University of Maine’s three highest-paid employees alone earned more than $1.2 million combined last year.
The three highest-paid employees in 2025 were UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, men’s hockey head coach Ben Barr, and Director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center Habib Dagher, according to University of Maine System’s human resources reports.
Meanwhile, just four faculty members were in the top 25 earners last year. In total, 279 UMaine faculty members earned more than $100,000 in 2025. The highest paid was climate scientist and professor of geological sciences George Denton, who was paid $273,529.16.
UMaine is facing a $19 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year. Ferrini-Mundy and Provost Gabriel Paquette outlined plans last month to cut more than $13 million from the budget, but the remaining $5.7 million will require layoffs and the elimination of vacant positions. It’s unclear what positions will be cut or when they will be announced.
Union representatives from across the University of Maine System last week called for administrators to conduct a parallel review of their budgets and salaries before deciding on any cuts. Of the employees who earned $100,000 or more in 2025, 73 are in administrative roles while 279 are faculty.
Administrators’ earnings made up 20% of all salaries in 2025.
University officials are looking into multiple ways to close the budget gap, according to Ferrini-Mundy and Paquette’s letter.
The university budgeted $336,842,265 in expenses for the current fiscal year, a more than $12 million hike from the previous year. Salaries, wages and benefits are projected to make up more than two-thirds of UMaine’s 2028 budget, University of Maine System spokesperson Samantha Warren said.
UMaine’s growing salary costs were reflected in its top earners. The number of UMaine employees earning more than $100,000 jumped from 373 in 2024 to 415 in 2025. The top 25 earners in 2025 were collectively paid a quarter of a million dollars more than in 2024.
The jump in six-figure earners could be attributed to multiple things, including bargained wage increases, Warren said. For example, faculty members received a 4% bump in wages on July 1, 2025.
Stipends, employees holding multiple positions across the system and faculty generally being paid for a nine-month academic year instead of a full year like administrators “can skew the actual base salary compensation data,” Warren said.
All of the included employees are listed as working at UMaine, although some may also work at other University of Maine System campuses. System employees, including Chancellor Dannel Malloy, who was paid $421,975.27 in 2025, were not included.
The below chart is limited to employees who made more than $100,000 in 2025. It includes the employee’s name, job title, and salary for both 2024 and 2025.