Ohio State President Michael V. Drake is set to maintain his current salary for another year as he steps into a post-presidency role following his retirement. The employment agreement calls for Drake to begin a post-presidency role from July 1 through June 30, 2021. Throughout that time, Drake would maintain his current salary of nearly $892,000.

Ohio State University President Michael V. Drake is set to maintain his current salary for another year as he steps into a post-presidency role upon retirement.

The terms of Drake’s next chapter at Ohio State are outlined in an employment-agreement letter from board of trustees Chairman Gary Heminger. The board is set to vote on the contract update at its meeting Thursday.

Drake announced in November that he would retire as president at the end of this school year.

The employment agreement calls for Drake to begin a post-presidency role on July 1, running through June 30, 2021. Throughout that year, Drake would maintain his current salary of nearly $892,000.

In the post-presidency role, Drake would serve at the direction of the university president and board of trustees. Duties would include continuing to work as a national leader and to provide advice on higher education issues, providing strategic advice as requested by the university president, and advocating on higher education policy issues and furthering Ohio State’s land-grant mission, the agreement said.

Drake also received annual research and education fund support of $50,000, plus $100,000 to be used toward "fringe benefits customarily provided to university presidents," the agreement said. He will continue to be eligible for the $50,000, but he will no longer be eligible for the $100,000 fringe benefits after June 30.

After the post-presidency term, Drake will serve as a distinguished university professor and will be paid a monthly salary of nearly $67,000 for up to nine months per year, totaling up to $600,000 per year, the agreement said. That portion of his contract will run through June 30, 2024.

An ophthalmologist by training, Drake will retain tenure as a full professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology and the College of Education and Human Ecology.

Ohio State trustees are also expected to vote Thursday on half a billion dollars in funding to move forward on an interdisciplinary research facility planned for West Campus, and on two outpatient care centers.

Up for board approval is $222.5 million toward the research facility, which would be in the heart of the university’s planned "innovation district" on West Campus.

University leaders have described the area west of Kenny Road and south of Lane Avenue as its next frontier for development, which, over decades, could increase university square footage by a third. The research facility joins an Energy Advancement and Innovation Center and the Wexner Medical Center West Campus outpatient center as the first three major projects for the district.

About $9 million of the $222.5 million up for approval Thursday would go toward design services for the research facility, while more than $213 million would go toward construction. The board previously approved $15 million in design services for the project.

The five-story, 306,000-square-foot space is to include wet labs, computational labs, collaborative spaces and offices. Two floors are to be dedicated to cancer research, including the new Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology.

"This is a very busy, compact, efficient building," Jay Kasey, senior vice president for administration and planning, told the Wexner Medical Center board Wednesday.

Several gifts will also help support the facility, including half of a $10 million donation from the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation, the university announced Wednesday. Separately, about $10 million of a $15 million gift from Joe and Linda Chlapaty in November will help support the new research facility.

The board also is scheduled to vote on spending $15.6 million toward infrastructure work to support West Campus development, including adding vehicular lanes, modified intersection signals, parking lots, internal access roads and extensions of sanitary sewer, stormwater and water service.

Also before the board Thursday for approval is nearly $150 million for the planned outpatient care center in Dublin and more than $130 million for a separate outpatient care center also planned for the West Campus innovation district.

It’s the latest funding approved for the university's string of outpatient care centers throughout the city. One on the Northeast Side near New Albany is under construction, while another has been planned for Powell.

Also up for approval is $18 million toward the planned Wexner Medical Center inpatient hospital tower. Nearly $10 million of that would go toward design services, while the other $8.2 million would cover what Kasey described as "enabling work" at the site near 10th Avenue and Cannon Drive, including subsurface investigation, utility relocation, electrical service to the site, and other site logistics.

The additional funds would put spending on the hospital tower at more than $118 million. Ohio State officials have previously called the project the "largest single facilities project ever undertaken" at the university. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall, with the facility opening in late 2025.

jsmola@dispatch.com

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