The University of Minnesota's Board of Regents voted 10-1 on July 22 to extend President Rebecca Cunningham's contract through June 30, 2031, according to the board. The amendment to her employment agreement, presented publicly at the meeting, pushes her tenure two years past the original end date of her five-year contract and layers on more than $2.1 million in incentives tied to performance and retention.
Cunningham took office July 1, 2024 as the university's 18th president under a five-year deal set to run through June 30, 2029, with a base salary of $975,000 plus supplemental retirement payments that were slated to climb to $150,000 by the end of the term.
Regent Robyn Gulley cast the lone dissenting vote, pointing to the tuition hikes and program cuts the board had just approved. "The fact that we just voted to both increase tuition for the, at least, second year in a row and cut student programs which have had really big effects already on our students," Gulley said.
The board approved its latest operating budget on June 26, raising tuition and cutting academic programs for the second consecutive year.
With the extension, the board gains continuity atop the system as it works through the budget pressures that have defined her first two years in the job.