Top Salaries for Presidents of Research-Extensive Universities
| Rank | Institution | President | 2003–4 total compensation | ’02–’03 rank | 2002–3 total compensation |
| 1 | Vanderbilt | Gordon Gee | $1,326,786 | 3 | $887,209 |
| 2 | RPI | Shirley Ann Jackson ’68 | $939,346 | 4 | $848,057 |
| 3 | UPenn | Judith Rodin | $934,922 | 2 | $893,213 |
| 4 | NYU | John E. Sexton | $897,139 | 6 | $773,012 |
| 5 | Johns Hopkins | William R. Brody ’65 | $895,774 | 1 | $897,786 |
| 6 | American | Benjamin Ladner | $814,177 | 14 | $614,360 |
| 7 | Syracuse | Kenneth A. Shaw | $802,731 | 29 | $488,204 |
| 8* | BU | Aram V. Chobanian | $778,496 | 5 | $808,677 |
| 11 | Yale | Richard C. Levin | $715,212 | 8 | $695,025 |
| 17 | MIT | Charles M. Vest | $653,822 | 11 | $639,675 |
| 22 | Caltech | David Baltimore | $575,516 | 19 | $587,505 |
| 23 | Princeton | Shirley M. Tilghman | $564,619 | 24 | $533,057 |
| 25 | Stanford | John L. Hennessy | $562,177 | 20 | $585,634 |
| 27 | Harvard | Lawrence H. Summers ’75 | $554,098 | 26 | $529,397 |
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
Top salaries of presidents of private research-extensive universities, which award 50 or more doctoral degrees annually across at least 15 disciplines. The top paid president across all categories of universities was Donald E. Ross of Lynn University, whose 2003–2004 compensation was $5,042,315.
* Chobanian became interim president of BU in Nov. 2003; the previous year’s salary was for then-Chancellor John Silber.
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