Dr. Kress named dean at Ohio State 2017

KRESS, WINBORN

Posted By: Mistina Christner (email)
Date: 7/30/2018 at 12:22:52

Source: Kalona News 3/16/2017

Dr. Kress named dean at Ohio State
by Dan Ehl

A Mid-Prairie graduate, Dr. Cathann Kress, has been named vice president for agricultural administration and dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University. She is the first female to be named as head of the Ohio State ag college.
Kress is currently vice president for Iowa State University's Extension and outreach, as well as director of ISU Extension.
"My early childhood was overseas - my parents were in foreign service and Air Force," replied Kress to an email. "I came to Iowa when I was about 12 and lived with my grandparents, Milt and Charlotte Winborn on their farm south of Iowa City. We had sheep and hogs - and rented the land to a neighbor to raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa.
"I've always been interested in where agriculture, education and rural communities intersect-and believe our agriculture industry is strong because of great partnerships such as the over 100 year partnership between farmers and land grant universities like Iowa State and Ohio State - and the experiment stations and extension systems which are part of them.
"My school years in the Kalona area provided a strong base for my career. I went to a great school (Mid-Prairie), had lots of people who cared about me (such as at Sharon Center United Methodist Church), and made shakes at the Dairy Diner."
"Incidentally," she added, "my first job as a teenager was proofreading for The Wellman Advance."
Ohio State News Release:
Backgroud

Prior to joining Iowa State in 2011, Kress was a senior policy analyst and program lead for Military Community and Family Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington D.C.
She earned both doctorate and master's degrees in education from the University of Iowa, and a bachelor's of science in social work from Iowa State University. Kress has taught undergraduate and graduate students at all levels. Her research and applied research efforts have focused on impacts on rural populations.
She is also incoming chair of the Administrative Heads Section of the Board on Agriculture Assembly for the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.
Prior to joining the Department of Defense in 2008, Kress was director of youth development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service for six years. There, she provided national leadership for youth programs administered through Cooperative Extension and land-grant universities, and also established the mission and role of the National 4-H headquarters.
From 2000 to 2002, Kress was assistant director of Cornell University's Cooperative Extension and the state program leader for the 4-H Youth Development.
Kress serves as a trustee of the National 4-H Council, as a designee of the STEM Advisory Council on the Iowa Governor's Stem Initiative, and also serves as a trustee to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She has three adult children, two sons and a daughter.