Sundaram Narayanan, the Wright State provost and ‘second in command’ at WSU, was asked to leave his position as provost and go on paid administrative leave on May 4. Senior advisor to the provost Ryan Fendley and Gwen Mattison, the general counsel for the university, were also asked to do the same.
Robert Sweeney will take on some of the responsibilities of the provost, but not all. Meanwhile, there is little information provided on the nature of the investigation, or why three high-ranking university officials have been asked to leave.
“I don’t think this will effect the reputation of the university at all,” Dan Abrahamowicz, vice president of student affairs, said. “The university has made the appropriate changes to manage things properly during this transition period.”
Narayanan began serving as university provost in March of 2013, before serving as the dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Narayanan was a key worker in directing the WSU Research Institute and “the school’s research funding grew by 67 percent from $9 million in 2009 to $15 million in 2012,” according to his WSU biography.
Two private firms have been hired by Wright State University to help investigate the ongoing situation.
