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INDIANA, Pa. (AP) — Indiana University of Pennsylvania has reassigned one of its deans after a newspaper questioned more than $35,000 in spending linked to him.
The state-owned university is moving Mark Correia from dean of the College of Health and Human Services to "special assistant to the provost for curriculum development," the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported. The transition occurs Feb. 19.
The move comes two months after the newspaper questioned a $32,000 consulting contract for Correia's wife and more than $3,400 Correia spent traveling with a female instructor to Washington state in April.
Correia, 48, wasn't listed in the university's online directory Friday, and a call to a cellphone listed in the couple's name wasn't immediately returned.
The school responded to inquiries by The Associated Press on Friday by issuing a statement from university President Michael Driscoll confirming the move and including a comment relayed on Correia's behalf.
Correia "has indicated that it has been his privilege and honor to serve as dean and that he looks forward to continuing his involvement with programmatic development," the statement said. School spokeswoman Michelle Fryling wouldn't say whether Correia will make more or less than his $170,461 dean's salary in the new position.
According to the newspaper, Correia arranged for a $32,743 consulting contract for his wife, Victoria Lynn Travis, and spent $3,400 traveling with a female professor to the Specialty Coffee Association of America Conference in Seattle and his nearby alma mater, Washington State University. When that was reported in December, Fryling said the money spent on the trip was "funding for the potential development of specialty programs in hospitality and culinary studies."
A 2014 audit questioned Correia's spending at San Jose State University a year after he left the California school for IUP.
That audit by the California State University system criticized spending while Correia chaired the San Jose State's Justice Studies department.
Among other things, the audit found he spent money from off-campus college bank accounts — which are illegal in that state — to pay for electronics, massages, flowers, donations to Greenpeace and his parking tickets. The audit also found he had a "conflict of interest" by hiring Travis — then his live-in girlfriend — as a vendor.
The audit found $67,000 worth of expenditures with "no clear benefit" to the school's programs and an additional $7,131 — which Correia reimbursed — in improper personal spending.
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