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YSU Trustees Ready to Name Provost Interim President
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Several “ifs” have to fall into place but Youngstown State University trustees are ready to name the provost, Ikram Khawaja, interim president upon his return from overseas March 15 and have a permanent successor to Randy J. Dunn in place by June 30.
Khawaja, scheduled to retire as provost June 30, has been either difficult or impossible to reach. The chairman of the trustees, Sudershan K. Garg, said he has not spoken with Khawaja since Dunn unexpectedly resigned Feb. 17 and gave 180 days’ notice.
The board met 2½ hours in executive session Wednesday night and reconvened briefly in public session to engage AGB Search Inc. of Washington, D.C., to direct a national search for the ninth president of YSU. Besides the trustees, general counsel Holly Jacobs and the president of the academic senate, biology professor Chet Cooper, sat in on the executive session.
Cooper, who left before the executive session ended, agreed to be chairman of a 15-member search committee to find a successor to Khawaja.
Afterward, Garg stressed that the trustees will choose a new president before they appoint a new provost. The new president should have a say in that selection, Garg noted.
AGB is the same firm that recommended Dunn as president a year ago at a cost of $125,000. Because Dunn resigned after only seven months into a three-year contract, AGB will conduct the new search at no cost except its expenses, the trustee chairman said. YSU’s contract with AGB contains a provision that should Dunn serve less than a year, AGB will conduct another search for president and bill only its expenses. “I’m glad AGB is living up to its contract, Garg said drolly.
Expenses should not exceed $60,000, he estimated.
The trustees “have talked to the search firm at great length,” he informed reporters.
If a new president is not in place by June 30 as hoped, AGB will lead the search for an interim president, Garg said. He expects Khawaja will leave the university as planned on June 30.
Garg met with the press after the trustees adjourned, patiently answering questions as candidly as he could, given the uncertainties of the situation.
The inability to get in touch with Khawaja, who is tending to “family obligations,” means he will not return to campus before March 15, Garg said. University governance would have him succeed Dunn should the president leave office before Aug. 16, something Dunn told the press Feb. 17 he is willing to do. Until Dunn signs the documents enabling his departure before Aug. 16 and resolves the details of his exit, trustees are limited in the steps they can take, Garg said.
Should Dunn leave before Aug. 16, his compensation from YSU would end the date of his exit, the chairman of the trustees said. The trustees “would not be unhappy” to see him leave as early as March 16.
“We will not be unhappy to see him leave before June 30,” he said at another point. “If he tells me tomorrow he wants to move on, we will find a solution for it,” he said two questions later.
Regardless, the board does not believe it essential that an interim president be named March 15, he said.
With Khawaja out of the country and Gene Grilli, the former vice president of finance and second in succession, having left to take a similar post at Franciscan University in Steubenville, trustees have no choice but to wait for the provost’s return, Garg allowed.
Asked about the groundswell of support for Jim Tressel to be president, Garg said he and his colleagues are aware of the efforts to recruit the former Penguins head football coach. He welcomes the interest Tressel supporters have shown, the chairman said, adding, “The process must be followed thoroughly and I hope Jim Tressel will apply for the presidency.”
Will his lack of a doctorate hurt his chances, a reporter asked?
“No,” Garg responded.
What’s his take on reaction throughout the Valley to Dunn’s resignation, a reporter asked.
“The community is mad. The trustees are unhappy. But we have a university to run,” Garg responded, “and that’s what we’re trying to do. No one person is indispensible. … The way this has happened should not have happened.”
Regardless, he reiterated his sentiments expressed Feb. 17, that Dunn was the most qualified of the candidates the trustees interviewed and remains capable of leading the university for up until Aug. 16.
Photo Credit: The Jambar
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