President Roderick J. McDavis made the change to reflect Decatur's increased responsibilities. In addition to the units already under the Division of Finance and Administration, Decatur will oversee shared services and strategic procurement and will have greater involvement with budget unit managers, who will have a "dotted line" reporting relationship to his unit. This past year, responsibility for the finance arm of Athletics moved to Decatur's unit. He also will serve as the university's point person on community relations, interacting with local government, the chamber of commerce and other community partners.

McDavis believes the consolidation of more functions under Finance and Administration will stimulate savings and efficiencies.

"My hope is to bring even more focus to the financial health of the institution and find better ways to increase our investment in academic programs," McDavis said.

Since Decatur became vice president for finance and administration in early 2006, the university's overall financial picture has improved measurably, according to McDavis. He credits Decatur with delivering a balanced budget, improving financial controls, creating a 10-year capital plan and launching new initiatives -- such as shared services and strategic procurement -- that have the potential to yield additional financial benefits in future years.

"All his efforts will help us direct more resources to the academic enterprise," McDavis said.

Decatur's duties also include serving as chief financial officer and treasurer for The Ohio University Foundation and treasurer of Ohio University.

"We have a visionary and aggressive five-year implementation plan for Vision OHIO at a time of significant external financial challenges," Decatur said. "In order to fund our academic priorities, it's going to be incumbent on us to reduce our costs while at the same time improving our services. This puts me on point for that."

-- Sally Linder