An ongoing investigation of a several ISU grants has uncovered the mishandling of more than $140,000 in unauthorized disbursements of university grant money.

Jerry Willis, former professor of curriculum and instruction and former director of the Center for Technology in Learning and Technology, was responsible for managing two grants and one contract that officials say were mishandled.

University and state officials say they rarely see mishandling of such magnitude as was discovered.

Willis, who has not been charged by the university, did not return phone calls Monday. Paul Tanaka, university counsel, was also unavailable for comment.

Kathy Dobbs, associate controller for the university, said the investigation began when the purchasing department noticed an unusual transaction on Willis’ purchasing card. The transaction was referred to the Internal Audit Department, which noted further concerns. She said the Iowa Department of State and the state auditor’s office were both notified shortly after.

“In some cases, expenses were charged to the grants that should not have been,” she said. “There was definitely mismanagement.”

Willis was employed at Iowa State from August 1997 until July 2003 when he left for a position at Louisiana State University.

According to the auditor’s report released Monday, Willis left amid the concerns about the mismanagement of the grants. Dobbs, however, said her understanding was that Willis left because he had a new position, not because of the concerns.

State Auditor David Vaudt said the investigation was limited to the grants Willis handled and did not look into the whole department.

The grants and contract under investigation were the Bilkent University (Turkey) Student Teacher Internship Program grant, the Reform and Renewal in Teacher Education: Developing Collaboration between Iowa State University and Gogol State Pedagogical University (Ukraine) grant and the Teachers Technology: Catalyst Project contract.

The mishandled money was not in compliance with the terms of the grants or university policies and included “transportation, lodging and meal costs incurred by Willis and his wife while traveling domestically and internationally to locations not included in the grant agreements,” according to the auditor’s report. The disbursements also included conference fees and costs for events attended by exchange participants from Ukraine and Turkey, which were not in compliance with grant specifications, according to the report.

“The major problem was there was no documentation; it was not in compliance with the specifications of the grant agreements,” Vaudt said.

The report noted Nina Semko, Willis’ wife, was involved with the three projects in differing capacities. Vaudt said this was included in the report primarily because of a university policy on nepotism that prohibits “anyone in a supervisory position from employing a person to whom he or she is related by blood or marriage.” Semko’s position in the projects could not be determined. Vaudt said he thinks a majority of the money was mishandled instead of being pocketed by Willis. He said it is difficult to know for sure; however, because of the lack of documentation.

Vaudt said one particular concern was in the Ukraine account, where travel was allowed to Ukraine; however, he said, Willis charged travel expenses to London, Istanbul and domestic airfare to the account. He said the university and the U.S. Department of State will determine whether costs like some of these should have been included as part of the grant.

“Right now, Iowa State is currently working with the federal department to see if they can get some of these things reclassified,” Vaudt said. “Some of the particular expenditures would have related to the program’s purpose, so what they are going to try to do is to allow those to be allowed in the grant costs.”

The university is responsible for repaying the mishandled money, Vaudt said.

A report has been passed on to the Iowa attorney general’s office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation for them to look into whether criminal charges will be filed against Willis, Vaudt said.

Niki Davis, director for the Center for Technology and Learning in Teaching, said Willis worked at the University of Houston before Iowa State. She said she was not aware of any problems he had with grant management.

“He is a good colleague; he is extremely well respected in our field,” Davis said.

Dobbs said the university has had few problems with fraud in the past, and this case is extreme in terms of the amount of money Willis is accused of mishandling.

“I have been here for 17 or 18 years, and I have seen very little fraud, and never this much mismanagement of the grants that occurred,” she said.

“I think this whole audit, really it came about because our audit system did work, it brought our irregularities to life,” she said. “We were very proactive. Our internal audit worked.”