Purdue trustees approve President Chiang’s at-risk pay

INDIANAPOLIS — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (Oct. 4) reviewed the 2023-24 performance evaluation for President Mung Chiang and voted to approve his at-risk pay at 104%, based on measures set out by the trustees in October 2023.

The trustees congratulated Chiang and the university’s faculty, staff and students for their efforts and achievements over the past year.

“President Chiang hit the ground running as president in January 2023 and hasn’t stopped in his efforts to not only achieve but exceed the goals we have as a board to ensure that Purdue University remains at the top of institutions of higher education to the benefit of our students, our state and our world,” said Malcolm DeKryger, chair of the board’s compensation committee. “We thank our entire campus community for continuing to make giant leaps forward in all aspects.”

Upon his selection as Purdue’s 13th president, Chiang suggested his base salary be lower than his faculty salary at the time and that total compensation follow the same structure as that of his predecessor, Mitch Daniels, with a substantial portion of the pay being at risk and determined based on weighted annual performance goals. Trustees voted in October 2023 to evaluate Chiang on 20 key performance measures in five areas: financial success (18%), student success (32%), research (20%), reputation (10%) and university initiatives (20%).

Most of the measures had specified threshold, target and stretch numerical values. In particular, Chiang’s performance reached the stretch value in the categories of number of donors, graduating students’ salary, Pell Grant student enrollment, research funding, patents issued, media visibility and university ranking.

DeKryger said Chiang earned 104% of his at-risk pay this year with 21% (out of 18% possible) in financial success measures, 35% (of 32%) in student-success measures, 22% (of 20%) in research, 11% (of 10%) in reputation and 15% (of 20%) in university initiatives. Chiang reached or exceeded the goal in 19 of the 20 metrics that make up his at-risk pay. Chiang will receive $218,400 in at-risk funds for his outstanding performance in 2023-24.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.