YSU Renowned business professor is tapped

A student representative questioned the salary.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A faculty member who will join the accounting team at Youngstown State University's Williamson College of Business Administration in August will earn the second-highest salary on campus.
David Stout is being touted by university officials as a nationally renowned accounting educator who has extensive experience building partnerships with the business community. He will earn $155,000 as the John S. and Doris M. Andrews chair in accounting.
Only YSU President David C. Sweet, earns more, at $203,520.
Beneath Sweet, the nine highest-paid administrators earn between $144,200 and $113,464. The top 10 faculty salaries range from $95,975 to $88,824.
Stout's salary will be funded, in part, by $30,000 from a $1 million endowment gift from the Andrews Trust. The remaining $125,000 will be paid by the university.
'Tremendous addition'
Betty Jo Licata, dean of the business college, said Stout, an accounting professor at Villanova University, will make a "tremendous addition" to YSU.
"He has a national reputation and he is the leading expert in accounting education, which is important to our mission in the college of business as well as the university," she said.
Stout's duties will include teaching, research and service responsibilities -- just like other faculty, Licata said. He'll teach two courses per semester, as opposed to the three or four taught by most faculty members. He also will have the responsibility of increasing the visibility of the accounting department and strengthening ties with regional and national accounting professionals.
Concern
"Is it good for students? Of course it's good for students from an academic standpoint," said YSU senior Anthony Candel, member of the YSU Student Government Association. "But ... something's not making sense. Are we going to pay this guy $125,000 to be a faculty member? He's going to have a lot of expectations, but a lot of faculty members have those expectations.
"On the surface, I'm upset because we're in a budget crisis. ... I just think we could have bought two midlevel professors for two departments to benefit twice as many students."
Union's stance
Robert Hogue, president of the YSU faculty union, said he has not heard complaints but added that he has little interaction with other faculty during summer months.
"The union really has no say on the salary, except from the standpoint of making sure it meets the minimum requirements of the [contract] agreement," he said. "The university has the right to offer any starting salary it wants. I'm not sure if they thought of all the ramifications it may have."
His main concern was that the university did not follow proper procedure when hiring Stout, ignoring an article in the union agreement that deals with special contracts. Union officials should have been contacted much earlier to assist with the hiring contract, he said.
But Hogue said he does not think the university had any "evil intent;" rather, he supposes they simply do not deal with these issues regularly.
About Stout
Stout has a bachelor's degree in finance from LaSalle College and master's and doctorate degrees in accounting from the University of Pittsburgh. He has been a faculty member at Villanova since 1988 and was chairman of the university's accounting department from 1996 to 2001 before taking his current post. Before joining Villanova, he was a faculty member, associate dean and department chairman at Rider University in New Jersey.
He has served as editor, associate editor or on the editorial boards of several accounting and finance journals, and has published more than 50 articles and made more than 70 professional publications.
He is past president of the teaching and curriculum section of the American Accounting Association. In 2002, he received the American Accounting Association, Teaching and Curriculum Section Distinguished Achievement Award.
Licata said Stout brings a reputation and expertise that will make students competitive and give them increased opportunities, such as access to speakers and hands-on experiences in real-world, professional atmospheres on the regional and national level.
She said he was selected after a two-year national search and that the salary is appropriate in the national accounting arena as well as required to compete with schools across the nation.
"People across the country know the name David Stout, and this is now his home institution. He will be able to work with all of us to establish linkages and make opportunities available to students and faculty," Licata added.
viviano@vindy.com