Gee paid more than public peers

Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee continues to be the highest paid public-university president in the United States.

Gee's 2008-2009 base salary was $802,125, while his total compensation package was nearly $1.6 million, according a Chronicle of Higher Education survey released Monday.

Including the base salary, the compensation package is comprised of $225,000 in deferred compensation, $49,700 in retirement pay and $500,000 from a supplemental retirement plan. Gee also receives a house from private sources, a car provided by the state and club dues.

Compared to Gee's $1.6 million, University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert's total compensation package was $905,004, the second highest among public universities in the country. The second highest pay package in Ohio belonged to President Nancy L. Zimpher of the University of Cincinnati, with a package valued at $653,223.

The median compensation package for public college presidents was $436,111 last school year, Chronicle of Higher Education Editor Jeffrey J. Selingo said in The Columbus Dispatch.

Gee's compensation package belongs in the realm of the 23 private-college presidents who made more than $1 million in 2007-08, the most recent comparable period, according to the Chronicle.

Looking ahead, Gee will make the same amount he did last year, since he refused a raise granted by the OSU Board of Trustees, opting to donate the money to the university. However, he is eligible for extra benefits each year, based on his performance. No information has been released about a raise this year.

"I cannot speculate on what his plans are going forward," said Shelly Hoffmann, assistant vice president of media relations at OSU, in an e-mail.

In 2009, Gee donated his $200,531 bonus to the E. Gordon Gee Ohio State Scholarship fund, to which he pledged $1 million earlier in the year. Furthermore, Gee gave his $20,053 raise to the Students First, Students Now scholarship fund.

He also helped to freeze tuition the past three years for in-state undergraduates.

Much of Gee's performance is based off of his management of more than 40,000 employees, a $4.35 billion budget and one of the largest and most prominent hospitals in Ohio. In a Time magazine article written by David Von Drehle, Gee describes his occupation as "the most political nonpolitical office around."

"I am fully determined to make good on the university's great promise, assuring educational access and opportunity and addressing the very real and tangible challenges of the day," Gee said through a university spokeswoman. "We have a limitless capacity to do good in the world, and I will tell you that my eye never leaves the ball."

Before returning to OSU, Gee was the highest paid president in the country while at Vanderbilt University.