Trustees extend UI president’s contract to 2015

University of Illinois President Bob Easter greets UIC student ambassadors at a reception in September 2012, shortly after he was appointed. Photo: Al DiFranco/UIC Photo Services

President Bob Easter will serve an additional year in office after the UI Board of Trustees voted to extend his contract through June 30, 2015.

At their July 25 meeting at UIC, trustees also added performance incentives to Easter’s original $450,000 salary.

Easter became university president July 1, 2012. At that time, his term of office was set to extend through July 30, 2014, “or until a successor has been appointed.”

“There is a consensus, not just on the board but throughout the institution, on campuses and among external audiences, that this first year has gone very well indeed,” said Tom Hardy, executive director for university relations.

Easter, 65, has spent nearly four decades at the University of Illinois — including positions as dean, interim chancellor and interim vice chancellor on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

He succeeded former president Michael Hogan, who resigned in March 2012. Hogan’s annual salary was $651,000.

The board’s executive committee will evaluate Easter’s achievement of goals set for last year and recommend a performance bonus to be awarded in September.

The executive committee will also recommend performance goals and bonuses for each year of Easter’s remaining contract.

Rehiring retirees

In accordance with a change in state law, trustees amended a university policy on the reemployment of retired employees covered by the State Universities Retirement System.

The new policy, effective Aug. 1, limits the period of time SURS annuitants can work for the university and the amount they can be paid without a penalty to the employing unit.

The policy applies to all retired employees, including faculty, administrative, civil service and temporary/hourly.

Senior administrators cannot be rehired to their previous or similar positions without Board of Trustees approval “based on exceptional circumstances and a clear and compelling benefit to the university,” the policy states.

Other retirees can be rehired without board approval for teaching and other student services, funded research, patient care or “staff functions when other options are not feasible.”

The appointment of retirees who receive monthly annuity payments from SURS must be reported to the board; reporting is not required for those who receive their annuity through the self-managed plan or lump sum payment.

New hires

The board approved the appointment of Jerry Bauman, dean of the College of Pharmacy, as interim vice president for health affairs.

Bauman succeeds Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, who will become senior vice president for health sciences at the University of Arizona effective Sept. 1.

Bauman will remain pharmacy dean and serve “during a period of transition and review of the structure and organization of the health care enterprise,” the board item said.

Bauman was interim vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost from 2010 to 2011.

Steve Everett, former professor of music and assistant provost for academic affairs at Emory University, was named dean of the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts.