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The University of Minnesota hired its 16th
president on Thursday, offering him a compensation package worth
$610,000, which would put him about in the middle of his fellow Big
Ten presidents.


      The University of Minnesota regents hired Eric Kaler, 54,
provost of Stony Brook University in New York on a unanimous vote.


      Kaler said he was overjoyed to get the job and return to the
campus where he earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1982.


      "The opportunity to come back to a place what was so
meaningful, at such an important time for the university, and is
such a wonderful place to start a presidency, it's just a thrill
behind words," he said.


      The regents picked Kaler after a one-hour public interview.
Kaler was the top choice of 148 candidates screened by a university
search committee.


      He brings a vision of transforming the university into one of
the top public universities in the nation, in the same league as
Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina and the University of California
at Berkeley.


      Shortly after the regents voted, Kaler signed a four-year
contract that will pay him a base salary of $610,000 plus another
$50,000 in retirement income in 2013, 2014 and 2015.


      His base will be $155,000 higher than that of outgoing President
Robert Bruininks, but Bruininks is also being paid about $150,000
in extra retirement income this fiscal year.


      Kaler spent most of Wednesday and Thursday morning meeting with
deans, influential faculty members, students and top
administrations. He apparently got glowing reviews.


      Board Chairman Clyde Allen said he found the groups had
"genuine enthusiasm" for Kaler, which was echoed in comments
distributed to the regents and media during the meeting.

      Allen said people outside the university who had seen news
coverage of Kaler also seemed to like the pick. "I think he had
touched the hearts of Minnesotans," Allen said.


      Kaler's contract would put his compensation about in the middle
of the Big Ten, Allen said. A spot check of salary data reported by
the Chronicle of Higher Education suggests he's right. Kaler's
compensation would be higher than that of major university
presidents in Iowa and Wisconsin, but less than those of Ohio and
Michigan, according to data from the 2008-2009 fiscal years, the
most recent available.


      Bruininks will step down in June to rejoin the faculty. When
Kaler takes over July 1 he will take the reigns of a university
with shrinking resources and a need for more painful budget cuts.


      When asked how he would handle the situation, Kaler said it was
too soon to give specifics but philosophically, "what you need to
think about is, you need to replace state funding," he said.


      If cuts must be made, he said, he would look to move resources
away from administration and into education. Successful programs
would grow, but unsuccessful ones could go. "If you can't do it
well, you really ought to stop doing it," he said was his outlook.


      As he said previously in interviews, he would also reach out to
private individuals and philanthropic organizations for more money
and do a better job of turning the university's intellectual
property into money-making products.


      In answer to questions from the regents, Kaler promised to
support athletics, including sports that don't make money; the arts
and the university's mission to improve agriculture in the state.


      He said that while the university's Greek system of fraternities
and sororities provided tremendous opportunities for
undergraduates, they also needed university oversight, monitoring
and evaluation.


      Kaler quipped this has wife has been amused by all the media
attention he has attracted since being named the lone finalist for
the president's job last week. "As my wife points out, I've become
substantially more interesting," he said.


      Regent Dean Johnson asked Kaler why, given the university's
budget problems and the state's massive deficit, he wanted to take
over a university twice the size of Stony Brook with all the
pressures that come with the job.


      "Why would you leave Long Island to come to these
insurmountable challenges and problems?" Johnson asked,
tongue-in-cheek.


      "I'll give you a very short answer," Kaler replied. "You only
live once. If you do that and have an opportunity to live a life
that can have an impact on an institution of the size and scope
that you describe, you should take it."


      Kaler said he plans to stay on at Stony Brook until he takes
over at Minnesota.
 

Gallery

Chris Williams

Author

The University of Minnesota has chosen Eric
Kaler, provost of Stony Brook University in New York, as
its next president.

U of M regents pick Eric Kaler as next president

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