NITZSCHKE RECEIVES $6,250 RAISE IN PAY; BOARD OF REGENTS PRAISES HIS PERFORMANCE AFTER 1 YEAR ON JOB

Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Dale Nitzschke will pocket a $6,250 pay raise after just one year in office.

The Board of Regents met behind closed doors Friday afternoon and voted unanimously to give Nitzschke a 5 percent pay raise.

Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, announced the pay hike Saturday.

The pay raise takes effect July 1. Nitzschke's salary will increase from $125,000 to $131,250.

The board also agreed to put another $5,000 into Nitzschke's retirement annuity, bringing the total university contribution to the annuity to $15,000 since the new president was hired.

The pay hike is the largest for a Southeast president since June 1993 when the regents gave Dr. Kala Stroup an $8,800 raise.

"I think what it really amounts to is we think Dr. Nitzschke is doing an outstanding job for us," said Dickerson.

He said Nitzschke works day and night.

He doesn't have a 9-to-5 job. "He is always attending something or out recruiting for the university or speaking different places," Dickerson said.

The board president said Nitzschke also has been very accessible to the public and has made many appearances throughout the region.

"I think he has also brought to the school itself and the faculty a world of experience and knowledge and know-how," Dickerson said.

Nitzschke is finishing up the first year of a two-year contract. The regents typically hike the president's pay each year.

Nitzschke is the university's third president in three years.

Dickerson said the pay raise brings Nitzschke's salary to a level comparable to presidents' salaries at other four-year institutions.

Central Missouri State's president currently receives a base salary of $139,880, while Southwest Missouri State University's president makes a base salary of $134,290.

Some university presidents receive housing allowances. At Southeast, the university provides a campus residence for the president.

Once considered on the north end of the campus, the residence known as Wildwood has been increasingly surrounded by other buildings as the school has expanded.

The new business building sits across the street from the home and the Show Me Center sits behind it.

"It is probably not an ideal residence anymore," Dickerson said.

But for now, Wildwood remains the home of the university president.

Dickerson said an on-campus home does provide the president with a chance to keep in constant touch with the campus community.