News
OU President Receives Raise, $72k Bonus
By: Susan Tebben
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OH (WOUB) — Ohio University’s president has received an increase in his base salary, and a bonus after a positive performance evaluation.
The OU Board of Trustees approved a resolution at the end of their regular meeting at the Eastern Campus on Friday giving President Duane Nellis a 1.5% increase to his base salary, equivalent to an increase of $7,232. In 2018, the board also increased Nellis’ salary, moving his base pay then to $482,125.
At Friday’s meeting, the board also approved a 15% bonus for Nellis, or $72,319.
The board also plans to amend the Presidential Employment Agreement originally drafted in 2017 to allow Nellis to be eligible for a performance bonus of up to 20% of his base salary for next year’s performance review.
Ohio University Board of Trustees Chair Dave Scholl read the resolution during the meeting. In it, the board praises the president for successfully completing “the recruitment and on-boarding of critical new members of his leadership team positioning the University to build a new culture that advances and executes Ohio’s Strategic Plan.”
That team, the board wrote, will produce “structurally balanced and financially sustainable operations and infrastructure system-wide.”
Other points the board acknowledged as reasons for Nellis’ positive evaluation and bonus included improving academic quality, student success, and national prominence, recruiting top faculty, enhancing marketing and communications infrastructure, and “building highly engaged partnerships with alumni, corporations, and communities…”
Included in the resolution is a 1.5% increase for First Lady Ruthie Nellis as well, which amounts to a $533 increase.
The resolution came in the same meeting as approval of the proposed fiscal year 2020 operating budget. Finance officials are still waiting the state of Ohio’s operating budget and higher education budget numbers, which have yet to be finalized. It also comes after academic colleges were asked to cut $19.3 million from their budgets, amid reductions in state support.