Glenn College Adjunct Professor William Shkurti received the university’s Distinguished Service Award at the Summer Commencement ceremony. Shkurti, BA ’68, MPA ’74, retired from the university as senior vice president for business and finance after 22 years, working closely with five presidents and provosts. His tenure was set during a period of extraordinary growth for the university despite frequent, almost constant financial difficulties, including declining state support, increased regulation, a new budget model and a change in undergraduate admissions.
Shkurti is recognized for his commitment to the highest values of the university, including full transparency, inclusion of faculty, staff and student governance, and as a “guardian of virtue and decency.” As one award nominator wrote: “His ability to solve complex fiscal problems came to seem almost magical.”
Shkurti has also served on a number of non-profit boards, including the James Cancer Hospital, Shawnee State University, Ohio Student Loan Commission, Transportation Research Center and the Upper Arlington Library. He is also a loyal donor with 40 years of giving.
The Distinguished Service Award was established by the Board of Trustees in 1952 to recognize individuals who have rendered exceptional service to the university. Awards are not made on the basis of long, faithful or loyal service alone, but rather for service that is truly distinguished. Recipients of this award have provided a broad spectrum of services to the university in both official and unofficial capacities.
More about Shkurti
Bill Shkurti retired in 2010 after 20 years as OSU’s Vice President for Business and Finance. He also served as Director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management and chief of staff to the chair if the Ohio Senate Finance Committee. Bill has also served on a number of non-profit boards, including the James Cancer Hospital, Shawnee State University, Ohio Student Loan Commission, Transportation Research Center and the Upper Arlington Library.
He is an OSU graduate with a degree with Distinction in Economics in 1968 and a Masters Degree in Public Administration in 1974. He received the John Glenn College Outstanding Public Service Award in 2005. His teaching and research interests include public budgeting and financial management. He has written journal articles on revenue forecasting, the economic impact of Honda in Ohio and role of health care in Ohio’s economy. He has also published two statistical profiles of the State of Ohio (Benchmark Ohio 1989 and 1991) and a book on the challenges of the drawdown from Vietnam War, Soldiering on in a Dying War, published by the University Press of Kansas in 2011.