Penn medical-school dean fourth on top-paid list

The head of the medical school and health system at the University of Pennsylvania was the nation's fourth-highest-paid private college employee two years ago, trailing only a football coach, a dermatology professor, and a health-affairs chief, according to a report released today by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Arthur H. Rubenstein's compensation was $3.3 million in fiscal 2007, the most recent year for which data were available, the Chronicle said.

Pete Carroll, head football coach at the University of Southern California, was the top-paid employee, with compensation of $4.4 million, according to the report.

Second was David N. Silvers, a dermatologist and clinical professor at Columbia University, at $4.3 million. Michael M.E. Johns, former executive vice president of health affairs at Emory University, was third, at almost $3.8 million. Johns is now chancellor of Emory.

Salaries and benefits for top university officials have come under increasing scrutiny as tuitions increase and more students struggle to pay for college.

"The concern is that these are nonprofits that are set up to benefit the people going to them," said Jeffrey J. Selingo, editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education. "The feeling among some people is that they should pay salaries more like other nonprofits."

College administrators argue that their schools are large and complex institutions that pay well to attract and retain the best executives.

Lori Doyle, a Penn spokeswoman, said the university "is the largest private employer in Philadelphia . . . and you have CEOs at much smaller private corporations making 10 times as much."

Two other Philadelphia academic officials, the provosts of Penn and Drexel University, made another highest-paid list released by the journal.

Ronald J. Daniels, who is quitting next week as Penn's provost to become president of Johns Hopkins University, was second on the list of highest-paid chief academic officers at private colleges, with salary and benefits of $604,637. (Daniels will get a significant raise in his new position; his predecessor at Johns Hopkins, William R. Brody, received $1.06 million.)

Stephen W. Director, former provost of Drexel University, collected $571,460 to rank seventh on the list of chief academic officers. Director left Drexel last year to become provost at Northeastern University in Boston. Drexel officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The new reports examined the compensation of the highest-paid private college employees other than chief executives. All of the top 10 on the highest-paid employees list earned more than any college president or chancellor.

Previous reports showed that Amy Gutmann, president of Penn, was paid $1.09 million in salary and benefits in fiscal 2007, an increase of 40 percent from the prior year, and sixth among top private college presidents.

Constantine Papadakis, president of Drexel, collected $1.02 million in fiscal 2007.

Rubenstein, 71, as medical school dean and executive vice president of Penn Medicine, collected about $1.8 million in base salary; the rest of his compensation included $731,000 in performance-based incentives and a mandatory $907,000 lump-sum distribution from a pension plan.

"Penn Medicine is a $3.6 billion operation . . . and it has 17,000 employees," said Susan E. Phillips, spokeswoman for the Penn health system. Rubenstein's job, she said, "is a very important responsibility."

These lists are from a Chronicle of Higher Education survey of 600 private colleges. The survey was based on the 2006-07 academic year.

Highest-Paid Employees

1. Pete Carroll, University of Southern California, head football coach, $4,415,714.

2. David N. Silvers, Columbia University, clinical professor, dermatology, $4,332,759.

3. Michael M.E. Johns, Emory, executive vice president, health affairs, $3,753,067.

4. Arthur H. Rubenstein, Penn, executive vice president and dean, school of medicine, $3,335,767.

5. Zev Rosenwaks, Cornell, professor, Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility, $3,149,376.

6. David F. Swensen, Yale, chief investment officer, $3,075,703.

7. Harry R. Jacobson, Vanderbilt, vice chancellor for health affairs, $2,562,612.

8. Jeffrey W. Moses, Columbia, professor of medicine, $2,532,713.

9. Norman B. Urmy,* Vanderbilt, former executive vice president for clinical affairs, $2,416,780.

10. James A. Grifo, NYU, professor, obstetrics and gynecology, $2,393,646.

* Urmy left his position in June 2006. His total includes deferred compensation.

Highest-Paid Chief Academic Officers

1. Nicholas S. Zeppos, Vanderbilt, $1,046,751.

2. Ronald J. Daniels,* Penn, $604,637.

3. Thomas J. LeBlanc, University of Miami, $601,283.

4. Carol Simpson,* Worcester Polytechnic Institute, $577,754.

5. David K. Campbell, Boston University, $573,061.

6. Steven Knapp,* Johns Hopkins, $571,777.

7. Stephen W. Director,* Drexel, $571,460.

8. Steven E. Hyman, Harvard, $549,683.

9. Earl Lewis, Emory, $536,540.

10. David W. McLaughlin, NYU, $531,815.

* Simpson, Knapp and Director have left their positions. Daniels will leave his next week.

SOURCE: The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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