Arizona State University President Michael Crow was awarded $150,000 in bonuses by the Arizona Board of Regents Thursday, the largest amount of the three state university presidents.

The bonuses, called "at-risk compensation" by the regents, stem from various goals and reports Crow was required to complete at the regents' request, some this year and some over the course of several years.

He also received an increase in contributions to his retirement plan of about $20,000 per year, bringing the amount put into his retirement account each year to nearly $145,000.

The bonuses come about four months after Crow received a 15 percent raise in his base pay, bringing his total annual compensation to more than $1.1 million, which includes housing and vehicle allowances and supplemental pay from the ASU Foundation.

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The presidents of University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University, and the former president of the regents, also received bonuses, though less than Crow.

Crow is the highest-paid of the three presidents and was the highest-paid public university president nationally in 2016, though he slipped in national pay rankings in 2017. He has been ASU's president since 2002.

Inside Crow's bonuses

This year, Crow was required to present a strategy for ASU’s engineering school to increase enrollment to 25,000 students, which netted him a $15,000 bonus. A master plan for the Novus Innovation Corridor, ASU’s athletic facilities district near Sun Devil Stadium, brought him $10,000. A report about the “enterprise structure” of ASU gave him $10,000.

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Crow also received $90,000 for meeting several goals over the past three years.

Here’s how those goals break down:

Increasing the freshman retention rate to 85.2 percent: $10,000

Getting at least $562.5 million in research expenditures: $20,000

Awarding 16,246 bachelor’s degrees: $10,000

Enrolling more than 100,184 students: $10,000

Attaining a top-3 ranking in the PAC 12 for academic performance of student-athletes: $10,000

Increasing fundraising to more than $165 million per year on average: $20,000

Launching and running “America’s largest engineering school successfully with 90 percent student retention”: $20,000

Crow missed only one of the goals, which called for awarding 9,450 degrees in high-demand fields. Had he achieved all of the three-year goals, he would have received an additional $50,000 payment.

In addition, Crow received a $15,000 bonus for work he did on the Enterprise Executive Committee, which includes the three university presidents and the president or executive director of ABOR. The committee was required to design a plan for the three universities related to partnerships in downtown Phoenix, with the Phoenix Biomedical Campus as the focal point.

The regents increased Crow's retirement contribution to 21 percent annually from 18 percent. With a $690,000 annual salary, that increase is about $20,000 per year. The other university presidents did not receive increases in their retirement plans.

What other presidents received

The other university presidents received smaller bonuses, though they did not have multi-year goals that were due this year.

UA President Robert Robbins received $35,000 in bonuses for putting a quality leadership team in place, evaluating the university’s strategic plan for any needed changes and organizing a university marketing unit. He also received a $15,000 from the Enterprise Executive Committee.

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NAU President Rita Cheng received $35,000 in bonuses for coming up with a comprehensive plan for promoting student access and success, providing a report and financial plan for NAU’s education programs and evaluating the university’s graduate education for ways to improve. She also received $15,000 for work on the Enterprise Executive Committee.

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Eileen Klein, who left her position as ABOR president earlier this year and now serves as Arizona’s state treasurer, also received $30,000 in bonuses. She was required to prepare a transition report about ABOR operations and a report on the status of the three universities and how they have changed over the past five years. Klein also received $15,000 for the Enterprise Executive Committee.

Though Klein left the board months ago, she was kept on the payroll, at a reduced salary, despite the hiring of a new executive director, John Arnold. Klein’s last day on the payroll at ABOR is Sept. 30.

Regents: Bonuses needed for working together

The regents approved the bonuses unanimously with little comment Thursday.

Regent Rick Myers emphasized that the bonuses come after many hours of discussion with the presidents over the year and ongoing monitoring by the board.

“The few minutes we spend on it here doesn’t do justice to how integral this is to the process of this board working closely with the presidents for the betterment of Arizona,” Myers said.

Chairman Ron Shoopman said the goals required for bonuses provide a way for the board and the universities to work closely on issues that are important to the state.

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