A raise of nearly $80,000 that N.C. State gave to first lady Mary Easley has prompted UNC system officials to review the work contract and others like it, school officials said late Wednesday.

The 88 percent raise appeared to violate a UNC system policy intended to provide an extra layer of scrutiny to unusually large pay increases.

That policy requires the UNC system's governing board to approve increases topping 15 percent or $10,000. Easley has held an executive-in-residence position at NCSU since 2005. Last week, the school raised Easley's salary from $90,300 to $170,000.

"It appears to me that this is the size increase that should come before the board," said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors. "We have this policy that in essence checks and balances, so there's a second set of eyes that looks at significant increases. It's in everyone's best interest that governance be carried out consistently across the system."

In a statement released late Wednesday, N.C. State officials said they have "historically" interpreted the system policy incorrectly and have been giving raises without the governing board's approval. The UNC system will therefore look into Easley's contract and all other N.C. State contracts with fixed-term, non-tenure-track faculty members, the statement said.

Mary Easley released a statement saying in part: "I am happy to have my position, duties and responsibilities reviewed."

The system's raise policy does not apply to new hires, and the system allows large raises without board approval for current employees being promoted through a competitive process or to a higher rank.

It isn't clear whether any of those exceptions apply to Easley, for whom the position was created in 2005.

According to two university offer letters -- the first from 2005, the second dated May 7 -- Mary Easley's job title has not changed. She was and still is a senior lecturer with the "special faculty rank" of executive in residence. From the start, her job was in the provost's office rather than in a specific academic department. She is not eligible for tenure, according to the offer letters, which were provided by the UNC system and N.C. State.

Her starting salary in 2005 was $80,000. The job always has been full time, but is has expanded, officials say now.

In 2005 Easley, a lawyer, was hired to teach three courses and direct a speakers program. Now she will teach two classes, coordinate law education initiatives and create and direct a public safety leadership center.

In 2005, the job carried a three-year term. The expanded job described in the 2008 offer letter is for five years.

The average salary for a full professor at NCSU is $110,000.

Pay increase defended

N.C. State Provost Larry Nielsen defended Easley's pay and position late Wednesday and said her salary is within the range of similar management and law faculty and administrators. "We are delighted and fortunate to have someone of Mrs. Easley's caliber and breadth of experience at N.C. State," Nielsen said.

The pay increase would dramatically raise Easley's state retirement benefits, which are based on an average of an employee's four highest-earning years. The raise came as Easley was in the news for having been part of a state delegation on two trips to Europe that cost taxpayers more than $109,000.

Easley graduated from Wake Forest University and its law school. She was a prosecutor for 10 years and in private practice for eight. She also taught law at N.C. Central University. Since being hired at NCSU, she has directed a speaker series whose participants have included former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Universities routinely offer executive-in-residence positions to industry leaders looking to spend time in a college classroom. It is particularly common at business schools, though most are part-timers who just teach a course or two. UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University also have executives in residence.

UNC-CH's Kenan-Flagler Business School has several such people, each of whom teaches one course and earns $7,500, the standard university payment for a course taught by an adjunct professor, said Jim Gray, the business school's director of external affairs.

"Instead of coming from a long academic career, they come from a long business career," Gray said. "They're extremely valuable to us because of all the real-world experience they bring to the classroom."