The Ohio University Board of Trustees voted in favor of a resolution Friday granting President Duane Nellis a $72,000 bonus and a $7,000 raise after completing a “presidential performance review.”
According to The Athens News, Nellis received a $71,000 bonus last year and his base salary will now be bumped up to $489,000. Additionally, Friday’s resolution increased the bonus amount that Nellis will be eligible for going forward.
Until Friday, the president was eligible for a maximum bonus of 15 percent of his base salary, but the resolution increased that figure to 20 percent of his base salary. That means Nellis could receive a bonus of $97,000 during his next performance review.
Board of Trustees Chair David Scholl introduced the resolution during Friday’s meeting, praising Nellis for enhancing “the legacy of the institution.”
“The Board has determined that President Nellis has continued to lead the university with high distinction by displaying presidential core values of constructive engagement and dialogue, integrity, civility, inclusivity, and diversity,” said Scholl, reading from the resolution.
The resolution goes on to recognize Nellis for “producing structurally balanced and financially sustainable operations and infrastructure system-wide.”
However, as The Athens News reported in May, the university asked individual academic colleges to cut their budgets by $19.3 million amid “ongoing budget difficulties.”
The resolution states that Nellis has successfully worked on “stabilizing enrollments,” “improving academic quality, student success, and national prominence,” and “recruiting top faculty to Ohio.”
The motion to give Nellis a bonus and raise was passed unanimously by the Ohio University Board of Trustees.
“I’d like to just thank the Board for their tremendous support. I just feel very blessed to have such a great Board of Trustees and this is a dynamic time of change in higher education and at Ohio University” Nellis said during Friday’s meeting. “I want to also say how much this is really a team effort by everyone in this room. We work very well together.”
“We have a special community,” he added. “So the things that we accomplish are not me, but all of us working collectively and for that I thank all of you.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Duane Nellis” by Jtr204. CC BY-SA 4.0. Background Photo “Ohio University Board of Trustees Meeting” by Kevin Price.
