3 YSU profs finalists for dean’s position

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A professor of music, communication or mathematics and statistics will be the dean of the new Youngstown State University Honors College.

The three finalists for the position are Stephen Gage, music professor and director of bands and orchestra in the Dana School of Music; Adam Earnheardt, chairman of the communication department; and Thomas Wakefield, associate professor of mathematics and statistics.

When the position was created, university officials said the plan was to fill the post internally.

The public forum for Gage will be at noon Thursday in the President’s Suite in Kilcawley Center. Earnheardt’s will be at noon April 20 in the board of trustees meeting room in Tod Hall, and for Wakefield, the forum is set for 11 a.m. April 21 in the trustees meeting room.

The honors college dean position was created last month by university trustees.

According to the job description, the dean will lead the transition of YSU’s honors program to an honors college. The new dean will be responsible for developing a strategic plan that is aligned with the goals of YSU 2020 and positions the Honors College “as an integral component of YSU’s academic excellence.”

The dean also will be charged with expanding the college’s enrollment and programming, leading the development of the honor curricular and co-curricular offerings, providing leadership in development of an academic unit and managing everyday duties of the college.

When a committee of the university’s board of trustees approved the formation of an honors college last December, members of the administration said the plan came after YSU’s deans completed a review, comparing the university’s honors program with programs at other Ohio institutions.

The move doesn’t eliminate the Leslie Cochran University Scholars program, which provides full-ride tuition and room-and-board scholarships, but instead spreads scholarship dollars to more people, according to university officials.

Since that program’s creation, 40 students per year have earned those scholarships.