WSU provost to return as professor — at $245,000 per year

Steven Hoch will not return to Washington State University as provost — but he will return to Pullman as perhaps one of the nation's best-paid history professors.

Hoch has been at the center of mystery and controversy for two weeks at WSU's Pullman campus. On Sept. 23, after just seven weeks as provost, he sent his staff a 3 a.m. e-mail announcing he was taking an open-ended leave. He returned to Lexington, Ky., on full pay.

Sources have told The Seattle Times his departure came after tensions about his role at WSU boiled over into a major argument at a staff meeting, followed by a physical altercation in a hallway.

In a news release Friday, WSU President Elson Floyd said that "after discussions with deans, members of the senior faculty, vice presidents and others," he had "decided that it is not in the best interest of WSU that Dr. Hoch returns as provost."

But Hoch — who became a tenured faculty member as part of his employment agreement — will return as a professor of Russian and European history. His annual pay will be about $245,000, said university spokesman Tim Pavish. That is based on a faculty formula that awards classroom professors 9/11ths of the pay they received in an administrative role.

Hoch, whose provost pay was $300,000 a year, will officially step down from that role Oct. 31.

Speaking out about the matter for the first time Friday from his home in Lexington, Hoch said he wanted to make it clear that "I was the guy who was shoved" during the scuffle with Greg Royer, the university's vice president for business and finance.

"There will be a point in time when all the issues are resolved, and when I will try to get out my side of the story," Hoch said. He declined further comment on the incidents leading up to his departure.

A woman who answered at Royer's home Friday night said Royer was eating his dinner and unavailable for comment. A WSU spokesman said there has been no change in Royer's status at the university.

Hoch, who previously served as the dean of arts and sciences at the University of Kentucky, said that since returning to Lexington, he has been working on a book about the emancipation of serfs in late-19th-century Russia. He plans to be back in Pullman in time for the start of the second semester.

"I look forward to teaching again. I haven't taught in nine years, but I've always loved teaching," he said.

He didn't believe returning to Pullman would be awkward, he said, because people there hadn't gotten a chance to know him yet.

A state payroll database indicates WSU history professors are typically paid an annual salary of between $60,000 and $120,000, depending upon their experience, seniority and level of administrative responsibility.

Meanwhile, Warwick Bayly, the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, has agreed to serve as provost for "at least two years," according to WSU. Bayly, who has taken on Hoch's duties since his departure, also will continue as veterinary dean. He will be paid $300,000 annually.

"I very much appreciate Dr. Bayly's willingness to take on the responsibilities as provost at this time," Floyd said in the release. "He knows the university well, and I am very confident that he will oversee a seamless transition and provide stability and strength in his new post as the academic leader at WSU."

WSU, which spent $147,000 in its search for a new provost before Hoch was hired, has yet to offer any explanation for the recent events.

Sources have told The Times that escalating tensions revolved around Hoch's belief that the university's vice presidents and senior leaders should have been answerable to him, the No. 2 man in the organization. But some of those senior leaders viewed themselves as his equal and felt they were answerable only to President Floyd.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com