university systems or governing boards with at least three campuses or 50,000 total students enrolled across the system in the most-recent academic year. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to Ruth Hammond.
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