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The Webster Board of Trustees instead offered Julian Schuster a position on the faculty of the business school. His term expires May 31.

Julie Palmer, president of Webster’s faculty senate, said Schuster will start teaching in the business school in August.

University spokesperson Patrick Giblin said the university cannot comment on personnel matters.

Schuster’s departure from the executive office will mark the second major leadership change at Webster in the past year.

In August, Tim Keane, a former Anheuser-Busch executive and West Coast university leader, took on the role of chancellor after Beth Stroble stepped down.

Schuster has been at Webster since 2010 and was named president in 2019, the same year Stroble, then president, was appointed chancellor.

Together, Schuster and Stroble were among the highest paid university leaders in the region even as enrollment fell to historic lows and the private college lost over $100 million over a decade of deficits.

Schuster made $887,315 in total compensation in 2023, a 14% increase from the $778,133 he earned the year before, Webster’s tax documents show.

Meanwhile, it ended fiscal year 2024 with a $23.4 million deficit, a 40% decrease from the prior year in which it had a $38.9 million deficit, according to a financial audit.

Earlier this week, the university disclosed it paid Stroble $600,000 in severance pay as part of her agreement to retire. Stroble forfeited $631,033 in supplemental retirement benefits in return.

As president, Schuster was involved in the day-to-day operations of the university and championed Webster’s global presence through its international campuses, according to Webster’s website.

Webster’s worldwide enrollment halved from 2013 to 2021 but increased in more recent years. Its worldwide headcount of graduate and undergraduate students reached 15,037 in 2024, an over 11% increase from 2023, according to Webster’s latest audit.