UT trustees OK $375K in bonuses

University of Tennessee trustees gave initial approval to pay out nearly $375,000 in bonuses to the university system’s seven top administrators Friday, including two chancellors who have already left their posts.

UT President Joe DiPietro stands to receive $101,816. Former Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, who stepped down Feb. 15, could receive $41,563. Former Institute of Agriculture Chancellor Larry Arrington, who retired Sept. 1, could see $40,973.

The incentive payments were approved by trustees at the executive and compensation committee meeting Friday morning at the Knoxville campus. The bonuses will go to the full board for a vote at its March 29 meeting in Chattanooga.

Chattanooga Chancellor Steven Angle, UT Health Sciences Chancellor Steve Schwab, former UT General Counsel Catherine Mizell and Senior Vice President for Research, Outreach and Economic Development David Millhorn each will get bonuses between $32,222 and $68,097.

The bonuses are part of an incentive plan the board adopted in 2012 and then tweaked last year. The board grades its president, chancellors and other top executives on measures like enrollment growth, expanding research and fundraising.

Chancellors and executives are eligible to receive up to 15 percent of their base salaries. None will receive the full 15 percent. The range is 9.2 percent, which Cheek will get, to 14.2 percent at the highest end, for Mizell.

DiPietro, who was also under the 15 percent standard until last year, is now eligible to receive up to 25 percent of his base salary. The committee on Friday approved giving him 21 percent for his performance in the 201516 school year.

The board has struggled at times to measure the performance in each category and may soon bring in a consultant to revamp the program, Vice Chair Raja Jubran said.

“We did have a major gap in salaries, and we needed to attract people and we knew we had big positions coming up,” Jubran told his fellow trustees. “There were a lot of objectives with this, and I think we’ve done OK over the last three years and now need to take it up a notch.”

The current formula was drafted by the administration and approved by the board. Bringing in a consultant with expertise in pay scales and bonus structures could lead to a simplified grading scale and create some distance between those who create the rubric and those who benefit from it, he said after the meeting.

It would likely be two years before a new structure is put in place, he said.

The list of people receiving the bonuses will change next year. Mizell stepped down from the general counsel position late last year to become attorney for the board of trustees. The board will have to approve of new performance goals for Mizell in her role as secretary for the board.

Her replacement and former deputy, Matthew Scoggins, will be eligible.