On a day when the University of Alaska Board of Regents considered tuition increases for students and pondered how best to deal with state budget cuts, it voted unanimously to approve a $50,000 bonus for the university’s president.
The vote came Thursday as the state university’s leaders held the first of a two-day meeting at the University of Alaska Southeast.
In recent years, the university has seen its budget slashed by the Alaska Legislature.
After regents awarded him the bonus, UA President Jim Johnsen pledged to donate the money back to various programs at the University of Alaska.
“This is a great university, and I want to give back,” he told the Empire afterward.
Regent Jyotsna “Jo” Heckman was chairwoman of the subcommittee that analyzed Johnsen’s performance. She said after the meeting that Johnsen’s employment contract, which includes a $325,000 base salary, allows him to earn up to $75,000 in performance bonuses for meeting specific goals.
At the meeting, the regents said Johnsen is doing a good job and is doing the best he can to guide the university through a tough period in its history.
The Alaska Legislature has cut the university’s budget significantly in the past five years, and the university has been forced to adjust. In the biggest example, Johnsen has introduced the “Strategic Pathways” program to consolidate and reduce programs and administration across the university system’s campuses.
On Thursday, Johnsen discussed the third phase of that program, which is under way. Johnsen is consulting with faculty and staff across the state before presenting recommendations to the regents in November.
Regents considered a proposal to raise tuition costs by 5 percent in each of the next two academic years. That proposal advanced toward a vote at a future meeting; no action was taken.
During the discussion, regent Mary Hughes of Anchorage said the University of Alaska’s leaders need to be innovative to succeed.
She referenced Arizona State University president Michael Crow as an example to follow. This month, ASU was named the most innovative school in the country for the third year in a row, in a poll conducted by the US News and World Report.
Crow and Arizona State’s board of regents have also been sued by Arizona’s Attorney General, who is alleging the university’s tuition increases in the past few years — between 315 percent and 370 percent — are excessive.
“I think the future is truly bright, because it’s the caring and passion for an institution that gets us to where we need to be,” Hughes said.
Also Thursday, the regents tabled a proposal from Johnsen and university administrators to increase the cap on “banked” vacation time for university employees.
Under the proposal, employees would be allowed to bank up to 320 hours of vacation, up from 240. Regents expressed concerns about the cost of the proposal and requested more information.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 523-2258.
