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Education News
Estelle Timar-Wilcox

University of Minnesota approves contract, $1 million annual pay for incoming President Cunningham

A woman stands at a mic
Dr. Rebecca Cunningham is announced as the new president of the University of Minnesota after a vote by the university’s Board of Regents on Feb. 26 at the McNamara Alumni Center in Minneapolis.
Ben Hovland | MPR News

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The University of Minnesota Board of Regents today approved the employment agreement for incoming president Rebecca Cunningham.

Cunningham’s compensation for the first year, between salary and benefits, will be over a million dollars, putting her in the top quarter of Big Ten leaders.

“It is a market-competitive agreement that speaks to Dr. Cunningham’s skill and experience,” Board chair Janie Mayeron said.

Cunningham will earn a $950,000 base salary, plus $120,000 in retirement contributions after her first year on the job. That amount will increase over the course of the five-year contract.

Cunningham’s compensation for her first year will be about even with what former president Joan Gabel earned in her last year on the job, before she left for a higher-paying position at the University of Pittsburg.

Regent Robyn Gulley said it’s a fair negotiation between what Cunningham wanted and what the university could pay.

“I sometimes struggle with these very expensive employment agreements, and also, I feel like there was a lot of care taken for it to be right-sized,” Gulley said. “I appreciate the work that folks did to get this right.”

Cunningham was chosen for the job last month, after a search that lasted nearly a year. She’s coming to Minnesota from the University of Michigan, where she served as vice president for research and innovation. She’s due to start July 1.