LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi had a "rave review" as part of her third annual performance evaluation this summer, the Board of Trustees said in a news release Wednesday.

“We continue to be very impressed by and grateful for Neeli’s leadership of the University of Louisville,” Mary Nixon, chair of the board, said in the release.

Bendapudi also received high marks in her second evaluation last summer, but the board decided to delay a pay raise until the university was on a firmer financial footing. That decision came in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These are difficult times, and it would obviously be incongruent to implement new compensation increases now,” Nixon said at the time. 

Nixon cited seven accomplishments that impressed the board with Bendapudi:

  • Stabilizing UofL’s financial position, improving its credit outlook and shifting resources to advance the strategic plan
  • Setting a record of $170 million for research funding and articulating the Grand Challenges that will further focus the university’s energy
  • Attaining the highest UofL enrollment in decades in the fall 2020 semester
  • Building a strong internal leadership team including two recent hires, Provost Lori Gonzalez and General Counsel Angela Curry
  • Attaining steady progress on the strategic plan with the creation and expansion of services in the Employee Success Center, the launch of a brand campaign and web improvement project, a concerted focus on experiential learning and more.
  • Successfully implementing the acquisition of the former KentuckyOne Health assets to create UofL Health, leaving the university in a stronger financial position and expanding health care services into more areas than before including the medically underserved area of West Louisville
  • And in response to the single greatest public health crisis of our lifetimes, the global COVID-19 pandemic, UofL under Dr. Bendapudi’s leadership:
    • Transitioned seamlessly from in-person to online instruction in a matter of days
    • Took care of the on-campus population with continued housing and dining services for thousands of students
    • Provided COVID-19 testing, vaccinations to our UofL community and more broadly to Kentuckiana through UofL Health.
Otts Bendapudi 2 shot 10-14-20

WDRB.com reporter Chris Otts interviews University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi on Oct. 14, 2020.

The board of trustees approved the contract in its last meeting. In addition to the annual salary, Bendapudi will receive a one-time payment of $150,000 by Sept. 15 as a salary adjustment for services rendered between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Her salary was $725,000 in 2020-21.

Also, the board approved a $200,000 annual retention payment to Bendapudi every year, for the next five years, if she remains at U of L. The payments will be paid out at the end of each year, starting in 2022.

“When she became president in 2018, Neeli accepted a smaller salary than her predecessors and many of her peers, saying she felt she needed to earn the compensation,” Nixon said in the release. “While she did not approach us about a raise, she has clearly earned it.”

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