Less than an hour before the Board of Trustees meeting on June 12, chairman of the board Sudershan Garg signed the Presidential Employment Agreement between Youngstown State University and Randy Dunn, officially naming Dunn Youngstown State University’s president for the next three years. Dunn signed the agreement on June 7 and will begin his term on July 15.
Dunn will earn $375,000 per year for three years and is provided with health care, term life and disability insurance.
“I think we kept very, very simple contract terms,” Garg said. “When David Sweet was president, there [were] still a lot of issues and contentions with what was said, what was not said. We tried to make it very, very simple. That one was simple, and this one is more simple.”
Unlike Cynthia Anderson, Dunn will not receive pay increases each year during his term.
“The board was thinking maybe offer him a raise on a yearly basis, but he was happy with the three years, six-figure salary,” Garg said. “When we renew his contract after three years, then we will look at his salary again.”
According to Dunn, the contract was fairly standard for universities across the country.
“The basic form and provisions of the YSU contract are pretty similar to the one I’ve had with Murray State. Most presidential contracts for public institutions around the country don’t look too drastically different from one another, so there weren’t any big surprises for me in the model used here at Youngstown,” Dunn said.
Dunn’s contract also includes residence in the newly remodeled Pollock House, an American-made car and membership at a local country club and one civic club of his choosing.
“Probably one item that does qualify as a perk is membership to a local country club. That’s a pretty neat thing and may provide another venue for Ronda and me to entertain a small group of guests to YSU on occasion,” Dunn said.
According to both Dunn and Garg, there were no issues that arose during the negotiation process.
“Because I come from the academic side of the enterprise, consideration of faculty rank and tenure was highly important to me. But overall, sometimes in these situations you’ll find that the lawyers can get stuck on a point that may not be that big of deal to either the University or the incoming president — but each side is trying to protect its client and get the best deal for its client as they can,” Dunn said. “In the end, it all got done pretty smoothly and routinely, I think.”