Easley, wife of Gov. Mike Easley, is an executive in residence and senior lecturer in the provost's office at NCSU. Her job duties have expanded and she will get more money for it.

Effective July 1, her salary went from $90,000 to $170,000, according to personnel records from N.C. State.

"Her salary is within the range of similar management and law faculty and administrators at N.C. State and other universities," Larry Nielsen, provost and executive vice chancellor at NCSU, said in a written statement.

"Mrs. Easley's experience in the legal profession and commitment to public service make her uniquely qualified to direct these efforts at N.C. State,"

Her job entails development and direction of the Millennium Seminar Series, the university's principal speakers program. She runs a spring semester course called Public Law for Public Administrators. She is a faculty member in the Administrative Officers Management Program, teaching legal aspects of police supervision.

Her new responsibilities include directing the development of the Public Safety Leadership Initiative, expanding the existing program to include first responders and security professionals, co-directing pre-law services at N.C. State, and acting as the University's liaison for partnerships with the legal profession and area law schools, including the development of dual-degree programs.

Nielsen said Mary Easley had made a new five-year commitment to NCSU.

"Mary Easley brings unmatched experience to our students at NC State, and we are fortunate to have her as a member of our faculty," he said.

Easley, 58, has been in the news this week because of the expense of trips she took to France in May 2007 and Russia and Estonia this May.

News of the raise appeared first today in a story in the Carolina Journal.

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