New medical school dean hits jackpot

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 | 11:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Robert S. Miller, the new dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine will earn $310,000, one of the highest salaries paid any public official in Nevada.

But he won't be the highest-paid physician at the medical school.

The board of regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada Friday will consider the recommendation of UNR President Joseph Crowley in setting the salary of Miller, who will be based in Las Vegas but who will spend a good deal of time in Reno.

"This was a market-place decision," said Crowley in referring to the salary offered to Miller, who is both vice chancellor and the associate dean of clinical affairs at Tulane University Medical Center.

Miller will succeed Robert Daugherty, who is being paid $229,462. A report presented to the regents in June showed the minimum salary for a dean of medicine at $164,440 and the maximum at $274,067. Because the salary of Miller will exceed that, the regents must approve it.

Crowley said Miller will be paid the same as the chair of surgery in the medical school at $310,000. But he will make less than at least one surgeon at the medical school, Crowley said, but he did not identify what the larger salary was or who received it.

Regent Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas said he was concerned about "that high a salary." He said including the payments the university will make into his retirement fund, his compensation will reach $341,000 a year.

In addition he said, Daugherty will become dean emeritus and do some teaching and continue to make $229,000. "We're looking at well over half a million dollars and we need to be real cost conscious."

Sisolak said he has heard some criticism from other faculty and deans about the salary being paid Miller.

The salary will exceed that of any administrator in the university system and most if not all state and local government officials. For instance, Gov. Kenny Guinn earns $117,000, receives a food allowance and the governor's mansion and has transportation provided.

Crowley said Miller will receive a housing allowance for an apartment in Reno because he should not have to conduct business from a hotel room when he visits Northern Nevada.

Miller is currently making $265,000 at Tulane. He is a surgeon and administrator and has a master's degree in business administration. "That business background certainly helps us as it would any school of medicine," Crowley said. The Nevada school has faced financial problems in recent years.

Daugherty, Crowley said, was a fine dean but he was "perpetually paid below the midpoint on the salary schedule. "We understood it was likely to cost us more than we paid Dr. Daugherty," he added.

Daugherty became dean in 1981 and stepped down in June to become dean emeritus of the school and join its faculty as a professor of health care policy.

The other finalist for the top job was Dr. David Schapira, the school of medicine's senior associate dean for Southern Nevada.