After nearly a year without an assistant, Ohio University President Roderick McDavis has a new top aide.
Rebecca Watts, who now serves as deputy to President Randy Dunn of Murray State University in Kentucky, will start as McDavis' chief of staff and special assistant Aug. 11. She will earn $120,000 this year.
Watts essentially will manage the president's office, including the staff, the communication from the office and its day-to-day operations. She will serve as a liaison between the president's office, the executive staff, the deans and directors.
Under former assistant Alan Geiger, who stepped down June 30 of last year, duties were split between managing the president's operations and serving as secretary to the board of trustees.
After Geiger's departure, McDavis, in consultation with the board of trustees, divided the roles and Tom Davis became interim secretary to the board. The board made Davis the permanent secretary last month.
It just made sense that this evolved into two separate people
McDavis said. It's the difference between having a half-time focus on all of these duties and responsibilities to having a full-time focus on managing the operations of the president.
McDavis said the need for an assistant devoted to managing the day-to-day operations of the president has grown since he ceded some responsibility to then-Provost Kathy Krendl last May to focus on fundraising.
Watts said she understands the importance of a president in courting donors and knows how to keep an office running.
Keeping functions moving and activity going forward even if (the president) may not be on campus is something I've done here Watts said. Things still need to move forward.
Watts holds a master's degree in communication from the University of Illinois at Springfield and a bachelor's degree in communication from Sangamon State University, also in Springfield.
Before joining Murray State in 2004 as Dunn's top assistant, Watts was his public information officer when he was superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education. After his chief of staff went to law school, Dunn asked Watts to take the position on the state board. When Dunn became president of Murray State University three years later, he brought Watts with him as his deputy.
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