Stephen Golding will now serve as OU’s senior vice president for Strategic Initiatives, a newly created position.
Ohio University’s Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding now has a new job at the university as of Friday.
Golding will now serve as OU’s senior vice president for Strategic Initiatives, a newly created position, OU President Roderick McDavis said in a campus-wide email.
“This position was created to facilitate the design and implementation of the OHIO for Ohio initiative in collaboration with the Office of the President and the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost,” McDavis said in the email.
OHIO for Ohio is a university effort to help Ohio “unlock its potential for greatness” by providing access to OU’s learning community for students throughout the state, according to an OU news release. That includes OU’s regional campuses, online education and campuses in Dublin and Warrensville Heights outside of Cleveland for the OU Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, according to a previous Post report.
In his new position, Golding will represent OU on the Athens County Economic Development Commission and serve as chief executive officer for OU’s Dublin campus, McDavis said. The commission is a nonprofit organization that encourages entrepreneurship and helps businesses in the Athens area, according to its website.
Despite OU’s Athens campus seeing an increase in enrollment, regional campuses have seen the opposite. OU’s Zanesville and Southern campuses were the only regional campuses to see an increase in enrollment from 2013 to 2014.
“The position as crafted is to work with the Athens colleges and community partners to help facilitate new programs and initiatives across the entire OHIO University system, which includes eight campuses, extension campuses and centers,” OU Spokeswoman Katie Quaranta said in an email.
Golding will also have day-to-day responsibility for OU’s Dublin Campus, Quaranta said.
Golding was OU’s fourth-highest paid employee this academic year, earning a salary of $343,418, according to a previous Post report.
In addition, Senior Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration Deborah Shaffer will take over Golding’s previous position as of Friday. Shaffer will also serve as treasurer of the Board of Trustees and treasurer of the OU Foundation starting July 1, both positions that Golding currently holds.
“(Shaffer) has been here for two years,” OU’s Budget Director Chad Mitchell said. “This was a planned transition. Ultimately, Deb has been playing a key role in a lot of these activities. I think it’s really ultimately a pretty seamless transition. She’s certainly been involved in the budgeting process on a detailed level.”
Shaffer earns $235,651 for the 2015-16 academic year, according to records The Post obtained through a public records request.
McDavis said he decided a reorganization of senior leadership was needed after the university opened two new campuses in Dublin and Cleveland and implemented the Century Bond Initiative. The initiative is a bond, worth $250 million and funded by investors, that will be used to fund deferred maintenance projects until 2114, according to a previous Post report.
Golding had served as OU’s vice president for Finance and Administration since he was named to the role in August 2010, according to a university news release.
— Kaitlin Coward contributed to this report.
@megankhenry
