Board outlines salaries for ND college presidents

FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- The North Dakota Board of Higher Education will increase salaries for the state's college presidents 3 to 5 percent after a representative group of the board met Wednesday to end an ordeal that started when some of the campus leaders became offended after receiving unfavorable reviews.

Acting chancellor Larry Skogen and board members Kari Reichert and Duaine Espegard gathered in Valley City and decided pay raises for the 10 presidents, on instructions from the full board. Salary ranges are typically decided earlier in the summer, but the board fell behind while Skogen reworked four of the performance evaluations by the previous chancellor, Hamid Shirvani.

Shirvani's term ended last month when the board bought out the final two years of his three-year contract. Several student and faculty groups had complained about his management style. Shirvani said he was given a mandate when he was hired to overhaul the system and fix problems, including low graduation rates, and was just doing his job.

The drafts of his evaluations for the presidents, made public before he was asked to leave, recommended raises between 0 and 5 percent.

The salary plan that the higher education board group approved Wednesday is based on a formula that considers performance and market comparisons. The group started with a premise that each president received an assessment of "fully competent" on their evaluations, the middle mark of five grades.

"I'm comfortable assuming that performance is satisfactory across the board and working from there," Reichert said.

The salary structure calls for 5 percent raises for Valley City State's Steve Shirley and Mayville State's Gary Hagen; 4 percent increases for North Dakota State's Dean Bresciani, Lake Region State's Doug Darling and Williston State's Raymond Nadolny; and 3 percent hikes for the University of North Dakota's Robert Kelley, Minot State's and Dakota College at Bottineau's David Fuller, Dickinson State's D.C. Coston, North Dakota State School of Science's John Richman, and Skogen, the Bismarck State president.

Skogen had suggested four options for salary increases earlier, including an across-the-board 4 percent bump. Espegard said the adjustments were needed, particularly to allow relatively new hires like Shirley and Nodolny to "catch up" to their peers.

"It's not easy work. We try to be fair," Espegard said.

Kelley will remain the highest-paid president at $350,265 a year, followed by Bresciani at $334,215 and Fuller at $212,734. Those three men all asked Skogen to update their reviews. Shirvani had criticized Bresciani and Kelley for a "lack of vision" and said Fuller "exercised a form of myopic leadership" and a "clear lack of respect" for sister institutions.

Coston will make $211,480, Shirley $188,088, Hagen $184,938, Skogen $190,307, Richman $190,307, Nadolny $174,570, and Darling $170,560.

The appointed group also approved salary ranges for university system senior staffers and auditors. Skogen said at the end of the two-hour meeting that a salary study was "long overdue" and there has to be a better way.

"You guys shouldn't have to work this hard at it," he said.