Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Incoming Wright State University president Susan Edwards is receiving the same pay as the school’s outgoing president, records obtained by the Dayton Daily News show.
Edwards assumed the operational duties of the university’s president earlier this month upon the announcement that Cheryl Schrader would step down from the job Dec. 31. Until then, Schrader will serve in a ceremonial capacity and will preside over commencement in December, according to the unviersity.
Edwards will officially become president Jan. 1.
Schrader earned a base pay of $425,000 per year, according to her contract. Edwards began earning a base pay of $425,000 prorated to begin Oct. 16, according to an addendum to her provost contract. As provost, the school’s top academic officer, Edwards earned a base salary of $305,000 per year. Edwards’ pay increase of $120,000 means she received a more than 28-percent pay raise to take over the additional duties.
Edwards will also be “reimbursed for all reasonable expenses incurred by her related to carrying out the operation duties of a university president,” according to the contract addendum. The contract did not specify what those expenses could include.
Edwards will become Wright State’s eighth president and the second woman to lead the university.
She is a biology professor and started at WSU as the university’s provost in July 2018. Edwards served as vice president for faculty affairs at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina prior to coming to WSU.
Edwards previously worked at Georgia Southern University and James Cook University in Australia. She left Australia in 2007 to come to the U.S.
