On May 1, Cathann Kress, PhD, joined The Ohio State University as the vice president for agricultural administration and dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Most recently, she was vice president for extension and outreach and director of cooperative extension at Iowa State University, a $100 million operation that connected the full assets of the university with all of Iowa. Dr. Kress has taught undergraduate and graduate students at all levels. In addition, her research and applied research efforts have focused on impacts on rural populations.
Prior to her leadership at Iowa State University, Dr. Kress served as a senior policy analyst of Military Community and Family Policy at the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. In addition, she has served as director of youth development at the National 4-H Headquarters, U.S. Department of Agriculture, also in Washington, D.C., and as assistant director, Cornell Cooperative Extension and State Program Leader at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Among her many national leadership roles, she currently serves as a trustee of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Board in Battle Creek, Michigan; secretary and incoming chair, administrative heads section of the Board on Agriculture Assembly, Association of Public Land Grant Universities; and as a National 4-H Council trustee. Dr. Kress earned a BS in social work at Iowa State University, and both a MA in counselor education/college student development and a PhD in education from the University of Iowa.