Two days after the man who brought her to the University of Illinois was officially out of the president’s office, the University announced that Lisa Troyer resigned from her tenured faculty position in the psychology department.

The former chief of staff for former president Michael Hogan will receive $175,000 severance pay “in consideration” for her departure, which will be effective Aug. 15. The University will continue paying her $109,000 annual salary until that time.

Troyer resigned from her position as the chief of staff for Hogan on Jan. 3, leaving a $200,850-paying job after she was implicated in anonymous emails sent to the University Senate’s Conference over Hogan’s controversial enrollment management proposals. On Jan. 13, the University released a 202-page report that involved an investigation of her University-owned computer and Internet browsing history, as well as voluntarily furnished phone records. The report concluded that it was “reasonable to infer that Troyer composed and sent the (anonymous emails), using her laptop and falsely representing herself to be a University Senator.”

There was no disciplinary process initiated when that ethics investigation pointed to Troyer as the likely author, nor will there ever be, according to the press release issued by the University. The first condition of the 15-part agreement between Troyer and the University is a “nonadmission of wrongdoing,” saying that Troyer’s resignation and the University’s payout does not indicate questionable activity by either side. Troyer has maintained that the emails were not composed or sent by her.

“I have always stated that I never sent any anonymous emails, and the Investigation Report never concluded that I did,” she said in the press release included in the agreement.

Also stipulated in the agreement is Troyer dropping wage claims made to the Illinois Department of Labor, payment she sought during the transition period between her and Hogan’s resignations. This activity included going through emails that had been requested under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and creating a “detailed transition plan” for the president’s office.

Troyer signed the agreement on June 19, about two weeks before University President-designate Robert Easter officially took office. Troyer’s resignation in January, which ended the job she had served in since Hogan brought her over from the University of Connecticut, was the start of a cascade of faculty criticism of Hogan’s leadership, which culminated in his resignation in March.

“The pattern of behavior documented in the investigative report falls far short of this ideal of ethical leadership,” wrote the U-C Faculty Senate in a resolution issued Jan. 30 that was critical of Hogan’s role in hiring and managing Troyer.

Campus officials had been preparing to review Troyer’s actions in a “rigorous hearing,” said interim provost Richard Wheeler as far back as February, when Troyer accepted a $109,000 appointment in Psychology.

Nicholas Burbules, a Senate Executive Committee member, said he is very happy with the result.

“I think this is the best outcome for both parties,” he said. “I don’t think there was a great appetite for spending another year investigating her activities.”

Both sides have agreed that they intend to make no more press releases concerning the issue. Troyer has also agreed to “refrain from making defamatory statements” about the reports that indicate her as the author, and University officials are similarly advised to not make defamatory statements about Troyer.

Whatever the future holds for Troyer, who earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University before teaching 12 years at the University of Iowa prior to joining Hogan’s staff, it’s unlikely to involve references at the University of Illinois other than her former boss, who retains a tenured faculty position in the history department.

“(Troyer) shall direct her prospective employers … seeking a reference … only to Michael Hogan, and the University shall make good faith efforts to direct all requests for references to Michael Hogan,” reads the agreement.

This agreement is pending board of trustee approval, who must sign off on Troyer’s resignation and the $175,000 severance package by Aug. 1.