Richard Siemer, chief of staff for administrative services, said he will miss basketball season the most.
Siemer will leave the University at the end of July to become treasurer and vice president for finance at Ohio University.
The decision to move to Ohio, he said, was motivated primarily by family concerns. Both his parents and his wife's parents live in Ohio, and the change of scenery will bring them closer to home.
"Going back there will allow us to do good things at other universities," Siemer said, "and also be very close to our parents."
Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said Siemer was an obvious choice for the Ohio University opening, explaining that his career at the University has been tremendously successful.
"He's very smart, and he understands how [Duke] works," Trask said, "and I think Ohio [University] figured that out."
Administrators at Siemer's new school are excited about his arrival.
"Dick Siemer brings a wealth of financial and systems experience and expertise to Ohio University," said Robert Glidden, the president of Ohio University. "He comes with the highest of recommendations from all who have worked with him at Duke."
Siemer will become Ohio University's chief fiscal manager and its investment officer when he begins his new job August 4. He will also serve on the institution's Board of Trustees and as the treasurer of the Ohio University Foundation Board of Trustees.
Although he is leaving Duke behind, Siemer stressed that he has enjoyed his time at the University.
"It's like heaven on earth," he said. "People leave because they've got personal reasons like mine, because there is something in their life that they want to do, not because there is some better opportunity somewhere."
As chief of staff, Siemer maintained the University's purchasing division and spearheaded a project aimed at computerizing the daily administrative operations of the University.
The project's focus, Siemer said, is "a more sophisticated way to do business." Computerizing the University's purchasing operations, he explained, will provide staff and faculty members with the capacity to order lab equipment and office supplies through a web interface. The first part of the project, which will assume control of the institution's daily purchases, will be operational this fall.
Eliminating much of the paperwork currently required for rudimentary transactions, the new system will allow direct delivery of purchased goods to the customer's office. Siemer played an instrumental role in establishing the system at the University, but he said he does not currently plan to bring the idea with him to Ohio University.
After receiving Siemer's resignation, Trask adjusted the chief of staff position and renamed it a special assistant to the executive vice president. He said he hopes to fill the vacancy with someone who possesses an advanced degree and knowledge about the inner workings of a university.
"It's a staff job," Trask said. "I want to put some of the operating responsibility out into the operating units and not run them from the Allen Building."
Trask, who hopes to offer someone the position by the fall, said he receives at least 10 applications for it each day.
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