Chancellor Eric Fingerhut to spend the night at KSU

Ben Wolford

Official to mingle with students

The Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, Eric Fingerhut, will visit campus today and spend the night in Centennial C.

“It’s a learning opportunity for him to kind of dive deeper into Kent State and meet and talk with people and learn more about what we’re up to,” said Charlene Reed, secretary to the Board of Trustees and senior assistant to the president.

Fingerhut plans to arrive at 4 p.m. and meet with the Board of Trustees for an hour-and-a-half.

He’ll spend most of his visit learning about Kent State’s prominent programs – Liquid Crystal Research, the College of Communication and Information, the Research Center for Education Technology and the not-yet-completed public health college.

“We can’t show him everything,” President Lester Lefton said. “He’s only here for 24 hours. But we’ve chosen four things that we think have a big statewide impact.”

Before retiring to a guest apartment in Centennial C – he won’t have a roommate – Fingerhut will be the featured guest at a student pizza party in an Eastway private dining room at 8:30 p.m.

Friday morning, he’ll meet 25 faculty members from a range of departments for breakfast in the Schwebel Room.

“(Fingerhut) has been to Kent State many times, but I think he wanted more of an opportunity to see it from a different perspective,” Reed said. “He’ll be spending a good chunk of time here and engage in a lot of conversation with students, faculty and staff.”

Since the early fall, Fingerhut has been working toward intimately visiting all the schools in the University System of Ohio, a network of the state’s universities and colleges aimed at bettering higher education.

Gov. Ted Strickland appointed Fingerhut to the cabinet-level chancellor position in 2007. He oversees the Board of Regents, which governs Ohio’s public higher education institutions.

Contact administration reporter Ben Wolford at [email protected].