One day after Elsa A. Murano announced her resignation as president of Texas A&M University’s main campus here, the university system’s Board of Regents on Monday appointed R. Bowen Loftin, leader of the system’s Galveston branch campus, as the flagship’s interim president.
In choosing Mr. Loftin, whose title at Galveston is vice president and chief executive officer, the board avoided the fireworks that might have exploded if it had chosen someone who had been involved in the recent power struggle between Ms. Murano, the university’s first female and Hispanic president, and the system’s chancellor, Michael D. McKinney.
Ms. Murano was forced to step down after the chancellor released a scathing evaluation that accused her, among other things, of not being a team player.
The board accepted Ms. Murano’s resignation, which was effective Monday, and appointed her the status of president emerita. A nationally recognized expert in food safety, she will take a year’s leave at her current salary of $425,000 and receive an additional payment of $295,000 by June 18. She will then return to her position as a tenured professor in the nutrition and food-science department of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at a starting annual salary of $260,000. The departing president will also have a departmental budget of $100,000 per year for four years, and her legal fees will be reimbursed up to $25,000.
Officials with the Texas A&M System released the details of the transition agreement, which included a stipulation that she would not sue the university, on Monday afternoon.
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