Purdue pays Daniels more than $200,000 for good performance

Purdue University officials on Friday lauded President Mitch Daniels for his performance at the institution, approving 96 percent of Daniels’ performance incentive pay after a review of his efforts during the past year.

Daniels earned $201,600 out of a possible $210,000 in pay that the university considers “at-risk” for meeting benchmarks in four categories: student affordability, student success, fundraising and the university’s reputation. The money is for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Daniels is guaranteed a base salary of $420,000. The incentive pay is not considered a bonus.

Mike Berghoff, chairman of Purdue’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement that “we have an extraordinary institution and an extraordinary president.”

“Our goals, the president’s goals and the goals of the entire Purdue community should be in lock-step, that we are committed to making a Purdue education impactful and transformative, that we are among the best universities in the world in research excellence, and that we are considered among the leaders in all disciplines, and most specifically in the STEM disciplines,” according to a statement.

Daniels also will receive an additional $100,000 the trustees pledged to give him last year if he stayed until June 30, 2016, which was part of a retention incentive. The incentive promises Daniels additional pay for every year he stays at the university until 2020.

In the 2014-15 academic year, Daniels received 90 percent of the $126,000 of possible at-risk pay. In addition, Daniels was paid extra for areas in which he exceeded expectations such as donations, which reached $343 million, surpassing the board's $260 million goal.

In the most recent year, graduation rates increased for all students and for both first-generation and underrepresented minority students. The university also performed well in startup and commercialization activity, with 376 invention disclosures, 147 licensing agreements for Purdue innovations and 27 startups originating from Purdue-licensed intellectual property.

The university was also recognized for an important Zika breakthrough and recently ranked the fourth-best public college in the U.S. by The Wall Street Journal.