'A phenomenal job': FSU trustees approve evaluation, salary for President McCullough

Florida State University President Richard McCullough's fifth year in office comes along with a 10% raise that brings his salary up to $1.25 million following a flattering evaluation from the FSU Board of Trustees . 

The university's board met Aug. 29 to approve a 2024-25 presidential evaluation and contract for McCullough, which also consists of a one-time 50% bonus of about $550,000. 

"As I begin my fifth year as president, it's truly an honor and a privilege to serve this great university and to be part of the FSU family, so thank you all for the opportunity," McCullough said during the board's meeting at the Turnbull Conference Center on campus. 

Last year, the board gave McCullough a 10% raise and a $320,000 bonus, which brought his base pay up to $1.1 million and cracked him into the seven-figure salary bracket.

While it is unclear where McCullough's compensation ranks among other presidents in the State University System, he comes on top of the University of Florida's interim President Kent Fuchs , who is receiving $1 million annually in his temporary role that ends Sept. 1. Fuchs will be succeeded as interim president by Dr. Donald W. Landry, chair emeritus of Columbia University's Department of Medicine.

Regarding McCullough's evaluation from trustees, the assessment is based on McCullough's work and achievement on his six main goals for the university, which he is assessed on to either be graded "below expectations," "meets expectations," or "exceeds expectations." 

FSU board chair Peter Collins said all 13 trustees gave McCullough an overall assessment of "exceeds expectation." 

"You're doing a phenomenal job," Collins told McCullough. "I don't think any of us would want to do the job that you're doing, because it's a brutal job. You've got 44,000 students, over 6,000 employees and a budget that's more than 90 something countries ... but you're doing an unbelievable job." 

FSU trustee says McCullough is 'perfect for FSU' 

The six university goals that were considered when evaluating McCullough's performance were related to investments in student success, metrics that impact key and national rankings, FSU's research and entrepreneurial excellence, fundraising efforts, the student athlete experience and the expansion of FSU initiatives. 

While the trustees' comments in the annual presidential evaluation are anonymous, one trustee said McCullough "led with passion" this year. Other members said he is "so perfect for FSU in every aspect" and that he "has set the right tone at the university." 

But besides assessments based on university goals, a recurring reference made in trustee comments was the April 17 FSU campus shooting near the Student Union building , where a gunman killed two and injured five students.

FSU Student Body President and trustee Carson Dale, an international affairs major, said his biggest takeaway from this past year is that the student community has a better familiarity with McCullough after the shooting.  

"Obviously, we wouldn't have wanted that shooting to happen and it was a horrible situation, but the way you responded really showed up for students, and they feel like they really have a strong leader in place," Dale told McCullough during an Aug. 28 Governance Committee meeting at the conference center. "We definitely feel like we have a lot more faith in the university's leadership. Thank you for that." 

Also referring to the FSU campus shooting, FSU board vice chair Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz commended McCullough with how he approached the recent tragedy. 

"The way you reacted is who you were, and you were the right person to be there," Cuevas-Diaz told McCullough. "You are core to our culture, and you are a core to continuing everything we do. Some things are better than others, but at the end of the day, we couldn't be in a better place." 

When it comes to the university's first goal of investing and driving student success and academic excellence, McCullough says he thinks the university had "a great year." 

"I think we're doing everything we can possibly do to improve," McCullough said. "We make a lot of strategic investments in this area, and it's a hallmark of Florida State University." 

But regarding FSU's fundraising goals, he says the university had "an off year" when considering how the FSU Foundation fell short of its $100 million fundraising goal during the 2024-25 fiscal year after garnering over $65 million.

At the same time, his self-evaluation noted his confidence about how efforts are "headed in the right direction" this year with several multi-million-dollar gifts on the horizon. 

"The FSU nation is very grateful and blessed to have the leadership of President McCullough," FSU trustee Maximo Alvarez said, "not only because of the job that he's done and the fact that he demonstrates the family values that we all need to be successful in our lives, but because he's surrounded himself with a great staff. We really appreciate that."

Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at  tjean@tallahassee.com . Follow her on X:  @tarahjean_ .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU trustees approve McCullough evaluation and new salary