Post by title1parent on Jul 2, 2010 6:02:35 GMT -5
www.suntimes.com/news/education/2457008,CST-NWS-uofi02.article
Cutbacks greet new U. of I. chief
$100M LESS | Despite budget crisis, pay tops predecessor's
July 2, 2010
BY KARA SPAK Staff Reporter
On his first day as president of the University of Illinois, Michael Hogan learned the state was cutting $100 million in higher education funding.
"Mostly I'm getting e-mails from people saying, 'Are you nuts?'" he said Thursday. "'Do you realize all the problems that the University of Illinois is having, the State of Illinois, the budget problems and so on?' Of course I know all about them."
He took the job anyway, at a base salary of $620,000, a $170,000 increase over his predecessor, B. Joseph White. His contract also includes housing in Urbana and Chicago, a car and driver and $225,000 if he stays five years.
Despite Illinois' tough economic times, he defended his income, saying that while the University of Illinois ranks 39th on the U.S. News and World Report list of top universities and colleges, his compensation was ranked around 77th.
"Even in academic life, there is a marketplace," he said. "I didn't come here for the money."
Hogan, 66, said he was too new to the job to provide specifics on balancing the U. of I. budget, which includes $279 million in money owed by the state and what he estimated was another $40 million to $45 million lost in Gov. Quinn's budget announced Thursday.
"It is extremely incumbent on people like me, on university leaders these days, to pinch every single penny as hard as we can," he said.
He said he was averse to balancing the budget on the backs of the school's faculty.
"You don't want things like pay cuts and furlough days to make it difficult for you to hang on to your top talent," he said. "I'm hoping we can manage the financial situation going forward ... to minimize the prospect."
He is considering working with the University of Illinois Foundation on a fund-raising campaign for scholarship funds.
"No kid that is qualified for admission to the university should be denied the opportunity to go to the university for financial reasons," he said.
Hogan left the presidency at the University of Connecticut to become the University of Illinois' 18th president. An Iowa native and historian focusing on post-World War II diplomacy and the Cold War, he has also worked in administrations at the University of Iowa and Ohio State University.
Cutbacks greet new U. of I. chief
$100M LESS | Despite budget crisis, pay tops predecessor's
July 2, 2010
BY KARA SPAK Staff Reporter
On his first day as president of the University of Illinois, Michael Hogan learned the state was cutting $100 million in higher education funding.
"Mostly I'm getting e-mails from people saying, 'Are you nuts?'" he said Thursday. "'Do you realize all the problems that the University of Illinois is having, the State of Illinois, the budget problems and so on?' Of course I know all about them."
He took the job anyway, at a base salary of $620,000, a $170,000 increase over his predecessor, B. Joseph White. His contract also includes housing in Urbana and Chicago, a car and driver and $225,000 if he stays five years.
Despite Illinois' tough economic times, he defended his income, saying that while the University of Illinois ranks 39th on the U.S. News and World Report list of top universities and colleges, his compensation was ranked around 77th.
"Even in academic life, there is a marketplace," he said. "I didn't come here for the money."
Hogan, 66, said he was too new to the job to provide specifics on balancing the U. of I. budget, which includes $279 million in money owed by the state and what he estimated was another $40 million to $45 million lost in Gov. Quinn's budget announced Thursday.
"It is extremely incumbent on people like me, on university leaders these days, to pinch every single penny as hard as we can," he said.
He said he was averse to balancing the budget on the backs of the school's faculty.
"You don't want things like pay cuts and furlough days to make it difficult for you to hang on to your top talent," he said. "I'm hoping we can manage the financial situation going forward ... to minimize the prospect."
He is considering working with the University of Illinois Foundation on a fund-raising campaign for scholarship funds.
"No kid that is qualified for admission to the university should be denied the opportunity to go to the university for financial reasons," he said.
Hogan left the presidency at the University of Connecticut to become the University of Illinois' 18th president. An Iowa native and historian focusing on post-World War II diplomacy and the Cold War, he has also worked in administrations at the University of Iowa and Ohio State University.