UC Berkeley Chancellor Resigns But Stays on as Professor

Canadian physicist Robert J. Birgeneau, 69, will resign as chancellor at the end of the year 2012, but he’ll stay on as a University California, Berkeley faculty member in the physics department and teach courses. 

Last year, Birgeneau’s base annual salary was $436,800. This is not exorbitant, according to a campus representative. In fact it places Birgeneau at number 45 on a list of 65 Association of American Universities chancellors.

Whether Birgeneau will keep his current salary when he’s no longer chancellor is unclear. Media relations director Gretchen Kell says there will be a review process when Birgeneau makes the switch from chancellor to professor. His salary will be decided after the review. Kell says she doesn’t yet know what that review process will consist of.

Under Birgeneau’s watch Berkeley campus faculty won three Nobel Prizes, but he came under fire last November for campus police’s treatment of Occupy protesters.

Do you think $416,596 is a fair salary for a physics professor and researcher of Birgeneau's stature?