Penn State President Bendapudi Awarded 3rd Raise In Four Years

"The President is hired by the BOT and is therefore a proxy of the BOT’s perceived success. The BOT will never not love the President, because if she fails, they failed. Both sides are self-interested to pretend everything is great as long as they keep getting invited to banquets.”

Kevin Horne, Penn State '14, '17 @KevinHornePSU

The Penn State Board of Trustees Committee on Equity and Human Resources meeting on Thursday, September 11th 2025, provided a rare public glimpse into the emotions that go into university president compensation negotiations.

The meeting, which was held in-person at the Bryce Jordan Center and also publicly available on livestream via a link on the trustee website, was chaired by Trustee Tracy Riegel and attended by trustee committee members Suzan Collins, David Davis, Dan Delligatti, Ali Krieger, Mary Lee Schneider, and Brandon Short. Along with other non-committee member trustees, the group discussed Dr Bendapudi’s evident dissatisfaction with her current compensation, which had been restructured February 16, 2024, just two years into her five year contract.

The 2024 contract increased her annual pay by $255,000 to a total of $1.8 million a year, making her the highest paid president of the 16 Big10 peer public universities. Shortly after being given that new contract, Bendapudi was widely reported to be a candidate in the North Carolina State University Chancellor search. In the end, NC State hired well-respected senior administrator Kevin Howell at a base salary of $600,000.

Included in Bendapudi’s 2024 contract was an “evergreen” provision, effectively giving her a lifetime contract. Board leadership claimed the raise was deserved because Bendapudi’s current contract was ‘median’ for Penn State’s peers. This was a disingenuous statement at best, since in addition to being the highest paid Big10 president, it was also among the highest public university in the nation (and six times as high as the nationwide average).

Now, just one year later, Penn State trustees were being asked to amend Bendapudi’s contract for a third time in four years, raising her annual compensation to an incredible $2.845 million per year, more than double the average for Big10 public presidents and 49% more than the second highest paid Big10 public president, Walter ‘Ted’ Carter at Ohio State.

At the meeting, Board Chair Kleppinger related that shortly after last year’s raise, Dr Bendapudi again began expressing feelings that she was “underappreciated” and “underpaid”. Trustee Sokolov then beseeched the committee to approve a one million dollar increase for Dr Bendapudi, stating that her administration was “so far ahead of the curve” and “much more sophisticated then our Big Ten peers”. There was no mention of Penn State’s recent national rankings, in which it tied for 13th place among Big10 universities, and is at or near the bottom of nearly all quantitative academic metrics.

“It is critical,” Sokolov continued, “that we do everything we can to keep Bendapudi because her style of leadership is essential in today’s higher education landscape.”

The committee then voted unanimously to forward their recommendation that Dr Bendapudi be awarded the one million dollar raise. The next day, September 12, 2025, the full Board approved the increase with only one dissenting vote from Trustee Anthony Lubrano.

The text of the approved proposal reads: “The Equity and Human Resources Committee recommends annually to the Board of Trustees consideration of compensation adjustments to the President’s compensation based upon the President’s performance in light of established goals and objectives;”

Setting aside the fact that the Board has set no independently created ‘established goals and objectives’ and instead uses the aspirational ones Dr Bendapudi wrote for herself, here is a partial list of her accomplishments since she became president in May, 2022:

• Bendapudi’s legacy defining initiative, the Commonwealth Campus closure planning, has been disingenuous and poorly managed, including dubious justifications based on weak analysis, and leaks to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Some Commonwealth Campuses like Mont Alto and New Kensington, are vigorously contesting the conclusions drawn by her group of University Park senior administrators Michael Wade Smith, Tracy Langkilde, and Margo DelliCarpini.*

• The restructuring of the law schools displayed weak leadership, a lack of understanding, and did not lead to any rational conclusion.

• A faculty vote of no confidence, citing budget issues, the closure of Commonwealth Campuses, and a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion, was narrowly averted last February.

• Turnover in key administrative positions has been heavy, and hiring inconsistent on quality despite greatly increasing salaries and compensation. Bendapudi appointee Provost Justin Schwartz left after nine months on the job, and ‘Commonwealth Campus Czar’ Margo DelliCarpini departed after 16th months. Both left just as the University was facing critical decisions directly related to their responsibilities. The remaining highly-paid administrators continue to balk at giving even minimum raises to faculty and staff, citing ‘market conditions’, while lavishly enhancing pay to top administrators, citing those same reasons.

• The ability to cajole increased funding from the Commonwealth, one of the priority goals of any public university president, has gone nowhere under her tenure.

• Tuition continues to increase unsustainably while objective national rankings and academic quality continue drop to embarrassingly low levels. In July, the Board yet again increased Penn State tuition, with several trustees making emotional pleas justifying the increase, arguing they ‘had to’ increase tuition in order to provide sub-inflationary 3% raises to faculty and staff.

President Bendapudi’s raise increases her annual compensation from $1.8 Million to $2.8 million, in addition to various perks that include residence in the President’s mansion, use of the University private jet, and cars. It can also be noted that the cumulative annual pay increases Dr Bendapudi has demanded would be more than enough to sustain multiple Commonwealth Campuses who are now being closed.

Her new contract, which the Board leadership said would place her just into the upper quartile of our peer group, places her not only well higher than every Penn State peer, but also higher than most of the elite prestigious private universities in the nation.

Also on Friday, trustees voted to close WPSU, the Centre County PBS and NPR affiliate station, which has been operated by Penn State since 1964. They rejected an offer from WHYY of Philadelphia to transfer WPSU’s assets, and instead blamed stagnant state funding for their decision. The budget for WPSU is $3.4 million, or 0.03% of Penn State’s annual budget.

Board leadership seems to adopt the strategy that “paying more” is a suitable substitute for top performance. It doesn’t work that way.

*It is my belief that the fiduciary duty of every trustee is to act in the best interest of the university, regardless of the impact on Dr Bendapudi’s legacy. My voting record shows that I soundly rejected the Board’s bylaw mandate that trustees unanimously support unwise actions detrimental to the university.

As a former Penn State alumni-elected trustee, I enjoy sharing my personal observations, concerns, and ideas about Penn State. I invite you to contact me with your opinions so that we can engage in meaningful conversations on those topics: barry@barryfenchak.com.