President Ruth Simmons received $684,709 in total compensation from Brown in fiscal year 2005, up nearly 19 percent, or $108,850, from the previous year, according to a tax form filed by the University. Former Provost Robert Zimmer, now president of the University of Chicago, was paid $444,994.
But Brown's highest-paid employee remains Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Cynthia Frost, who raked in $709,105. This represents a decrease from the $781,023 she received last year.
The tax form, which was for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, details the compensation of three University officials - Simmons, Zimmer and Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration - and the other five highest-paid University employees. Total compensation includes contributions to employee benefit plans and deferred compensation.
Rounding out the highest-paid employees are two Medical School professors, another investment official and Professor of Economics Ivo Welch.
Last of the employees listed on the tax form, Welch received $384,488 in total compensation for fiscal year 2005.
Welch came to Brown in 2004 from Yale University and previously taught at the University of California, Los Angeles and the London Business School, according to his curriculum vitae on his Web site. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1991 after receiving his MBA, also from UChicago, in 1989.
Welch will teach "EC 172: Corporate Finance" this fall and spend the spring semester conducting research and administrative work for the Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship Program, according to his Web site.
Professors' salaries are determined by the market and how each "contributes to teaching and research," said Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P'07.
While the average salary for a full professor at Brown was $129,200 in the 2005-2006 academic year, faculty in some fields - such as computer science, engineering, economics and medicine - are in greater demand outside academia and therefore often receive higher compensation, Vohra said.
Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations, told The Herald in July that the University Resources Committee recommends the total salary increase pool each year as a part of the University's annual budget-setting process. The recommendations of the URC, which comprises students, faculty and administrators, are then approved by the president and the Brown Corporation.
Once the salary increase pool is determined, Eli Adashi, dean of medicine and biological sciences, and Vohra determine merit raises for individual faculty members in biology and medicine and other departments, respectively, Chapman said. In addition, a portion of the salary pool is dedicated for other special considerations, such as equity and market competition for retention of faculty, he added.
Salaries of senior administrators are determined by a Corporation committee, according to a University document describing the salary-setting process.
As a nonprofit organization, the University is required to detail its finances, including the salaries of key officers and the five highest-paid employees, on a Form 990 filed annually with the IRS. Any filing institution is required to make its Form 990 available for public inspection.
Comfortable at the Top
Name - Total Compensation
Cynthia Frost, vice president and chief investment officer - $709,105
President Ruth Simmons - $684,709
Edward Wing, professor of medical science - $492,701
Provost Robert Zimmer - $444,994
Kenneth Shimberg, managing director of private equity - $434,512
Martin Keller, professor of psychiatry and human behavior - $402,074
Ivo Welch, professor of economics - $388,438
Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice-president for finance and administration - $372,001
