Presidents of ASU, UA, NAU to get pay hikes

Arizona’s three public university presidents are getting pay raises, the Arizona Board of Regents decided Thursday.

The regents unanimously approved pay bumps, contract extensions and goals for each of the presidents during a Thursday meeting, based on their annual performance reviews.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow’s base salary is now $809,846, up 5% from $771,282 a year ago. He’s led ASU since 2002.

University of Arizona President Robert Robbins, who began in 2017, will get $792,241 in base salary, an increase of 5% from $754,515 last year.

And Northern Arizona University President José Luis Cruz Rivera will get a base salary of $576,800, up 12% from $515,000 when he started in the role last June. Crow and Robbins got raises last September; Cruz Rivera did not as he had just recently started.

The university presidents also receive housing and vehicle allowances, benefits, retirement contributions and the opportunity for hefty bonuses each year.

Regents approved payouts for achieving some of those goals and set new goals for each of the presidents and the university system over the next year and next several years.

The presidents also saw their contracts extended by a year. Crow’s is now through summer 2027, and Robbins’ and Cruz Rivera’s contracts are through summer 2025.

Board members previously discussed the contracts in closed-door executive session because there are employment and salary issues. The public can’t know those details.

The presidents’ base salaries put them high on the list of the top paid state government employees.

And nationally, Crow is one of the higher paid university presidents at any public college, per a list from the Chronicle of Higher Education using 2021 salaries and other pay. Crow ranked 11th, with total pay at about $1.1 million.

Board of Regents Executive Director John Arnold received a raise Thursday as well. His base salary increased to $326,700, up from $297,000 about a year ago. Arnold leads the board and works on strategic planning and boosting higher education attainment in Arizona. The board also approved for Arnold to receive $60,000 for achieving goals like working on metrics to differentiate the three universities; finalizing each university’s revised general education requirements; and growing public awareness of the role of higher education in Arizona.

Goals for Crow at ASU

The regents on Thursday awarded Crow an additional $90,000 for achieving 2021-2022 annual goals, which involved creating a strategy to address education gaps in the state, planning the launch of at least one of five new “future science and technology centers” in

the engineering school and clarifying the roles of ASU’s teaching, learning and knowledge enterprises. He received $30,000 for completing each of those.

Regents assigned Crow three new goals for the year ahead, with a potential reward of $50,000 each:

Create a “premium brand” for ASU Online.

Launch a plan to shift the W.P. Carey School of Business, the Fulton Schools of Engineering and the Barrett Honors College into three global brands.

Form a new “health futures strategy” for ASU with a holistic approach for health sciences, plus preparation to open a public health technology school.

Crow’s three-year goals, for which he can earn $30,000 to $35,000 each, are:

Increase student enrollment and success in adaptive learning courses.

Grow enrollment and graduation of Arizona students by more than 10%.

Finish designing the Global Futures Laboratory and merge the College of Global Futures’ three schools into a unique college.

Grow regional research collaboration, including a focus on more collaboration within Arizona higher education.

Expand ASU Digital Prep to at least 150 schools in Arizona, especially rural

and underperforming schools.

Robbins’ priorities at UA

Robbins was awarded $75,000 for completing 2021-2022 goals, including:

$25,000 for implementing a new budget model and plans to reduce overhead costs.

$25,000 for creating a strategy to raise attainment in southern Arizona, including working with Pima Community College to help southern Arizona with the state’s college-going goals.

$25,000 for making progress on creating an advanced immunology center in Phoenix.

His immediate new goals are:

Secure at least $200 million in initial state, local and donor funding for the Center for Advanced Molecular Immunotherapies; $45,000.

Centralize responsibility with local authority in administrative areas like IT, financial and business services; $45,000.

Complete the move of the University of Arizona Global Campus under full oversight of UA, including by working with the U.S. Department of Education

and accreditors; $45,000.

His multiyear goals from the regents include:

$20,000 for increasing retention to 85.5%.

$25,000 for using UA’s Washington, D.C., office to increase federal research funding.

$30,000 for improving student experiences and outcomes at the University of Arizona Global Campus.

$25,000 for creating an IT security plan and framework.

$20,000 for working with ASU and NAU to expand research at the UA College of Medicine Phoenix.

NAU goals for Cruz Rivera

Cruz Rivera received $75,000 for achieving last year’s goals, which were:

$15,000 for creating an effective leadership team at NAU.

$25,000 for restructuring pricing and financial aid.

$35,000 for developing goals to clearly differentiate NAU within the higher education landscape.

Regents assigned him three new goals for the months ahead:

Plan for a “new NAU system” with in-person, online and hybrid learning, plus branch campuses, community college partnerships and collaboration with Arizona K-12 schools; $45,000.

Start to transform NAU Online so that programs are differentiated and help NAU’s enrollment, finances and identity; $45,000.

Create a plan to increase enrollment and career preparation to support student success after college; $45,000. Longer-term goals are:

Increase the number of students from working class families, improve graduation rates and narrow completion gaps; $30,000.

Plan to expand allied health and other programs statewide; $30,000.

Increase NAU’s profile in the Phoenix, state and U.S. Latino communities and work to better serve Hispanic students; $30,000.

Serve more Native American students and communities; $30,000.

Tri-university goals

The three presidents and Arnold of ABOR are also tasked with collaborating on systemwide goals, also with a potential payout.

This past year, they achieved one goal related to health sciences, but not the other, failing to fully address possible policy changes to financial aid and scholarship policies.