Chancellor Ruth J. Person, Ph.D.
In September of 1999, Ruth J. Person became the chancellor at IU Kokomo. When the new chancellor was recommended for the position following a national search, the university search committee recommended her on the basis of the breadth and depth of her experience and education; her engaging personality; and her inclusive, collaborative leadership style.
Indiana University President Myles Brand concurred, noting that Person, "understands the needs of campuses that serve large populations of commuter and nontraditional students. I believe that she will be an enormously effective leader for IU Kokomo for many years to come."
In her first annual State of the Campus address in January, Person outlined an ambitious process designed to move IU Kokomo in a positive direction to ensure its future as a public provider of comprehensive higher education in north central Indiana. She urged members of the campus community to take the long view and focus on the future by setting objectives and performance measures that support IU Kokomo's mission of educating area residents at bachelor's and master's degree levels. From that address came "Focus on the Future," the theme for Person's installation celebration and for Person's planning and performance-based leadership perspective.
A native of the Washington, D.C./Maryland area, Person brought to Indiana a wealth of experience in higher education. Most recently she had served for four years as vice president for academic affairs and professor of business administration at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. During her tenure at ASU, campus accomplishments included the continuous improvement of information technology, the enhancement of shared governance, the construction of several academic facilities, the development of significant community and state partnerships, and the initiation of an academic master plan process.
Prior to joining Angelo State, Person's career included positions as vice president for academic affairs at Ohio's Ashland University, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, dean of the College of Library Science at Clarion University in Pennsylvania, and associate dean and faculty member of the School of Library and Information Science at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. As an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, Person also worked as chief academic officer with the Arizona Board of Regents.
The chancellor earned her bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and master's degree from the University of Michigan. She also holds an M.S. degree in administration from George Washington University School of Business and Public Management and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She is a member of Phi Alpha Theta, Beta Phi Mu, Pi Lambda Theta, Psi Chi, Kappa Delta Pi, and Beta Gamma Sigma and is listed in a number of Who's Who publications. Person attended the Harvard University Institute of Educational Management in 1989.
She has been published widely in scholarly journals and is a member of many professional organizations, including the American Association of University Administrators (past president), the International Association for Jazz Education, the American Library Association, and the Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records. Person has also served on the American Council of Education's (ACE) Commission on Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity, the ACE Council of Fellows Executive Committee, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Professional Development Committee and Board of Directors. In 2002 she was elected to the board of directors of the Steak 'n Shake Company, a 500-unit restaurant chain headquartered in Indianapolis. She also serves on the Key Bank Advisory Board for Central Indiana.
A jazz enthusiast who also enjoys cooking, Person has large collections of compact discs and cookbooks. She also has a long history of community service. In Texas, her many volunteer activities included the San Angelo Cultural Affairs Council, Cactus Jazz and Blues Festival, Christmas in April, and the San Angelo Cultural/Heritage Tourism Committee. She also was president of the San Angelo Business and Professional Women's Club and served on the design committee for the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and Education Center. In Indiana, she serves on the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library Board of Trustees, the St. Joseph's Hospital Advisory Board, and the Howard County Partners in Education. She formerly served on the Chamber of Commerce Women's Business Council and the Howard County United Way Board of Directors. She is the past president of the board of Indiana Campus Compact. In 2005, she was honored with an ATHENA Award by the Women's Business Council of the Kokomo/Howard County Chamber of Commerce.
During Chancellor Person's tenure, major campus achievements have included adding a dozen new academic programs, achieving AACSB accreditation for the School of Business and reaccreditation of the School of Nursing, developing a comprehensive marketing and communication plan, and initiating a strategic planning process that will direct the campus toward 2010. The campus completed a $3 million fund raising initiative to support science equipment and education and constructed an award-winning science facility. Most important, a seven-year enrollment decline that reached its lowest point in 1999 was reversed, and the campus has set a record for the number of full-time and traditional-age students.
Chancellor Person has promoted the campus's role in helping to build north central Indiana's workforce and economy. She is actively involved in boards of directors and advisory boards for numerous economic development organizations, including the North Central Indiana Small Business Development Center and the Inventrek Technology Park Board of Directors. The campus has received $1 million in federal funding to support a business incubator and has initiated a program of study in entrepreneurship.
