Former University President Gets $1.6M Parting Gift By Adam Andrzejewski
The former president of Colorado State University collected a payout of almost $1.6 million. The university won’t say why she left before the end of her planned tenure.
Joyce McConnell’s annual salary was $550,000 per year. In the June separation agreement between McConnell and CSU Board of Governors, she was paid $1,572,725 as a result of ending her contract early. McConnell signed a five-year agreement in 2019, keeping her employed as president through 2024, The Coloradoan reported.
Neither McConnell nor officials at the public university will say why she left. Colorado state taxpayers have a right to know why she was paid the equivalent of three years of salary.
She was the university’s first female president, having come from West Virginia University where she served as provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Amy Parsons, a former senior administrator at Colorado State University at Fort Collins, is her most likely replacement, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Parsons is a Colorado State alumna who worked as its deputy general counsel until 2009 when she became vice president for university operations, The Chronicle reported. In 2015, she became executive vice chancellor of the Colorado State system and left in 2020 to become the founding chief executive officer of Mozzafiato LLC, an e-commerce company.
McConnell spent most of her time at the university dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, and “she oversaw a transitional period at CSU, as numerous high-level administrators left the university or took different positions,” The Coloradoan reported.
In 2019, Rick Miranda left as provost of the university, and McConnell replaced him with Mary Pedersen, one of seven people that McConnell brought into vice presidential or dean roles. Four people in executive positions resigned or retired during McConnell’s tenure, the newspaper reported.
In August 2020, McConnell began a two-month investigation — that cost $107,000 — into the university’s athletic department after allegations of emotional abuse and racist behavior were made.
While the university won’t give any details of the McConnell resignation, taxpayers on the hook for $1.6 million have the right to know what they’re paying for.
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