New provost announced

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Dr. Shirley Baugher, a professor in the Department of Family Social Science and dean emeritus of the College of Human Ecology at the University of Minnesota, has been appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bowling Green State University.

She will also hold the rank of professor with tenure in the BGSU School of Family and Consumer Sciences.

The University's Board of Trustees approved the appointment Friday (June 22).

Baugher is an administrator with experience not only in higher education, but also in state and federal government and public education. The major factor in her appointment was her demonstrated leadership ability in those positions, along with extensive experience in strategic planning and commitment to diversity and University engagement, said BGSU President Sidney A. Ribeau.

Baugher was dean of the College of Human Ecology at Minnesota from 2000-06, when the programs of the college were realigned with newly defined colleges. She oversaw the closing of the college and the transition of the programs to their new areas.

Under her leadership, undergraduate enrollment in the college increased 19.5 percent and graduate enrollment, 38.7 percent; the diversity of the staff increased from 9 percent to 13 percent; cooperative agreements for faculty and student exchanges were established in a number of countries, and means were developed to support technologically enhanced teaching, research and outreach for the college.

From 1992-2000, Baugher was chair and professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her governmental service was prior to that, as deputy administrator of extension services for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1990-92 and earlier as director of vocational home economic education for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She began her career in education as a public school teacher in home economics and special education.

External support for her research projects has totaled $1.93 million, and she has been published widely on leadership in higher education, as well as on family and community diversity. She is also a published poet and a member of the American Academy of Poets.

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(Posted June 25, 2007)