By Julia Silverman
The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. - Dr. Edward John Ray, executive vice president and provost at Ohio State University, has been tapped to be the next president of Oregon State.

In moving from one OSU to another, Ray leaves behind a research and football powerhouse for a mid-size school that has raised its academic and athletic profile in recent years, but is facing a tough budget climate amid declining state support.

"I know the culture of a land-grant university, and I believe in its mission passionately," Ray said Thursday. "I know the problems OSU faces, financially and over strategic planning."

Ray will make $295,000 a year, all but $90,000 of which will come from state funding, according to the Oregon University System. That's almost twice the base salary of his predecessor, Paul Risser, who left last January to become chancellor of higher education in his native Oklahoma.

Ray was chosen for the position over Stephen Director, dean of the University of Michigan's College of Engineering, and Yacov Shamash, dean of engineering and computer science at Stony Brook University on Long Island.

Ray's background as an economics professor may help him navigate the waters in a state where much of the news for higher education has been dismal recently: the state's seven four-year public universities have lost state funding and raised tuition as Oregon's budget crisis has deepened. State resources for helping students pay for college have also been depleted.

All three of the finalists were non-Oregonians, a point which outgoing student body president Bridget Burns said worked in Ray's favor.

"I think he brings a fresh perspective," she said. "We are facing very hard times in higher education right now. We are all kind of bogged down in our problems. Someone from the outside can come in and look at it from a creative angle."

At Ohio State, Ray won praise for his work on diversity issues. During his time as provost, Ray helped secure funding for a Latino/Latina studies minor, an Asian American studies minor and a Native American studies minor, as well as a new diversity institute.

He also spearheaded a 9 percent tuition increase at Ohio State this year.