Ohio
Ted Carter tried to get Vlachos a job at Nebraska before taking Ohio State presidency
With Ravi Bellamkonda beside him, John Zeiger comments on Ted Carter
With Ravi Bellamkonda beside him, John Zeiger comments on Ted Carter during the announcement of Bellamkonda being named Ohio State’s new president.
Before Ted Carter leveraged his position to get the woman he later admitted having an “inappropriate relationship” with a job at Ohio State University, he asked at least two University of Nebraska-related organizations to consider hiring her.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported April 28 that Carter tried to get military podcaster Krisanthe Vlachos a job at the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska and the University of Nebraska Foundation in 2023 while he was still president of the University of Nebraska System.
Ohio State released a nearly 50-page report April 21 detailing the investigation into Carter’s downturn. It included new details about Carter’s relationship with Vlachos. That report prompted the University of Nebraska System to conduct its own internal review of Carter’s potential dealings with Vlachos during his time as president there.
Vlachos and Carter appear to have met at a Veterans in Energy forum in Washington, D.C., in March 2023, earlier than initially reported, according to Ohio State’s internal report. Carter was president of the University of Nebraska System at the time and a keynote speaker at the conference.
Vlachos later described the forum to others “as the start of their friendship, the occasion when she asked him to mentor her son who was joining the Navy, and when she asked him to cohost her podcast,” the report read.
It’s not clear from the report how quickly their relationship developed or if the relationship was romantic, though The Dispatch previously reported that it was romantic.
According to public records reviewed by The Journal Star, Vlachos sent Carter a link to her resume at his NU email address a few weeks after the conference concluded in April 2023. Carter forwarded the message two days later to Rick Evans, executive director of National Strategic Research Institute. NSRI is one of 15 university affiliated research centers nationwide designated by the U.S. Department of War.
Evans replied to Carter’s email two days later.
“Looking at her profile, her skills are probably best aligned to the Contracts and Business Operations Coordinator position you approved us to hire,” Evans wrote.
Evans also said an Omaha-based position would soon be posted. Carter replied that he believed Vlachos would be “more than willing to relocate to Omaha.” Vlachos was living in St. Louis at the time.
Later that month, Carter also forwarded Vlachos’ resume to Brian Hastings, president and chief executive officer of University of Nebraska Foundation.
Both organizations told The Journal Star that Vlachos was never recommended or interviewed for either position beyond Carter’s initial referral.
Vlachos was never employed in any capacity at Nebraska, a spokesperson told The Journal Star.
Carter was named Ohio State’s 17th president in August 2023 and officially began his tenure in January 2024. Carter gunned for Vlachos to get a job at Ohio State within months of starting his tenure at the university, according to the Ohio State internal report.
In July 2024, from his personal email account, Carter emailed Senior Vice President for Talent, Culture & Human Resources Katie Hall requesting that Vlachos be considered for “any opportunity that fits her skill set.”
Vlachos applied to five positions related to the Office of Advancement, but the investigation report suggests she didn’t formally interview for any of them. Vlachos was never hired by Ohio State.
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.