The NEO Excellence Roundtable is very pleased to host Kent State University President, Dr. Carol A. Cartwright, as our guest discussion leader at the December 13th, 2005 Roundtable at the City Club of Cleveland. The discussions will center around the role of education in the future of our region, leveraging Dr. Cartwright's unique experience leading one of the nation's largest university systems, among her many career achievements.

The importance of Kent State University cannot be underestimated. From personal experience working with the Kent State University Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, I can say the university plays a regional role that goes far beyond annually serving over 35,000 students.

Please join us for this Roundtable. We will begin gathering for buffet lunch at the City Club at 11:30 AM, Tuesday, December 13, and the discussion will begin at noon. There is a $13 direct cost for the meal.

 More about President Carol A. Cartwright, from the Kent State University Website

In a career distinguished by innovative teaching, pioneering research and national leadership, Dr. Carol A. Cartwright has earned a place among the most highly respected voices in higher education.

She became Kent State University's 10th president -- and the first woman president of a state university in Ohio -- in March 1991. Previously, she was vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of California at Davis and dean for undergraduate programs and vice provost at The Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Cartwright oversees one of the nation's largest university systems. Kent State's eight campuses serve 35,000 students from throughout Ohio and the nation, and from nearly 90 countries. One of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio, the university employs more than 3,500 full- and part-time faculty and staff.

Under Dr. Cartwright's leadership, student success has become Kent State's top priority; a wide variety of mutually beneficial partnerships has been forged with businesses, schools and other universities; and the status of teaching and public service has been elevated. A blend of innovative teaching, research and outreach has, in fact, become a university hallmark, with Kent State recognized nationally for its balance of high-quality undergraduate programs and research in selected areas, including biology-biomedical sciences, computer science, education, information science, liquid crystal technology, mathematics, physics and psychology. Kent State is one of only 90 public research universities to be ranked among the nation’s most productive doctoral institutions by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Dr. Cartwright chaired the board of directors of the American Association for Higher Education and served on the boards of directors of the American Council on Education and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. She chaired the National Collegiate Athletic Association Executive Committee from 2003-05 and served as a member of the NCAA’s board of directors from 1997-2005. She is a member of the national board of the First Ladies’ Library. In 1999, Dr. Cartwright was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a component of the Smithsonian Institution that fosters scholarship and dialogue in international relations through the humanities and social sciences. In 2000, she was named to the reconvened Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a blue-ribbon panel of national leaders in education, business and sports that monitors the state of intercollegiate athletics and recommends improvements. In 2002, she began a term on the executive board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education that concluded in 2005, and was elected to the Center for Research Libraries board of directors. In 2003, she was appointed to a three-year term on the American Council on Education Commission on Women in Higher Education. In 2004, she was named to the National Public Radio board of directors.

Dr. Cartwright is a leading member of numerous regional and statewide civic and economic-development organizations, including the Greater Akron Chamber and the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education. She co-chaired the Ohio Technology in Education Committee, which developed Ohio’s master plan for educational technology from preschool through graduate school. In 2003, she was appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and the Economy and in 2004 she was appointed to the Ohio Business Development Coalition, initiatives to improve Ohio’s economy. Dr. Cartwright also serves on the boards of directors of four companies with headquarters in Northeast Ohio: KeyCorp and PolyOne Corporation of Cleveland, FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron and The Davey Tree Expert Company of Kent.

The scope of her contributions to higher education led to Dr. Cartwright's induction into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. She also has received Distinguished Alumni awards from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Pittsburgh; the Clairol Mentor Award in Education; the YWCA Greater Cleveland Women of Achievement Award; the Northeast Ohio ATHENA Award; and the March of Dimes Franklin Delano Roosevelt Humanitarian Award for Excellence.

Dr. Cartwright earned master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater.

She and Dr. G. Phillip Cartwright have three children, the youngest of whom is a Kent State graduate, and two grandchildren.

ABOUT THE NEO EXCELLENCE ROUNDTABLE:

We're nurturing face to face visioning and so have revived a storied tradition of roundtable lunches at the City Club, each Tuesday between 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM, where non-hierarchical area innovation champions are breaking bread and brainstorming. The NEO Excellence Roundtable format is casual and conversational - to join us for lunch, please contact coordinator Norm Roulet at norm [at] realinks [dot] us. Each attendee is expected to pay for your own meal - $13 for a buffet lunch, which is always excellent - if that is a barrier to you attending, please join us regardless and we'll cover the difference.

In the interest of supporting this open collaboration, we've also established a virtual Community Of Interest Link (COIL) called NEO Excellence - please visit at http://neoexcellence.realinks.us. To participate in the community, please "create an account" using the link found at the home page.

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