YSU to fill two cabinet posts

By Denise Dick

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University President Randy J. Dunn will be looking to fill two cabinet seats this year.

Gene Grilli, vice president for finance and administration, is expected to leave later this month to be executive vice president and chief operating officer at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, W.Va.

Ikram Khawaja, provost and vice president for academic affairs, plans to retire June 30.

The board of trustees approved using a search firm to recruit a new provost. Dunn said the university signed a $45,000 contract with Myers McRae Executive Search and Consulting, a Georgia-based higher education executive search firm, to do the work. YSU will pay an additional $3,000 for advertising.

“I would anticipate having finalists come to campus in late April or early May,” he said.

Though Dunn said he wants to ensure trustees agree, he’s not in a rush to fill the vice president of finance and administration position. Internal candidates could fill the job on an interim basis.

During that time, university officials could examine the division’s operations to determine if there are ways to streamline them to improve efficiency, he said.

“I have no preconceived ideas about that,” Dunn said.

But whenever there’s a division head change it’s a logical time to look at changes before a person comes in, he said.

At YSU since 1968, Khawaja has been provost since 2008, serving as interim provost for more than a year before that. He had retired once before in 2002, then returned as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from July 2005 to July 2007.

Grilli has been at YSU since 2007.

Dunn also said that although spring enrollment was down 1 percent from a year ago, he’s pleased with the numbers. This semester’s enrollment is 12,823 students, compared with 12,966 students in spring 2013.

The decrease could have been more considering the numbers of the last few semesters. He attributed it to the work of many people on campus but said there’s still work to do.

Although the student head count is down, the full-time equivalent is actually up from the previous spring, allowing YSU to garner about $300,000 in savings. That savings had been figured into the budget.