PHIL WHITE Star-Tribune correspondent | Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:00 am
LARAMIE - University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan graduated from Friday's final board of trustees meeting of the school year with a $50,000 raise.
The Board also approved initial planning for a building that will house a UW Wind Energy Research Center, including a large, closed-loop wind tunnel, pursuant to a grant from BP America.
Following executive sessions, the trustees boosted the former UW recreation professor's base salary to $350,000 for the second year of his four-year contract which extends through June, 2011. The 16.7% increase follows upon a 30% raise given to Buchanan at this time last year when he signed the multi-year agreement.
Buchanan's contract also includes an annual $42,000 housing allowance, an estimated $6,000 for use of a UW vehicle and insurance, and 22 working days of vacation annually.
Buchanan, then 53, became the 23rd president of the University of Wyoming on July 1, 2005, after serving at UW for 26 years as a faculty member and administrator, moving up to academic affairs vice-president to acting president and then to president when two other finalists in a nationwide search withdrew from consideration.
He earned a bachelor of science degree from the State University of New York, a master's of science from the University of Wyoming, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Buchanan said he was "most pleased by the vote of confidence that the board has placed in my leadership and vision for the university."
Outgoing Trustees' President Dick Davis of Sheridan cited the large research grants received during the past year from industry sources as one of the reasons for the Board's action. "Under his leadership the university has made advances academically while strengthening its relationships with its many constituencies," Davis said.
Buchanan and his vice-president for research Bill Gern informed trustees about two of those projects during discussions Friday.
Gern said the BP grant for the wind energy building would be eligible for matching funds from the legislature for academic facilities. Through the wind energy center, Gern said, UW seeks to become a leading national, university-based interdisciplinary research group focused on wind energy.
Jonathan Naughton, mechanical engineering professor and center director, was quoted in a UW press release as saying that the proximity of the Laramie campus to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and to the wind-rich sites in the northern Great Plains, "combined with the limited efforts elsewhere in the nation, also provide unique opportunities for the center."
Naughton said the center will address the rapid advancements in wind turbine design necessary to increase the contribution of wind turbines to the nation's electricity needs.
Buchanan also told trustees that initial negotiations with General Electric were proceeding apace relative to the construction of an advanced coal gasification research and technology center in Wyoming, perhaps near the UW campus.
Buchanan, Gov. Dave Freudenthal and GE signed a letter of intent in February on the project, which would consist of a small-scale gasification system that would allow UW and GE researchers to develop advanced coal gasification technology solutions for Powder River Basin and other Wyoming coals.
Buchanan said the plant would produce five megawatts of power, enough to power 5,000 homes.
Attorney General Bruce Salzburg has been appointed to lead a team working out a "joint development agreement" with GE, which should be completed by the end of this month, with "definitive agreements" to follow, Buchanan said. "It appears likely the University of Wyoming will be the entity which owns the facility."
He said "an objective scientific procedure" would be used to select the best site for the project, analyzing numerous factors.
Football coach makes more
University of Wyoming President Tom Buchanan's total pay package, including housing and vehicle allowance, approaches $400,000 - considerably short of football coach Joe Glenn's package.
According to figures provided by UW general counsel Rick Miller Wednesday, Glenn's gross compensation, including incentives, amounted to $473,125 as of April 30, with two months remaining in the fiscal year. His base salary is about $150,000.
Twenty years ago, trustee Bob Schuster of Jackson resigned from the board when it approved a pay package for the football coach that exceeded the president's package.