LSSU names presidential finalists

LSSU NEWS RELEASE

**************************** Finalists for LSSU presidency coming to campus

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI - (July 20) - Three finalists for the presidency of Lake Superior State University will be on campus for three-day visits between July 25 and August 10.

Focused meetings with University administrators, faculty, staff, alumni, students, and Sault civic leaders will take up most of the itinerary.

However, one afternoon meeting is being set aside to offer the community a chance to meet each candidate and offer feedback in the selection process.

The campus visits represent the home stretch of a presidential search process that started on May 15 with a field of 52 applicants.

LSSU's presidential search committee hopes to forward its assessment to the board of trustees by mid-August for a final decision.

One member of the search committee, Tony Bosbous, the mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, has found the selection process both rigorous and informative.

"I am especially pleased to represent the community in this search for LSSU's next president," said Bosbous.

"I encourage everyone from both Saults to attend the public sessions so we can get their impressions of these finalists," he said.

Besides having one member of the community, the search committee is composed of university trustees Chuck Schmidt, W.W. LaJoie, and Gary Toffolo; faculty representatives Roger Land and Barbara Keller; Dan Dorrity, dean of the school of arts and letters; administrative staff Kaye Batho and Beverly White; Vice President for Student Life Kenneth Peress; a representative of LSSU's support personnel union, Local President Jeff Harris; alumni representative Gary Kay; and Student Government President Eric Ciarkowski.

Finalist Thomas Krepel's public meeting is on Thursday, July 26, between 5 p.m. and 6:15 pm in the Cisler Center's Superior Room.

Krepel is presently assistant to the president at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, a position he has held since August of 2005.

Prior to that, he worked at Chadron State College, Nebraska's smallest public university.

Between August 1997 and November 1998, Krepel was a professor of education, a senior vice president for academic affairs, and interim university president.

He served as Chadron State's president between November 1998 and August 2005 before leaving to accept his present position at Northern Illinois University.

Krepel holds a bachelor of science in education, a masters in education, and a doctor of philosophy in administration, curriculum, and instruction with minors in public policy analysis and program evaluation.

Krepel's degrees were conferred through the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

Second finalist Sharon Hoffman meets the public on Tuesday, July 31, between 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. in the Cisler Center's Superior Room.

Since 2002, Hoffman has been provost and vice president for academic affairs at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, just south of Atlanta.

Between 1999 and 2002 she served as senior vice president for academic affairs at Spalding University, a private school in Louisville, Kentucky.

She was Spalding's interim president in November 2002.

Prior to her tenure in Kentucky, Hoffman was dean of and a professor in the school of nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee between 1994 and 1999.

Hoffman holds a doctorate in higher education, with an emphasis on cognitive psychology from the University of Minnesota; a MBA in marketing from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business; a masters in education from the University of Minnesota; and a bachelor's in education from California State University in Los Angeles.

The public meets the third and final LSSU presidential candidate, Rodney Lowman, on Thursday, August 9, between 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. in the Cisler Center's Superior Room.

Since March 2004, Lowman has been provost and vice president for academic affairs at Alliant International University in San Diego, a 6,500-student private school with branch campuses California and Mexico City, and program offerings in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.

He was interim university president between March and June of 2004.

From 1999 to 2004, Lowman was founding dean of the university's School of Organizational Studies, with programs offering advanced degrees in psychology, clinical psychology, consulting psychology and organizational behavior.

He also oversaw Alliant's Organizational Consulting Center, a university-based consulting firm.

Lowman is a trained clinical psychologist.

His professional experience includes department head and professor of psychology and behavioral sciences at Louisiana Technological University.

Between 1989 and 1996, he was founder and CEO of a company that offered organizational counseling, career assessment, and mental health consulting services in Houston, Texas.

Lowman holds a doctorate in industrial, organizational, and clinical psychology as well a masters in psychology, both from Michigan State University.

He earned a bachelor of arts with high honors, along with a bachelors of science in business, from the University of Oklahoma.

Lowman also did a clinical psychology internship at the University of Texas Medical School.

To recap, Thomas Krepel meets with the public on Thursday, July 25; Sharon Hoffman on Tuesday, July 31; and Rodney Lowman on Thursday, August 9.

Meetings begin at 5 p.m. and run through 6:15 p.m. in the Cisler Center's Superior Room. For more information on LSSU's presidential search process, log onto here ****************************