UT Chancellor Plowman to receive 24% pay raise
University of Tennessee at Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman will receive a $160,000 raise after propelling the university to become the fastest-growing in the Southeastern Conference.
Her salary will increase by about 24%, from $660,000 to $820,000, starting July 1. UT System President Randy Boyd announced the raise Friday during the UT Board of Trustees Executive Meeting.
“In my opinion, our chancellor is one of the best in the country, if not the best in the country,” Boyd said. “She’s doing an incredible job.”
Boyd credited UT’s rapid enrollment growth — up 12% over the past five years — to Plowman’s leadership and guidance.
“Over the last five years, we are now No. 1 in growth and admissions [in the SEC], in large part to the fact that we’ve got a great leader in place here,” Boyd said.
A compensation study looking at UT’s peer and aspirational institutions — other universities in the U.S. that UT compares itself to as a benchmark — found that Plowman’s salary fell about $200,000 less than those in the 75th percentile. Plowman also receives a housing allowance of $1,667 per month, before taxes, and other typical benefits including health insurance, retirement pay, paid time off, tuition waivers and discounts. She’s also reimbursed for work-related travel expenses.
Plowman became the highest-paid chancellor in the university’s history when she was hired in 2019. Former Chancellor Beverly Davenport was previously the highest-paid chancellor with a $585,000 annual salary.
Plowman is the secondhighest paid chancellor in the UT System. UT Health Science Center Chancellor Peter Buckley receives a base salary of $950,000.
The decision does not need to be approved by the UT Board of Trustees. No compensation changes were made to other UT system chancellors.