The transition has begun for Eastern Washington University’s new president.
The university’s trustees on Thursday approved a new contract with the incoming president, Shari McMahan.
“We have a five-year contract and that was really important to us for the stability of the organization, so we’re very pleased to have accomplished that. The pay is comparable to regional universities and so we’re very pleased with that too," said EWU Board of Trustees President Kim Pearman-Gillman, who negotiated the contract.
That pay level is $400,000 a year plus benefits, according to university documents.
McMahan will begin her duties as Eastern’s president on June 24, earlier than planned. Pearman-Gillman says Interim President David May was scheduled to remain in that position until August 4. She has been tasked with negotiating a transition plan with May. He had said during a public forum during the presidential search that he planned to remain as a faculty member if he was not offered the president’s job on a permanent basis.
McMahan is a southern California native who has worked as a faculty member and administrator at several universities in the California system. She will also be granted tenure and title as full professor in Eastern’s Department of Public Health and Health Services Administration.
Pearman-Gillman says McMahan will live in the university president’s house in Cheney at the request of the trustees. She will also work occasionally at Eastern’s downtown campus in Spokane.
