UNC chancellors get raises, and the biggest one goes to Carol Folt

UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt received a 6.1 percent salary hike Friday – a $36,362 raise and the largest increase among a slate of pay raises for 13 of the UNC system’s 17 chancellors.

The raises were passed Friday by the Board of Governors, though several members voted against them. The pay hikes range from 2.5 percent to 6.1 percent and are retroactive to July 1.

Folt’s increase brings her salary equal to N.C. State University Chancellor Randy Woodson, who received a 2.5 percent raise, or $15,434. They both will have an annual salary of $632,810.

No raises were given to the chancellors hired within the last two years, including Johnson Akinleye at N.C. Central, Cecil Staton at East Carolina and Thomas Conway at Elizabeth City State. No raise was given to Mary Grant, who is leaving her job at UNC-Asheville at the end of the year to lead the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston.

Two chancellors, Jose Sartarelli at UNC-Wilmington and Robin Cummings at UNC-Pembroke, each received 4.99 percent raises. Two others, Sheri Everts at Appalachian State and David Belcher at Western Carolina, received 3.46 percent raises. Eight received a 2.5 percent raise.

Board members were split on the issue, as well as a vote to raise the market pay ranges for the president, chancellors and senior administrators by 3.46 percent based on a consultant’s study of salaries in both higher education and industry since 2015.

The vote followed two lengthy closed sessions of the board’s personnel committee, where the raises would have been discussed.

UNC President Margaret Spellings said the disagreement was in part focused on the question of awarding raises to the newer chancellors.

“The committee had a belief that it takes awhile for a chancellor to hit his or her stride and that a raise after two years was a more appropriate horizon than an annual review, at least initially,” she said.

Board Chairman Lou Bissette said he voted against the slate of chancellor’s raises because he preferred the original recommendations from Spellings for raises for all the chancellors.

Spellings said she met with chancellors over the summer and evaluated them. She said the raises were based on performance measures on institutional goals, strategic goals and personal areas for development.

Two years ago, the Board of Governors was sharply criticized for a round of raises for chancellors that ranged from 8 percent to 19 percent.

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 11:51 AM with the headline "UNC chancellors get raises, and the biggest one goes to Carol Folt."