The Florida State University Board of Trustees voted unanimously Wednesday to extend President Richard McCullough’s contract by three years.
“We have a lot to do. We have not, I have not accomplished my goals,” McCullough told the board. “I look forward to the next chapter, and I appreciate the support.”
McCullough has a doctorate in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University and served as Vice Provost for Research at Harvard University before becoming FSU’s 16th president in 2021.
His contract was set to expire in August but now runs through Aug. 31, 2029. The most recent contract from August 2025 increased his base salary to $1.25 million a year. He also received a $500,000 bonus after his evaluation.
It’s one of the largest salaries among university presidents in the state. This week, the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees voted to pay its next president an annual salary of $3 million.
FSU has about 33,000 undergraduates and about 13,000 graduate students.
State law caps the public funds that can be used to pay university presidents’ salaries at $200,000, with the rest paid with non-public taxpayer sources.
“Although we can tell you we love you and want you, a contract kind of solidifies that,” said Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz, vice chair of the board. “I’m very thankful that we’re here today to be able to continue the road together with this board and you as president, because I think it’s doing FSU a lot of good.”
Trustees will come back in August and conduct an annual review, said Chairman Peter Collins.
In January the Florida Board of Governors of the State University System changed its rules to allow universities to extend presidents’ contracts up to three years instead of one year at a time.
“I appreciate your willingness to push,” said Collins. “You know what excellence looks like. If you know what it looks like, you can get us there, and you’re getting us there, and I can’t say that about a lot of people.
Under McCullough’s tenure, FSU invested $160 million in a new building for its College of Business, the largest academic space in FSU’s history.
In April 2025, he also led the school through a mass shooting, when an FSU student killed two people and injured five others on campus.
FSU is currently in the process of acquiring the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare hospital, deal worth more than $100 million.
