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Fashion designer Nanette Lepore to receive honorary degree
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Lepore
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
City native and fashion designer Nanette Lepore will receive an honorary degree at Youngstown State University’s spring undergraduate commencement.
YSU trustees passed a resolution Wednesday authorizing conferral of an honorary degree to Lepore who was born in Youngstown.
After completing undergraduate work at YSU, Lepore earned her degree in design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. With a $5,000 loan from her father, she started her own label.
Her designs are worn by celebrities and her brand boasts women’s apparel, swimwear, handbags, shoes and fragrance.
There are Nanette Lepore boutiques in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
The board also passed resolutions honoring outgoing Trustee Millicent S. Counts, Ryan A. Meditz, student trustee, and C. Reid Schmutz, who retired as president of the YSU Foundation.
Counts was appointed trustee in 2003 by then-Gov. Bob Taft. She had been executive director of the United Methodist Community Center.
Meditz was appointed in 2010 by then-Gov. Ted Strickland.
Counts pointed to Youngstown Early College as something she enjoyed watching grow and develop during her term.
“Youngstown Early College is a success story as evidenced by the increasing number of students who receive their associate degree and high school diploma simultaneously,” she said.
Dr. Sudershan Garg, board chairman, said Counts’ foremost concern as a trustee was always what was in the best interests of YSU.
Schmutz, selected YSU Foundation president in 1989, increased the foundation’s assets from $50 million at the time of his appointment to $180 million when he retired, according to the resolution.
Trustees also approved establishment of a Natural Gas and Water Institute within the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The institute aims to educate students interested in working in the oil and gas industries and for the development of new technologies associated with clean production and use of gas resources, specifically in the Utica Shale industry.
“It’s a need of the times and we’re very optimistic about it,” Garg said of the institute.
Trustees also approved a master of arts in interdisciplinary communication. The new degree, proposed by the communication, English and marketing departments, must be approved by the Ohio Board of Regents. The program would be housed in the communications department in the College of Fine and Performing Arts but administered jointly by all three departments.