Under a resolution adopted today by the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, President Lou Anna K. Simon will be receiving a salary increase.
Simon, MSU president for nearly 10 years and the second-longest serving chief executive among Big Ten presidents and chancellors, will have her salary increased to $750,000.
This will be the first increase in her base salary since 2007. Since then, she has asked that she not receive an increase because of the economic challenges facing MSU and the state of Michigan.
In addition, she will receive a retention bonus of $100,000, for a total compensation of $850,000, which ties her for the third-highest in the Big Ten.
The board lauded Simon for her leadership qualities and praised her as an advocate not only for MSU, but for higher education.
She serves on a number of boards and committees on both the national and international levels that have a broad impact on the higher education landscape.
Among her appointments: Chairperson of the executive committee of the NCAA, vice chair of the Association of American Universities, and chair of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board.
Simon and her husband, Roy, who is director of MSU Telecommunication and Transportation Systems, are members of MSU’s Clifton R. Wharton Donor Recognition Society. The Simons’ current cash gifts to MSU exceed $1 million.
Following are other actions taken by the board at its December meeting.
- The board authorized the administration to proceed with the final phase of infrastructure improvements along north campus’s West Circle Drive. The work will include replacing steam tunnels, water mains and other improvements.
- The board approved the authorization to proceed with renovations to the A-Wing of the Life Sciences Building. The work will include renovations of various workspaces, including teaching labs.
- The board adopted a resolution accepting a gift of nearly 40 acres of land in Antrim County in northern Michigan.
- The board authorized the administration to proceed with the demolition of the former Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press building. Preliminary plans are to eventually build a research center at the location.
- The board authorized the administration to proceed with a project that creates a connection between the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and the T.B. Simon Power Plant. The project involves construction of a switch-house, new duct line and cables, and modifications to the power plant.
- Six students received the Board of Trustees’ Scholarship Awards. The awards are granted at each commencement to graduating seniors having the highest cumulative grade-point average at the close of the semester prior to graduation.