The University of Minnesota’s next president will have a total compensation of more than $1 million a year under a new contract approved Friday by the school’s Board of Regents.
Rebecca Cunningham, who the board named the university system’s next president in February, will earn an annual salary of $975,000 a year, plus retirement benefits. She’s expected to start the job on July 1.
Cunningham’s compensation is in the 75th percentile for Big Ten university presidents, according to a salary survey from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.
“It is a market-competitive agreement that speaks to Dr. Cunningham’s skill and experience,” said Board of Regents chair Janie Mayeron.
In addition to the annual salary, Cunningham will get retirement plan contributions for the duration of the contract. If she remains in the job until 2029, she’ll get a total of $675,000 in annual installments starting at around $120,000 in 2025.
Her annual raise will be the greater of either 3.5% or the salary increase provided to other professional and administrative employees at the U.
The contract also contains a clause specifically prohibiting Cunningham from taking other professional positions, such as serving on the board of a different organization.
Cunningham’s predecessor Joan Gabel came under fire during her tenure for serving on the board of Securian Financial, which does business with the University of Minnesota.
Cunningham’s overall compensation is close to her predecessor’s. Gabel had a contract that with benefits brought her total compensation to around $1 million annually.
However, more of Gabel’s compensation was in the form of retirement contributions, and her annual salary was just above $700,000 a year. That placed her at the bottom of Big Ten presidents.
Gabel left Minnesota last year for a better-paying job as chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh, which gave her a starting salary of around $950,000.
The U hired Cunningham on Feb. 26 after a months-long search and interview process.
Cunningham and two other finalists were named earlier in the month and toured UMN’s campuses in Crookston, Duluth, Morris, Rochester and the Twin Cities to meet with students, faculty and staff, before sitting for final interviews at a special Board of Regents meeting.
Cunningham’s current job is vice president for research and innovation at the University of Michigan, where she guides the university’s research mission across three campuses.
Before that, she served as the associate vice president for research-health sciences, where she oversaw research faculty and worked across disciplines to advance the university’s research agenda.