The Penn State trustees on Thursday named the University of Louisville鈥檚 president Neeli Bendapudi to succeed Eric Barron as the school鈥檚 top administrator.
The board vote to hire Bendapudi makes her the to serve as the 98,000-student institution's next president.
Bendapudi is a marketing professor whose research involves consumer behavior. She became Louisville's president three years ago.
Barron, retiring in June, came to Penn State from Florida State University in 2014 while fallout from Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal was still a major problem for campus leaders in State College.
鈥淏eing president of this institution is a sacred trust, and it鈥檚 truly the honor of a lifetime. I am in awe of Penn State鈥檚 鈥榳e are鈥� spirit and of the transformative power of a Penn State education,鈥� she told the board after the vote at a State College hotel and conference center. 鈥淎nd the Penn State community, which is like no other, anywhere.鈥�
She won the job over 10 others who had been winnowed down to get formal interviews, officials said.
鈥淲e have found a values-driven leader who will help realize the very best of this institution,鈥� said trustee David M. Kleppinger, who helped lead the search. He called her dynamic, accessible and a savvy business and financial manager.
Bendapudi said her goal 鈥渋s for every single Penn Stater to feel invested, invested in our mission of teaching, research and service.鈥�
Bendapudi was to lead the school beyond a series of scandals and has received positive reviews for her job performance there. A predecessor at Louisville had been criticized for lucrative compensation and there had been problems with mismanagement as well as excessive spending and flawed investments by the school's investment arm.
Before leading Louisville, she had been provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas and dean of the Kansas business school. Bendapudi has a bachelor's degree and MBA from Andhra University in India and a doctorate from the University of Kansas. She has also taught at Ohio State University and Texas A&M University.
Bendapudi was born in Visakhapatnam, India, and came to the United States in 1986 for graduate school.
She will take office by July with a five-year contract that calls for an initial annual base salary of $950,000. The school will pay her $350,000 in annual deferred compensation, and if she鈥檚 still in the job in five years, she will collect a $1.25 million payment. She also will get $200,000 in 鈥渢ransition payments,鈥� be eligible for business school tenure and have limited hours of access to a university plane for personal use.
Her on the University of Louisville's website says her academic research 鈥渄eals with customers鈥� willingness and ability to maintain long-term relationships with firms and with the brands and employees that represent them.鈥�
Barron had been a former professor and dean at Penn State when he seven years ago.
Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press