1. Under former Penn State President Graham Spanier’s leadership, research funding more than doubled and endowments tripled.
2. Student applications rose from 75,000 — from when Spanier first began as president — to over 100,000 in almost ten years.
3. Enrollment at University Park became of concern to the Board of Trustees and was capped at 42,000 students in 1998. Not uncommon for universities, though, the cap was exceeded in 2006. University’s Park current enrollment is 44,679 students.
4. Several major projects were started and finished during his presidency. The creation of the College of Information Sciences and Technology, the Schreyer Honors College was granted, Dickinson School of Law was moved from Carlisle to University Park, and the launch of Penn State’s World Campus were among some of the projects.
5. Spanier was known for spending nights in dormitories of incoming students during the first week at school to stay in touch with the pulse of student life. He was typically listed as a roommate for students in supplemental housing and brought non-alcoholic beverages, food and his magic tricks to the environment.
6. His wife, Sandra, is a professor at the university in the department of English. She came to the university in 1995 with her husband after receiving her Master’s and Ph.D. from Penn State.
7. When he began as president in 1995, tuition was $2,594 for in-state students per semester, and in 2011, when he was fired, it reached $7,562 for in-state students per semester.
8. Spanier was given a 5-year contract extension in 2007 for a $590,000 annual contract. Three years later, he signed a 3-year extension for an $80,000 raise, which would have kept him university president until 2015.
9. He was the third highest-paid public university president, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2010, he made $1,068,763, which includes a base salary of $660,002, $200,000 in bonuses for signing a contract extension, and $208,761 to be given to him at a later time for deferred compensation.
10. He presided over 44,000 employees on 24 campuses, an annual university budget of nearly $4 billion and a physical plant of 1,700 buildings during his 16-year tenure.
