Former UMass President Jack Wilson assumed the position of Distinguished University Professor of Higher Education, Emerging Technologies and Innovation at UMass Lowell on July 1. Wilson will be paid $261,000 a year – a salary that represents the average of the salaries currently earned by the provosts at the university’s Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell campuses.

Wilson has also served as interim president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. In return for his services, the Kennedy Institute has been paying the university system $14,000 per month.

The UMass Board of Trustess, chaired by James J. Karam, reviewed the compensation allotted to former president Wilson. They determined that the arrangements are typical of the higher education system.