A look at how university administrators run Kent State on a daily basis from their point of view.

Pat Book

Credit: DKS Editors

Gene Finn

Credit: DKS Editors

Pete Goldsmith

Credit: DKS Editors

Yank Heisler

Credit: DKS Editors

Lester Lefton

Credit: DKS Editors

Ed Mahon

Credit: DKS Editors

Tom Neumann

Credit: DKS Editors

Robert Frank

Credit: DKS Editors

Willis Walker

Credit: DKS Editors

Lester Lefton

President

The caricature of the university president: “cigar smoking, brandy snifter” in hand, is long outdated, Lefton said.

“The truth is, today a president of a major research university is more like – and I’m not sure if this is such a good thing – a CEO of a large corporation,” he said, “having to make executive decisions about a multi-hundred million dollar budget.”

But Lefton said he wishes it weren’t so.

“I’m an academic at heart,” he said. “I’m not a businessman at heart.”

And while he said he makes an effort to be Kent State’s academic leader as much as possible, most of his time involves working with the government or meeting with deans and faculty.

Robert Frank

Provost

As provost, Robert Frank serves as the academic visionary for the university.

“The provost is the chief academic officer of the university and oversees all the academic programs,” he said.

Frank is beginning his second year at Kent State.

“While they’re students here, both the quality of the education they get and any new programs that get initiated, the provost would have a big role in those,” Frank said.

The role, he said, is ensuring programs are supported by capable faculty and the skills students learn will be marketable to employers.

Pat Book

Vice President for Regional Development

The basic element of Pat Book’s job is outreach.

“I’m sort of the senior outreach officer for the university,” she said. “That means that I interact with communities and with business and industry.”

She aligns the resources Kent State has with the needs of the area’s economic markets. For example, if the Cleveland Clinic needs a nurse intern and Kent State has nurses to offer, Book lets both know.

On top of that, she oversees the office of continuing and distance education, which offers classes mostly to professionals and other non-traditional students.

She described her job as “not so much sitting in here, but being out there.”

Gene Finn

Vice President for Instituional Advancement

Most of Gene Finn’s work happens behind the scenes.

“I work in one of those areas that students don’t know a lot about,” he said.

But students do see the results of his work in their financial aid packages.

“I oversee all the fundraising and alumni relations activities,” he said. “So by the time students get a sense of what we’re doing it’s really because of scholarships that have been donated, faculty and professorships that have been established and newly renovated buildings.”

The most direct contact Finn’s office has with students is when it hires them to make calls for donations in the phone center and when it uses student ambassadors for alumni relations.

Pete Goldsmith

Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs

Of all the cabinet members, Goldsmith’s responsibilities have the most direct effect on students.

“I’m responsible for all the enrollment management functions,” he said, “including admissions, financial aid, which is very popular with students, and registration. And on the student affairs side, (I’m responsible for) many of the support services for students.”

Those services under his direction include Residence Services, the counseling center, the health center, Student Accessibility Services and the Center for Student Involvement.

“I tend to interact a lot with folks who interact with students,” Goldsmith said.

Yank Heisler

Interim Vice President for Finance and Administration

Since stepping into the vacant vice president for finance and administration slot, Heisler has taken the reigns of what amounts to the infrastructure of the university.

He oversees the operation and construction of facilities, financial affairs, Dining Services, public safety and the university budget.

“(Students) will interact first with us because they pay us,” Heisler said. “The Bursar’s office comes under business and finance.”

The second interaction will probably be with the campus environment.

“What they see, in terms of the grounds and the condition of our buildings and the classrooms and dorms,” he said. “We’re kind of responsible for all that maintenance and repair.”

Willis Walker

Interim Vice President for Human Resources

Willis Walker is the chief university counsel at Kent State but since January has been interim vice president for human resources.

He said his office has very little interaction with students. He does, however, work with the people who work with students.

“We oversee the hiring and management of employment matters for the university,” Walker said.

Tom Neumann

Interim Vice President for University Relations

As vice president for university relations, Tom Neumann directs university marketing and communications, federal and state government relations and WKSU-FM.

Ed Mahon

Vice President for Information Services

Ed Mahon manages Kent State’s information technology systems, the most student-visible of which are FlashLine and FlashZone wireless Internet.