Two public university presidents in Mississippi now make almost $1 million a year each while pay for faculty and staff at the state’s eight universities remains stagnant.
The hefty salaries are largely, but not entirely, due to the private foundations for the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University supplementing the state salaries for Glenn Boyce and Mark Keenum, respectively.
Both presidents now pull $950,000 a year, with taxpayers supporting $500,000 of their salaries and the foundations making up the rest, according to IHL board meeting minutes.
That constitutes a $100,000 raise, which Keenum and Boyce received after the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees conducted performance reviews for the two presidents at the end of last year, John Sewell, a spokesperson, wrote in an email.
“University presidents play a critical role not only at their respective institutions but across the state,” Sewell wrote, “as Mississippi’s public university system is poised to have an $8 billion impact on Mississippi’s economy over the next six years.”
The board also reviewed Nora Miller, the president of Mississippi University for Women, but Miller did not receive a raise, and it’s unclear if she requested one. Miller will continue to make $300,000, plus a $5,000 foundation supplement, in her new four-year contract.
