COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The clouds lifted Friday on Dr. David Williams' mysterious departure as president of the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Williams was introduced as the dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University four days after he abruptly resigned as president of UAH. Williams gave no explanation for stepping down in his original statement, saying only that he and his wife, Margie, were leaving town.

Evidently, the road out of town is northbound on Interstate 65.

Joe Ritch, who is among Williams' closest friends in Huntsville, said he first got word of Williams' new job late Thursday.

"I think it verifies we had an outstanding president in Dr. Williams," said Ritch, a Huntsville attorney and a University of Alabama System trustee. "We wish him the best of luck up there, and we'll miss him."

Malcolm Portera, the chancellor of the UA System who will be the interim president at UAH after Williams leaves, wished Williams well in his new endeavor. Williams will remain at UAH through April 1.

"I want to congratulate Dave Williams on his new position at Ohio State University," Portera said in a statement. "We wish the very best for him and Margie, and we appreciate his service to our system and the state of Alabama."

Williams will be taking a slight pay cut at Ohio State, based on the salary information provided by the school. Williams will make $395,000 annually at the school based in Columbus, down 4.4 percent from his $413,140 salary at UAH.

But it's possible that Williams could receive other perks as part of his compensation package beyond his salary. UAH provided Williams a free home.

At Ohio State, he will oversee one of the nation's premiere engineering schools. More than 6,000 students take classes at the College of Engineering, which received $128 million in external funding during the 2009 fiscal year, according to the OSU press release.

In comparison, Ohio State has almost as many engineering students as UAH has on campus altogether, about 7,700. Also, Ohio State's 280 full-time faculty in the College of Engineering isn't far behind the 329 faculty members total at UAH.

The College of Engineering at Ohio State is rated 29th nationally out of 198 engineering schools in U.S. News & World Report rankings. Among the 280 full-time faculty, 12 are members of the National Academy of Engineering.

"We are very fortunate to have attracted David Williams to Ohio State," said President E. Gordon Gee. "He has a superb track record as a scholar and an academic leader, and he has created substantial partnerships to spur innovation and the commercialization of faculty discoveries."