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KSU Trumbull dean attends Trumbull Opiate Task Force meeting, pledges campus engagement
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The dean of Kent State University at Trumbull attended a recent meeting of the ASAP Opiate Task Force, saying it’s important for him to “engage in issues important to the community.”
“I am told that the greatest deterrent to job placement is finding employees who can pass a drug test,” Dean Lance Grahn said after the meeting last week at the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board offices.
The Opiate Task Force consists of dozens of area drug-abuse prevention counselors, law-enforcement officers and volunteers who have organized events and devised strategies in the past few years to address Trumbull County’s growing drug-abuse problem.
Grahn, who has been dean and chief administrative officer for the Champion campus for six months, said he has received valuable input regarding business needs from people he’s met through the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Grahn said the Trumbull County statistics on drug-overdose deaths over the past year and other reporting on the problem make it clear that the problem is serious.
“As a Trumbull County institution, Kent State Trumbull should be a part of the solution,” Grahn said, adding that he expects to attend future ASAP meetings.
“I want us to continue to more effectively align our strengths and assets with community needs and serving the community,” he said, noting that the campus has students studying for degrees in criminal justice and nursing, among many others.
He believes there are opportunities for such programs to become more involved in community efforts such as the ASAP Coalition. “I want to see us re-energize our commitment to our community,” he said.
The campus provides more than 20 associate or bachelor’s degree programs and coursework toward the more than 280 academic programs offered by Kent State. It has 3,000 students and 108 full- and part-time faculty members.
Before Kent State, Grahn served six years at the University of Central Arkansas as history professor, provost and vice president for academic affairs. He also worked at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he was dean of the College of Letters and Science; and Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he was chairman of the Department of History. He has worked more than 30 years in higher education.