Interim president to get $120,000
McCray mostly being tasked with stabilizing Wright State’s finances.
Wright State University will pay its interim president $119,892 over the next 106 days to make crucial budget decisions, including eliminating a projected $30 million deficit.
Curtis McCray will be compensated $1,131 a day, according to his contract agreement with the university obtained Tuesday by the Dayton Daily News.
McCray began his less-than-four-month stint at Wright State on Monday after president David Hopkins abruptly announced his resignation on Friday. McCray has so far declined requests for an interview and to answer questions about potential cuts that will made at the university.
McCray’s duties as interim president mostly pertain to stabilizing the university’s finances, according to his contract. The agreement calls on McCray to eliminate a budget deficit of $30 mil- lion and increase the university’s unrestricted reserves to a $5 million surplus.
McCray’s contract says he must eliminate the deficit while maintaining the college’s “core athletic programs at a NCAA Division I standing.” The contract did not specify what is considered a
“core” program.
A school spokesman said “core” programs include “those involving the greater number of students and those that are at the center of student interest.”
The contract also requires McCray to modify or eliminate “redundant positions or personnel within the university.” Layoffs are expected to be announced next month, officials have said.
McCray is expected to communicate and coordinate with incoming WSU president Cheryl Schrader on the financial steps he takes, according to the contract. Schrader takes office on July 1.
Wright State officials have been looking for solutions as its unrestricted reserve fund has dropped from more than $100 million in 2012 to $12.9 million as of June 30. Overspending, officials said, is the cause of WSU’s financial problems as the university is on track to spend $40 million more than it brought in this year, according to a cash projection.
Along with his salary, McCray will also be reimbursed for any university-related travel and is eligible for vacation and sick leave, according to his contract. McCray will not receive any payout for unused vacation or sick time when he leaves office at the end of June.
McCray can also make use of the university’s health insurance program if he chooses to, according to the contract.
McCray gained experience with budget issues during his time as president at California State University Long Beach in the early 1990s.
While there he helped oversee more than $33 million in budget cuts, laid off hundreds of part-time faculty, ended some academic programs and eliminated the university’s football team, according to the Los Angeles Times.
McCray has served as a university president, at one institution or another, since the early 1980s until his retirement in 2005.
McCray began his presidential career at the University of North Florida in 1982. He became president of California State University Long Beach in 1988, president of Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, in 1993 and president of National Louis University in Chicago in 1998.