F E A T U R E I N T H I S I S S U E If you need information about Provost Patricia Beeson outlines Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods, Pitt’s efforts to assess student learning.............................................2 UCSUR’s Bob Gradeck is your guy. See pages 8 & 9. U N I V E R S I T Y TIMES VOLUME 43 • NUMBER 16 APRIL 14, 2011 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Pitt Day in Harrisburg About 350 Pitt students, along with alumni, faculty, staff and administrators, participated in the annual Pitt Day in Harrisburg April 5, where members of the University community lobbied leg- islators on issues important to higher education. This year, much of the lobbying focused on protesting Gov. Tom Corbett’s pro- posed 50 percent cut in Pitt’s commonwealth appropriations. Below: Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, left, chats with Jack D. Smith, president of the Pitt Alumni Association and a member of the Pitt- Greensburg Advisory Board, and Pitt-Greensburg President Sharon Smith. At right: State Senate Democratic leader Jay Costa (D-43), who also is a Pitt trustee, addressed the Pitt contingent. Photos by Mike Drazdzinski/CIDDE Chancellor’s FY10 compensation is 30th among publics hancellor Mark A. Norden- in any given year is not necessar- According to the Chronicle value of the chancellor’s residence, total compensation. His total cost berg ranked 30th nationally ily the same as the dollar payout survey, Nordenberg ranked No. use of a car or membership dues, of employment was $1,818,911. Cin total compensation for he or she receives that year,” the 54 nationally in total cost of information that was provided to Both figures include Gee’s base public university chief executive publication stated. employment. But these rank- the Chronicle by some universities pay of $802,125, which also was officers in 2009-10, according to In addition to publishing the ings are less reliable because but not by others. the highest in the nation among a survey released April 3 by The total compensation figure for each some institutions provide costs The survey reported that the public university CEOs. Chronicle of Higher Education. university leader, which it defined for university-provided housing, median total compensation for Following Gee in terms of The Chronicle survey used as the actual dollar amounts cars and membership dues, while the 185 public college presidents highest total cost of employment data from June 30, 2009, to July received by the chief executive others did not. in 2009-10 was $375,442, and the were: Mark A. Emmert, formerly 1, 2010, for 185 four-year public that year for base salary, bonuses Nordenberg’s total cost of median total cost of employment at the University of Washington, universities and systems with total and paid deferred compensa- employment was $524,752. That was $440,487. $905,004; Francisco G. Cigarroa enrollments of at least 10,000 that tion, the Chronicle for the first figure included his $460,000 base In both the total compensation of the University of Texas System, are classified as either research time published the “total cost of salary and $64,752 in retirement and total cost of employment cat- $813,892, and John C. Hitt, universities or doctoral/research employment.” It defined total cost pay, but excluded the retention egories, E. Gordon Gee, president University of Central Florida, universities by the Carnegie Foun- of employment as what it cost the plan’s paid deferred compensation. of Ohio State University, topped $800,703. dation for the Advancement of institution and state to employ This figure also did not include the the nation, earning $1,323,911 in CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Teaching, as well as the university a president, including base pay; systems associated with them. bonuses; deferred compensation (A separate survey on com- set aside but not yet paid; retire- AAUP: For 2nd year in a row, pensation for private institutions’ ment contributions made on chief executives was published by behalf of the chief executive to the Chronicle last fall.) standard retirement plans, and Nordenberg’s $535,000 total provisions such as housing/car faculty pay loses out to inflation compensation package for 2009- allowances and club dues when or the second consecutive years, average faculty salaries presidential salaries rose 11.5 10 included $460,000 in base schools specified dollar amounts year, overall average salaries lost ground against inflation, the percent between 2007 and 2010 salary and $75,000 in paid deferred for those provisions. Ffor full-time faculty failed to report showed. while full-time faculty averaged a compensation, under a Board of Total cost of employment keep up with inflation, according Continuing faculty fared better 5.4 percent increase in the same Trustees’ retention incentive plan figures exclude any deferred to a new American Association of in the latest analysis. Their aver- time period. The gap was even that paid the chancellor $75,000 compensation paid in the 2009- University Professors’ (AAUP) age 2.5 percent increase in salary wider at the 289 private institu- for remaining in his position until 10 year. The Chronicle said that report on pay at more than 1,300 enabled them to gain some ground tions that provided data for the July 1, 2010. since deferred compensation institutions nationwide. against inflation, the AAUP report AAUP report. Private schools’ Nordenberg’s 2009-10 base sometimes is paid out at a later Average faculty salaries gained said. presidential salaries rose an aver- pay of $460,000 ranked 37th date, it excluded payouts from 1.4 percent in 2010-11 but an The report also compared the age of 14.4 percent from 2007 to highest nationally among public this category to avoid double- inflation rate of 1.5 percent left average salary increase for uni- 2010 while full-time faculty at institutions’ leaders. counting. their actual buying power in the versity presidents and found that those schools saw an average pay For the first time in its annual “Thus, data for 2009-10 are negative, according to the AAUP’s presidents of public institutions increase of 5.7 percent. survey, the Chronicle calculated not comparable with data in previ- Annual Report on the Economic received raises that far outstripped “Such a disproportionate public university presidential ous Chronicle surveys of public- Status of the Profession, 2010–11. the average faculty raise. increase in compensation for a earnings two ways “to show that college leaders’ pay,” according to The trend has a lengthening In an analysis of 389 public single individual is an indication of what a president costs a university the publication. history: In five of the past seven institutions, the AAUP found CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 1 U N I V E R S I T Y TIMES Provost discusses Pitt efforts Pitt neuroscience major wins Goldwater scholarship to evaluate student learning Wen Xu, a Pitt junior major- rovost Patricia Beeson iting evaluation by the Middle posed extensive public recording ing in neuroscience, is among 275 outlined her office’s efforts States Commission every 10 years; requirements on everything from undergraduates nationwide who Pto assess student learning the current evaluation is expected the cost of attendance to the value- were awarded scholarships by the for Faculty Assembly last week. to run through fall 2012. added of the institution. That was Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship At the February Assem- In its self-study, Pitt has chosen going to be measured by student and Excellence in Education bly meeting, Senate President the theme “Using a University- improvement on some sort of Foundation for the 2011-12 Michael Pinsky had called for a wide Culture of Assessment nationalized standardized test,” academic year. Xu, of McCand- review of evaluation processes that for Continuous Improvement,” she said. less Township, is the 35th Pitt look at whether Pitt is meeting its which includes major components On the face of it, that may have student to have won a Goldwater educational goals. (See March 3 on assessment of the student expe- seemed like a good idea, but in scholarship since 1995. University Times.) rience, assessment of institutional fact it is not, Beeson maintained, Xu conducts research in Pitt’s That issue dovetails nicely with effectiveness and demonstration because a standardized test does Stem Cell Research Center the University’s current efforts of compliance with Middle States not take into account different under the guidance of Yong Li, directed toward reaccredita- standards. institutional missions. In addition, a faculty member in the depart- tion, according to Beeson, who (For a detailed overview of Pitt’s the value-added component for ments of orthopaedic surgery, reported at the April 5 Assembly Middle States reaccreditation process attending a particular institution pathology and bioengineering Wen Xu meeting, speaking on “Assessing and methodology, see Sept. 30 Uni- is flawed when the starting point and the McGowan Institute for Student Learning and Reaccredi- versity Times.) for entering freshmen is already Regenerative Medicine. Xu’s prestigious national scholar- tation 2012.” “This is very much related at a high level of achievement, as project aims to assist functional ship competitions that involve Pitt is in the midst of a two- to this topic of how do we assess is the case with a large majority skeletal muscle recovery after the very best students from the plus-year process of self-evalua- the quality of our programs, and of Pitt’s entering freshmen; there injury through the use of growth country’s finest universities,” he tion to meet the requirements of how do we assess them in a way is little room to improve on the factor-derived stem cells. said in a prepared statement.