09.22 - Board Approves Supplemental Compensation for DRI President

Nevada System of Higher Education

5550 W. Flamingo Rd., Suite C-1
Las Vegas, Nevada 89103
Tel: (702) 889-8426

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 22, 2005

Contact: John Kuhlman
(702) 889-8426
John_Kuhlman@nshe.nevada.edu
www.nevada.edu

BOARD APPROVES SUPPLEMENTAL COMPENSATION FOR
DRI PRESIDENT

LAS VEGAS – The Nevada Board of Regents today approved a proposal by the Desert Research Institute Foundation to supplement President Stephen G. Wells’ salary by an additional $20,000.

At their June meeting, the Regents approved Wells’ contract through 2009 with a salary of $228,000. In addition, the DRI Research Foundation supplemented $7,180 for club memberships in both the Las Vegas and Reno communities effective July 1, 2005. The newly approved supplementation brings Wells’ salary to $254,560.

In addition to President Wells, Presidents Carol Harter (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) and John Lilley (University of Nevada, Reno) also receive supplemental income from their foundations.

Since becoming president of DRI in 1999, Wells has been instrumental in growing DRI’s research portfolio through interdisciplinary research and federal initiatives. By working closely with Nevada’s Congressional delegation, DRI has seen a 20-fold increase in funding of federal initiatives from $400,000 per year to $19 million for fiscal year 2005. Additionally, DRI has experienced overall research growth of 60 percent, including a 136 percent increase in support from the National Science Foundation.

Wells is the vice president and councilor of the Geological Society of America and serves on the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, a nationally prominent environmental advisory body to the National Academy of Sciences. Before serving as DRI president, he was the executive director and research professor of DRI’s former Quaternary Sciences Center from 1995-1998 .

The Nevada Board of Regents is the elected, 13-member governing body for the Nevada System of Higher Education. Comprising two doctoral-granting universities, a state college, four comprehensive community colleges and one environmental research institute, the NSHE serves the educational and job training needs of the nation’s fastest growing state. As Nevada’s only system of higher education, the NSHE provides educational opportunities to more than 100,000 students.