Megan Boehnke

megan.boehnke@knoxnews.com

For the first time in its history, the University of Tennessee has selected a woman to lead its flagship campus in Knoxville.

Beverly Davenport, currently the interim president at the University of Cincinnati, also will become the highest-paid leader in the school’s history if her appointment is approved next month by the UT Board of Trustees.

Davenport signed an offer letter Monday, agreeing to a base salary of $585,000 annually, along with up to $95,000 in additional compensation in the first year. She also will be eligible for performance bonuses that could pay her as much as 15 percent of her salary, or $87,775, beginning July 1.

She will earn more than current Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, who announced his retirement over the summer and currently receives a salary of $454,000, plus $30,000 in housing and expenses. Davenport will report directly to UT President Joe DiPietro, who earns a base salary of $513,344 annually.

If approved, Davenport will become the school’s eighth chancellor on March 1. The trustees are set to vote at a special-called meeting Dec. 15 in Nashville.

She will start drawing a salary before that, however, earning $25,000 per month from UT in January and February to begin the transition into her new role.

Davenport was one of three candidates to visit campus in recent weeks and returned Friday for additional meetings with Cheek’s and DiPietro’s staffs. She beat out two other finalists, including Pamela Whitten, the provost at the University of Georgia, and Alexander Cartwright, provost of the State University of New York system.

Davenport has been interim president in Cincinnati since July after the sitting president left for the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She had been provost at the university for three years when the Cincinnati board of trustees unanimously selected her to serve as the school's temporary leader at a salary of $625,000.

“During a comprehensive national search, Dr. Davenport rose to the top of the candidate pool because of her extensive experience and qualifications,” DiPietro said in a statement Monday afternoon. “I’m confident the flagship campus will continue its ascent as a top public research institution under her leadership.”

DiPietro was travelling Monday and not available for an interview, said UT spokeswoman Gina Stafford.

Davenport, in a statement issued through UT, praised the school and said she wanted to help UT reach its goal to become a top public research university.

“The excellence and energy on this campus are truly contagious — from record-breaking enrollments to stellar research and innovation programs, to one of the most recognized and respected athletic brands in the nation,” she said. “UT’s story of success is ready to be told in even bigger and bolder ways. I am inspired by their confidence in my abilities to help them reach their goal of becoming a top-tier public research university.”

Cincinnati announced Davenport’s departure from their campus Monday afternoon, thanking her for her contributions and wishing her luck at UT. Cincinnati officials said that under Davenport’s leadership, the school saw rising retention and graduation rates along with record-setting enrollment for four consecutive years.

During her visit to the UT campus on Nov. 7, Davenport said at an open forum that she had spent her career working only at public universities and that she was particularly well-equipped to a lead a large school with both ambitious academic goals and a strong tradition in athletics.

Davenport pointed to the last five months she spent trying to propel Cincinnati into the Big 12 as part of a planned conference expansion that was ultimately nixed in October.

She also reassured faculty that she was a champion for diversity hiring and creating an inclusive climate, a prominent issue on campus after the state Legislature last year voted to defund the Office for Diversity and Inclusion.

"I can only work at a place where everybody feels welcome and safe," Davenport said, when asked about UT's Pride Center and other diversity issues. "I am a person who has written about and studied civility for the last 20 years. If we cannot model and study and make our places, campuses, where everybody feels safe and welcome and vibrant — we must model that now more than ever."

Davenport said she had spent her academic career pursuing the same goals that UT has been trying to achieve, including improving student success, developing faculty and increasing research.

"I am looking at what you're doing,” she said at the forum. "I want to be in a place that has my values and I want to be in a place that's aspirational. I have been engaged in student success and research growth my entire career. I think I can be a partner with you. Your goals are my goals."

Compensation for UT’s new chancellor: By the numbers

$585,000: Annual base salary

$20,000: Annual non-accountable expenses

$5,000: Monthly housing allowance for the first year – or until she sells her current home in Cincinnati. After that, she will receive $1,667 per month in a housing allowance.

$15,000: One-time moving allowance

$25,000: Monthly stipend for two months to begin work before her official March 1 start date

$87,775: Maximum annual performance bonus (up to 15 percent of salary) for FY 2017-18, and then "in effect from time to time,” when approved by the UT board of trustees. Payments are made in installments over three years.

Source: University of Tennessee