Texas University Leaders' Pay High on National List

In the Chronicle of Higher Education's latest ranking of compensation for public college and university presidents, three of the top 10 earners in fiscal year 2011 come from Texas.

Those three aren't university presidents, exactly — they are chancellors of the state's university systems, which oversee multiple institutions.

Former Texas A&M University System Chancellor Mike McKinney, who stepped down in July, ranked second nationally at $1,966,347. His nearly $2 million total includes a $683,000 separation agreement.

Of the current chancellors, Texas Tech University System's Kent Hance ranked the highest — sixth nationally — with $757,740. University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa is close behind with $751,680, which puts him seventh in the country.

Chancellors aside, Texas' highest paid president is University of Texas at Austin's Bill Powers, who earned $617,212, ranking him 17th in the country and fourth in the state — ahead of University of Houston System Chancellor and President Renu Khator ($650,000) and University of North Texas System Chancellor Lee Jackson ($579,108).

Other Texans on the Chronicle's list include University of Texas at Dallas President David Daniel ($555,480), Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin ($525,000), Texas Tech University President Guy Bailey ($508,258) and University of Texas at San Antonio President Ricardo Romo ($482,557).

America's highest-paid public university official was Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, who took home $1,992,221.

Not every Texas university president or chancellor was included in the findings. The Chronicle's rankings include 199 chief executives from 190 public universities and systems. Of the chief executives, only 16 are from Texas, which has nearly 40 public universities and six major public university systems. For more information about the officials on the list, check out the Chronicle's special report.