Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student Affairs, has accepted a job at Cornell University as the vice president for Student and Campus Life.
Ryan Lombardi is trading his green and white Bobcat apparel for Cornell’s carnelian and white.
Ohio University’s vice president for Student Affairs has accepted the job as vice president for Student and Campus Life at Cornell University, according to a news release.
His last day at OU will be July 3, and his new position at Cornell will begin Aug. 1.
“I am delighted to be joining the Cornell community,” Lombardi said in a news release from Cornell.
Lombardi has been with OU since May 2008 and served as associate vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students. In June 2012 he became the interim vice president for Student Affairs and became the permanent vice president for Student Affairs in January 2013.
The decision to leave Athens was not an easy one, Lombardi said.
“There is so much about this place that we love and will cherish forever,” he said.
Cornell, located in Ithaca, New York, is only about an hour away from his wife’s family. Lombardi said he didn’t choose to leave OU to be closer to family, but having his two children live closer to one set of grandparents was the “icing on the cake.” Though he wasn’t actively looking for jobs, he said he couldn’t pass the opportunity up.
“This position itself is one of the best in the country,” he said.
Lombardi was recruited by a Cornell search committee for the position in earlier this year, he said.
Lombardi said, while he is sad to leave the students of OU, he knows they are in good hands with the staff he will be leaving behind.
“I feel so confident in their ability,” he said.
Besides the students and staff, Lombardi said he has enjoyed working with President Roderick McDavis, who expressed his thanks to Lombardi in a news release.
“I am deeply appreciative of his tireless advocacy on behalf of students, the strong relationships he developed with our city partners and the unique partnerships he spearheaded with our faculty and colleges to enhance the student experience,” McDavis said in a news release from OU. “I know that he will continue to do great things in his position at Cornell.”
A national search to fill Lombardi’s role will follow, but, for the time being, OU will appoint an interim vice president for Student Affairs.
Lombardi said he does not know who will be the interim vice president after he leaves.
Lombardi’s wife, Kara, the associate director for academics in the College of Business, will be leaving the university, as well, according to a news release from OU. She will be seeking a position with Cornell once the family gets settled, Lombardi said.
Before working at OU, Lombardi was an assistant and associate dean of students at Duke University from 2001 to 2008.
Lombardi received a bachelor’s degree in music education from West Chester University in 1997 and a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Kansas in 1999. He recently earned a doctorate degree in higher education administration at North Carolina State University in 2013.
Dear #BobcatFamily: I am leaving @ohiou this summer as I move to a new position at @Cornell.... (1/2)
— Ryan Lombardi (@OHIOVP) May 18, 2015
...I have loved serving you for the past 7 years and thank you from the bottom of my heart for the chance to do so. (2/2)
— Ryan Lombardi (@OHIOVP) May 18, 2015
—Maria DeVito contributed to this report.
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