When UM President Royce Engstrom announced his planned staff and budget cuts in November 2015, one of the proposals put forward was a new vice president position specializing in increasing enrollment.

That individual is Thomas Crady, who was hired in April out of Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. One fact that has just come to light is that the administration, in order to attract Crady to a public university, offered a signing bonus of $70,000. Board of Regents spokesman Kevin McRae said the bonus is understandable, since the salaries offered by public universities in the mountain region are often less than larger schools can offer.

"For a state university, the average salary is $226,000," McRae said. "That's not the high end, that's the average, so the item that's before the Board of Regents on July 19th is proposing a salary of $170,000."

McRae said the $70,000 is an incentive to come to a smaller school.

"The concept of the bonus is a way to have a one-time recruitment investment that does not factor into the base salary, and provides the opportunity to attract capable leadership," he said.

Crady is the new vice president for both enrollment and student affairs.

 

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