This is the third installment of a series studying the persona of each Ivy League president—their bank accounts, their haircuts, and the extent to which they’re known and loved. I’m covering each president one by one, in order of who gets the most green for tending to the Ivy. Here’s Yale President Richard Levin, the anti-social nerd turned cross continental titan.

He’s not a smooth talker, but Richard Levin gets the job done. As he told Charlie Rose:

“If you hiccup in China or if there’s a problem in Brussels, you feel it in the United States and vice versa.”

Levin loves China, and vice versa. He’s been there at least twelve times in the past eight years, he goes for camp every summer to play dodgeball with other resident university presidents, and he’s built ties between Yale and Chinese institutions. He may well be a bigger celebrity there than in the United States, or even on his own campus. The Yale Daily News has characterized Levin as a Chinese “rock star.” But upon his fifteen anniversary as university president in 2008—Levin is the longest-serving president in the Ivy League—the YDN also reported that:

When asked about their view of Levin in interviews this fall, undergraduates tended to offer something about his affection for China, and perhaps a reference to the bling necklace he wears at Commencement. But beyond that, the closest contact they said they have had with Levin was when they shook his hand in the receiving line at Beinecke Library after the Freshman Address. Some students said they wouldn’t even recognize him on campus.

The YDN went on to quote one student who wished “he had a more human face to the student body.”

So the economist behind those nerdy round-rimmed glasses might not be a big personality, but he does make the big bills. Levin is the third highest paid president in the Ivy League, the tenth highest paid in the country. He makes a total of $1,179,332—or $911,250 plus retirement benefits. (With all that money, you would think he would have enough for more than one suit to wear on TV)

This is not to suggest that Levin lacks style. An avid fan of Eminem, whose music he has showered with such praises as “I have a problem with censorship,” this self described “sixties brat” has also dined with Paul McCartney, before donning him with an honorary Yale degree. When asked for comment, Levin sent the following email:

“Here’s one comment: Yesterday … all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it seems as though they’re here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday…Or perhaps another, relative to the Sir Paul sightings: Here, There and Everywhere.”

But back to Levin’s take on Eminem, Yale’s president has had his own share of slim shady style controversy on censorship. He’s fallen under criticism for two recent free speech gaffes—one about a “sissy” T-shirt designed to taunt Harvard rivals, the other about the University press taking caricatures of Muhammad out of a book on the 2005 Danish cartoon debacle. Both were apparently relatively rare encounters with controversy for a president who tries to stay hands off.

But as he keeps his distance from Yale students—sometimes so distant that he’s in China—Levin has had his share of public presence. He currently sits on President Obama’s council of advisers on science and technology, after having gone postal for President Bush. He also turned heads by raising billions for Yale that increased the university’s endowment by over 50% from what it was before he came into office—although Yale did lose a chunk of this in the economic downturn, ranking it among the “worst managed endowments.” This puts a damper on Levin’s big dreams to build two new residential colleges, but what kind of economist would he be if he didn’t find a way to make finances fit whatever rationale he desires?

And now for the hard data portion of this analysis, which remains, as usual, entirely legitimate and mathematical and whatever:

[Salary - (expected cost of haircut + plane ticket to China) + Google hits + words spent in letter to Yale about how the endowment is still totally fine no problem)] / suits owned =

[$1,179,332 - ($20 + $3,000) + 1,080,000 + 2,000)] / 1 =

2,258,312 Ivy President Points.

Stay tuned for Cornell President David Skorton!