Hurley Demotes Top Official

In one of his first decisions as acting president, Rick Hurley demoted a recently audited UMW official.

Khalil Yazdi, the former chief information officer and vice president for Information Technology and Institutional Research since August 2008, was reassigned, according to an e-mail yesterday from Hurley.

“Nina Mikhalevsky has been appointed interim vice-president of information technologies and chief information officer and will serve in that position until further notice,” Hurley said in the e-mail. “Yazdi will report to Mikhalevsky.”

Mikhalevsky is currently a professor of philosophy. She has also been the acting provost and vice president for strategy and policy at UMW.

Yazdi was unavailable for comment.

This reorganization came one week after the Bullet reported that Yazdi had been investigated for not appropriately following Virginia laws when purchasing computer software.

Allegations made against Yazdi through a state employee fraud, waste and abuse hotline were found to be substantial by UMW Director of Internal Audit Tera Kovanes, according to an audit report.

Hurley would not comment on whether the audit played a role in the demotion.

“I made the decision that I thought was in the best interest of the university,” Hurley said. “I thought our information technologies needed a new perspective.”

Yazdi worked under former President Judy Hample at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education before coming to UMW.

He has an annual salary of $185,000. This salary is the third highest at UMW and is larger than salaries for equivalent positions at schools like James Madison University, College of William and Mary and Longwood University.

According to the Free Lance-Star, Yazdi’s salary will not change at this time.

Yazdi’s contract will expire at the end of the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The June 2009 contract signed by Hample states: “This offer should in no way be interpreted as a commitment or implied promise by the University to grant tenure to you as an administrator in the future.”