UWF Board of Trustees Evaluate President Bense for 2011/12 Performance

Sep. 21, 2012

The University of West Florida Board of Trustees completed President Judy Bense’s 2011/2012 annual evaluations at their regularly scheduled board meeting today. Bense was evaluated on the achievement of 36 institutional goals and priorities established by the Board of Trustees last year. As a result of the evaluation, President Bense will receive an increase in recurring salary reaching a base salary of $295,000.

A motion was made by Trustee O’Sullivan to adjust the base pay effective today from the current $280,500 to $295,000, with an additional $40,000 bonus. All present Board of Trustees approved the motion.

“We clearly have an institution on the rise, which is a direct result of Dr. Bense’s exceptional leadership,” said Gen. Charles Horner, RET, chair of the University of West Florida Board of Trustees. “I believe in setting goals, requiring performance, and rewarding exceptional achievements.”

During the evaluation process, Trustees noted some of the institutional accomplishments under Bense’s tenure as President for 2011/2012 including: enrollment growth, hiring of 47 faculty for Fall 2012, improved graduation rates, development of a new Strategic Plan and Campus Master Plan, exceeding goals for incoming grant dollars to UWF, completion of three new facilities: College of Business, new 252 bed residence hall, and Health and Wellness Center and numerous new partnerships throughout the region.

The trustees each completed an anonymous survey of Bense’s performance and graded her on the overall success of the institutional priorities. Bense’s employment contract calls for an annual review of her performance, base pay, and describes her eligibility for up to a 15% bonus. The UWF Foundation budget provides funding for Presidential compensation above the state compensation limit of $200,000.

Even with this salary increase, Bense remains the 2^nd lowest paid president in the Florida State University System.

Effective April of 2012, UWF faculty and staff received an across the board increase of 2% for FY2011/12. Additionally, faculty received $300,000 to help long-term faculty whose pay is compressed lower than market rate because of the number of years they’ve served. This is the largest investment in faculty compression ever made by UWF in one year.

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