Less than one year after retiring as university president, UI President Emerita Sally Mason has submitted her letter of resignation as a tenured faculty member in the UI Department of Biology, UI officials confirmed Tuesday.
Mason served as UI's president from 2007 until July 31, 2015. Her initial employment letter with the Iowa Board of Regents gave Mason, a cell developmental biologist, the option of continuing her appointment "with the usual fringe benefits accorded to faculty." It also provided her with "one year free of teaching and service obligations, in order to reinvigorate (her) teaching and research program.”
During that transition year, Mason's contract called for her earning a salary equal to 60 percent of her final salary as president. Mason's 2014-15 salary was $525,828, making her 2015-16 salary $315,497.
On June 30, Sally Mason completed the terms of a five-year deferred compensation agreement that paid her $625,000. The plan, approved in 2011, called for $25,000 in deferred compensation for the first year and $150,000 for every year after that.
UI officials confirmed that the payment was processed this month.
Sally Mason's UI-related responsibilities during the past 12 months have included attending a Wynn Institute for Vision Research board meeting during homecoming weekend in the fall and attending events in Pasadena, Calif., in conjunction with Rose Bowl, UI officials said Tuesday via email.
UI Foundation officials report that Mason continued to play a post-presidential role in UI's fundraising efforts, especially in the final stages of the "For Iowa. Forevermore" campaign to raise $1.7 billion.
UI Foundation President Lynette Marshall previously described Mason as the "architect" for the campaign. Before retiring, Mason said she would be available during the 2015-16 academic year on an "as-needed" basis to work with the UI Foundation on the campaign.
"Sally and Ken have participated in several events since her retirement where we have had the opportunity to thank and host donors," Marshall told the Press-Citizen in March. "She continues to encourage and inspire our work."
Mason's husband, Ken, also retired last year from his position as a lecturer in the biology department. The couple moved to Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Mason's ability to continue to draw an annual $315,000 salary from UI would depend on her continuing as an "active faculty member," Josh Lehman, spokesman for the regents, said Friday.
With that first post-presidential year drawing to a close this month, Mason has submitted a letter indicating that she will not be returning to active teaching or research at UI, Jeneane Beck, a UI spokeswoman, said Tuesday via email.
She has neither an office on campus nor secretarial support — despite those provisions being included in her 2007 employment letter. The UI Department of Biology does not list Mason on its faculty website. Ken Mason, however, is listed as a lecturer emeritus in the department.
Mason is listed as a consultant with AGB Search, a Washington, D.C.-based group that conducts executive searches for college and university presidents, chancellors and other higher education officials.
According to her bio on the company website, Mason started working with AGB Search in 2015.
Mason will have remained on the UI faculty about six months less than Gregory Geoffroy remained on faculty at Iowa State University after stepping as president in January 2012. Geoffroy retired his position with the ISU Department of Chemistry on July 1, 2013.
Tenure was not included in initial employment letter for Steve Leath when he became president of ISU in 2012. Leath's contract was amended to grant him tenure as a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology. No provisions, however, were included to specify what salary, if any, he would be eligible for after stepping down as president.
Mason's successor, Bruce Harreld, a former IBM executive, was given the option to apply for tenure as a faculty member in the UI College of Business. The former IBM executive said last year that he has no intention in exercising the option.
The search process that led to Harreld's hiring by the Iowa Board of Regents continues to be a point of contention on campus. The national American Association of University Professors has sanctioned UI and criticized the board for problems with the search.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...ally-mason-retire-ui-faculty-member/87140732/
Mason served as UI's president from 2007 until July 31, 2015. Her initial employment letter with the Iowa Board of Regents gave Mason, a cell developmental biologist, the option of continuing her appointment "with the usual fringe benefits accorded to faculty." It also provided her with "one year free of teaching and service obligations, in order to reinvigorate (her) teaching and research program.”
During that transition year, Mason's contract called for her earning a salary equal to 60 percent of her final salary as president. Mason's 2014-15 salary was $525,828, making her 2015-16 salary $315,497.
On June 30, Sally Mason completed the terms of a five-year deferred compensation agreement that paid her $625,000. The plan, approved in 2011, called for $25,000 in deferred compensation for the first year and $150,000 for every year after that.
UI officials confirmed that the payment was processed this month.
Sally Mason's UI-related responsibilities during the past 12 months have included attending a Wynn Institute for Vision Research board meeting during homecoming weekend in the fall and attending events in Pasadena, Calif., in conjunction with Rose Bowl, UI officials said Tuesday via email.
UI Foundation officials report that Mason continued to play a post-presidential role in UI's fundraising efforts, especially in the final stages of the "For Iowa. Forevermore" campaign to raise $1.7 billion.
UI Foundation President Lynette Marshall previously described Mason as the "architect" for the campaign. Before retiring, Mason said she would be available during the 2015-16 academic year on an "as-needed" basis to work with the UI Foundation on the campaign.
"Sally and Ken have participated in several events since her retirement where we have had the opportunity to thank and host donors," Marshall told the Press-Citizen in March. "She continues to encourage and inspire our work."
Mason's husband, Ken, also retired last year from his position as a lecturer in the biology department. The couple moved to Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Mason's ability to continue to draw an annual $315,000 salary from UI would depend on her continuing as an "active faculty member," Josh Lehman, spokesman for the regents, said Friday.
With that first post-presidential year drawing to a close this month, Mason has submitted a letter indicating that she will not be returning to active teaching or research at UI, Jeneane Beck, a UI spokeswoman, said Tuesday via email.
She has neither an office on campus nor secretarial support — despite those provisions being included in her 2007 employment letter. The UI Department of Biology does not list Mason on its faculty website. Ken Mason, however, is listed as a lecturer emeritus in the department.
Mason is listed as a consultant with AGB Search, a Washington, D.C.-based group that conducts executive searches for college and university presidents, chancellors and other higher education officials.
According to her bio on the company website, Mason started working with AGB Search in 2015.
Mason will have remained on the UI faculty about six months less than Gregory Geoffroy remained on faculty at Iowa State University after stepping as president in January 2012. Geoffroy retired his position with the ISU Department of Chemistry on July 1, 2013.
Tenure was not included in initial employment letter for Steve Leath when he became president of ISU in 2012. Leath's contract was amended to grant him tenure as a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology. No provisions, however, were included to specify what salary, if any, he would be eligible for after stepping down as president.
Mason's successor, Bruce Harreld, a former IBM executive, was given the option to apply for tenure as a faculty member in the UI College of Business. The former IBM executive said last year that he has no intention in exercising the option.
The search process that led to Harreld's hiring by the Iowa Board of Regents continues to be a point of contention on campus. The national American Association of University Professors has sanctioned UI and criticized the board for problems with the search.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...ally-mason-retire-ui-faculty-member/87140732/
