The Executive Committee of the UI Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of President Michael J. Hogan and appointed Bob Easter as president-designate during an emergency meeting March 23 at UIC.
Hogan will serve as president until July 1, working with Easter to ensure a smooth transition. Easter, a senior administrator and faculty member on the Urbana campus for more than three decades, began his duties as president-designate immediately and will become the university’s 19th president July 1.
Under an agreement approved by the committee, Easter will serve as president for at least two years, or until a successor is appointed. Easter will be paid about $62,000 as president-designate, based on about three months at a $250,000 annual salary. His salary as president will be $450,000 annually beginning July 1.
The committee also approved terms of Hogan’s resignation, which was submitted March 22 and accepted by Chairman Christopher G. Kennedy on behalf of the board. The negotiated employment agreement facilitates Hogan’s move from the presidency to a tenured faculty position, and is not a buyout of the three years remaining on his initial five-year employment agreement as president.
Hogan, who earns $651,000 annually as president, will be paid $285,100 a year effective July 1, when he returns to the faculty as a distinguished professor of history. His pay is based on the average of the top 10 UI faculty salaries, under terms of the employment agreement approved when he became president in July 2010.
In 2015, Hogan would receive $67,500 that he earned under a deferred compensation provision during his two years as president, but he would forfeit $157,000 that he would have received if he had served a full five-year term.
The full board is expected to ratify the agreement at its next regular meeting May 31 in Chicago.
