Dr. Steve O. Michael is Kent State University’s Vice Provost with supervisory role over a number of units, including, International Affairs; Faculty Professional Development Center;  KSU Florence, Italy; KSU Geneva, Switzerland; KSU China; and Chief Diversity office.  He is also the administrator of Ohio Academic Leadership Academy (OALA) – an Ohio Inter-University Council program for preparing future academic administrators (deans and academic chairs) for Ohio’s public Universities.  His administrative experience includes directorship of the Center for International and Intercultural Education and interim Associate Deanship of Education.  Dr. Michael was an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow in 2000-2001 under the President of Carnegie Mellon University.  He also served part of his fellowship year under the Vice-Chancellors of the City University of London and the University of Bath, England.  Steve Michael is a professor of higher education administration with a specialization in higher education finance and strategic management.

Dr. Michael’s research interest includes the application of business strategies to institutional management. He has also published widely in most of the leading international and national refereed journals in the field of higher education on topics such as diversity in higher education, cost reduction analysis and financial constraints in higher education, presidency and trusteeship, academic program reviews and discontinuation, and marketing of higher education. 

Relevant to diversity, Dr. Michael’s publications include “Multiculturalism in Higher Education:  Transcending the Familiar Zone” published in the Journal for Higher Education Management; and “Models of Multiculturalism:  Implications for the Twenty-First Century Leaders” published in the European Journal of Intercultural Studies.   On the invitation of the ACE, he became the principal architect behind the formation of NADOHE (www.nadohe.org), a national association of chief diversity officers for American colleges and universities. 

Dr. Michael was a British Commonwealth Scholar and the first recipient of the Sheffield Award for the best article published in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education (1992).  The article focused on Entrepreneurialism in Higher Education.  His awards include: the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, the Outstanding Faculty Award from Phi Beta Delta, Dean’s Award for professional achievements, and a letter of recognition from the Governor of Alaska.

Dr. Michael has successfully directed over 20 doctoral dissertations on topics that range from TQM in higher education to financing higher education, from internationalization of higher education to evaluation of college president’s effectiveness.  He is a guest professor at the European Peace University in Austria. 

For several years, he served as the Liaison Officer for the Educational Management Association of South Africa.  On the invitation of the former Minister of Education of Moldova, he became the first keynote speaker for the country’s premier international conference on Higher Education.  He is a founding member of the Black Sea Higher Education Association dedicated to internationalizing quality assurance among the Black Sea countries.  For his works in the Eastern Europe, Dr. Michael was awarded Honorary Doctorate Degree by Danubius University, Romania, in October, 2007. 

Dr. Michael is a member of several editorial boards including the International Journal of Educational Management, the Journal of Technology and Multicultural Education, the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the Journal of Research in Education.  He serves as a reviewer of USAID/ALO International development grants and sits on the Board of Project GRAD of Akron, Ohio.  His latest books include: Financing Higher Education in a Global Market; The Systems of Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education; and Internationalization of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education published in Russia and co-authored with Professor Sergey Zapryagaev of Voronezh State University, Russia..  He is a national commentator on higher education issues and a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences.  He is a graduate of the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education.  Dr. Michael has an extensive international background ranging from the Sub-Saharan Africa to the Sub-Arctic Alaska.  Steve is a volunteer soccer coach.