New dean announced for KSU Columbiana campuses

Staff report

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Kent State University Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Todd Diacon has announced that Stephen Nameth has been named dean and chief administrative officer of the Kent State University Columbiana County campuses.

Nameth serves as the director of The Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster. He will lead Kent State University at East Liverpool and Kent State University at Salem, two of the regional campuses in the university’s eight-campus system. He begins his position at Kent on Aug. 1.

“Stephen Nameth is an accomplished administrator who cares deeply about educational access and attainment,” Diacon said. “Having grown up adjacent to Columbiana County, he understands well the region’s challenges and the role higher education can play in building a bright future. We are fortunate that he accepted our position.”

Nameth has been director of The Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute since 2004. In this role, he is responsible for a 50-acre central campus, 1,700-acre laboratory farm and a 200-acre golf course/horticultural and environmental sciences laboratory. He leads 100 faculty and staff members and has a student body of 700 members.

Previously, Nameth served as professor and associate chairman of the Department of Plant Pathology at OSU. Nameth has received teaching and advising awards and has been published several times in such journals as Plant Health Progress, Plant Disease and HortScience.

He also has authored or co-authored more than 150 bulletins and technical reports on plant diseases and growing practices for publications including Greenhouse Grower magazine, the Ohio Florist Association, the Ohio Floriculture website and Plant Diagnosticians Quarterly. Nameth earned an associate degree in natural science from Cerritos Community College, a bachelor’s degree in crop and soil science and a master’s degree in biology both from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a doctorate in plant pathology from the University of California, Riverside.

Nameth replaces Wanda Thomas, who has served as interim dean of the university’s Columbiana County campuses since October 2011 in addition to her position as Kent State’s Regional College dean and associate provost for Kent State system integration.

For information about Kent State University at East Liverpool and Kent State University at Salem, visit www.col.kent.edu.