UM System President Mun Choi signed a 5-year contract on Wednesday morning. The contract itself was released on Thursday and detailed the new president’s salary.
Choi will make $530,000 annually with the addition of almost $80,000. The $80,000 will provide a housing and transportation stipend as well as deferred compensation.
“There is incentive in the contract as far as retention and longevity,” UM Spokesperson John Fougere said. “So in other words if president Choi is still president in 2020, he’d be eligible for some incentive there that would kick in at that point.”
The contract also says Choi cannot work for outside companies unless he gets approval from the UM Board of Curators.
Choi comes from the University of Connecticut where he served as provost since 2012. Choi is very different from former system president Tim Wolfe in that he comes from an academic background.
Fougere said a lot of consideration went into the contract, and factors such as experience and background influenced the final salary.
Fougere said several of great candidates applied for the role of the system president, which didn’t surprise him.
“When you consider all the great assets to the University of Missouri System,” Fougere said, “I think a lot of the people at the university were not surprised that we had excellent candidates for this great position.”