Former Duke President Nan Keohane was widely regarded as one of the nation's leading university presidents.
She was also among the top-50 highest-paid university executives in Fiscal Year 2004, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The publication released a database this week detailing the compensations of the top officials at institutions of higher learning.
According to the database, Keohane earned $555,613 in total compensation during FY 2004. Her total pay included $45,613 in benefits and $2,786 in expense reimbursements.
Five other university presidents were paid more than $1 million in earnings during FY 2004.
Donald Ross-the retired president of Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.-topped the list with more than $5 million in total compensation, $4.5 million of which came from deferred compensation accrued over a year.
John Burness, senior vice president for public and government relations, said he recognizes the challenges posed by running a university and said many of the officials' compensations are consistent with the expected responsibilities associated with the post.
"The president of a university like Duke is equivalent to being the mayor of a city," he said. "It's a 24-7 job."
Keohane oversaw a period of tremendous growth for Duke, including the construction of approximately 40 facilities, several diversity initiatives and the Campaign for Duke-which raised more than $2.36 billion in capital assets over a seven-year period.
In her final year as president, however, Keohane was the University's fifth highest-paid official.
Men's head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski topped the list in FY 2004, netting more than $1.48 million.
Burness said Keohane could have argued for a much higher salary but opted to self-impose a cap on her annual earnings-often going against the views of several members of the Board of Trustees.
The Board analyzes and compares the compensations of "like-minded officials in similar institutions" when deciding what to pay an employee, Burness explained.
Keohane believed that there should be a reasonable ratio between the lowest-paid employee at Duke and the highest, he said. "Nan actually didn't know what she was paid," he said.
Burness explained that he doubted Keohane focused much attention on her earnings, despite the e-mail he routinely sends to all employees listed in the Internal Revenue Service 990 tax forms disclosing the details of University employee earnings.
Although Keohane was part of the boards of directors for several companies while president-including computer giant IBM.
"[Keohane] often returned her fees over to the University as a gift," Burness explained.
He noted that many of the nation's highest-paid university officials have deferred compensation that puts them at the top of the highest earner's list, which accounts for a lot of fluctuation from year to year.
"They weren't some of the people you'd think about as being the best in the country," he said.
Burness explained that the amount of deferred compensation an official receives is "a function of the individual arrangements with an institution."
The highest-paid government employees of many states tend to be officials at public universities, Burness added.
The Chronicle of Higher Education also noted that some government officials are concerned about whether the high salaries of leaders of colleges and universities-most of which are non-profit organizations-are warranted.
Burness cited the recent resignation of American University President Benjamin Ladner, who stepped down from his post following an investigation into thousands of his expenses over the past few years.
"It's very hard to understand what they did there could be justified," Burness noted.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.