COLUMBUS — State Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green), among the longest-serving members of the General Assembly, will serve as Ohio’s next chancellor of higher education.
Governor-elect Mike DeWine announced the pick Thursday along with 13 other posts within his administration.
Mr. Gardner, 60, once a schoolteacher, has served in the General Assembly since 1985, moving back and forth between the House and Senate to avoid being ousted by term limits.
“I’ve had 33 years of a great privilege to serve the great people of northern Ohio in the state legislature, but I’ve had a real passion for higher education,” he said after the announcement. “I’ve served the last eight years as the subcommittee chairman of higher ed, and I believe I can work with this team to advance workforce training, workforce development, (and) higher education issues, and move Ohio forward in a new way.”
He declined to discuss his specific plans as chancellor.
Mr. Gardner will replace current Chancellor John Carey, also a former state senator and representative whom Gov. John Kasich had appointed in 2013.
“It was my pleasure to work with Randy Gardner to bring our (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) crime lab to the campus of Bowling Green State University, his alma mater,” Mr. DeWine said. “This is just one example of the type of partnership that we need on our university campuses.”
The senator said he will submit his resignation from the Senate within days, creating a vacancy in the 2nd District representing all of Wood and Erie counties, most of Fulton, and the western suburbs of Lucas. It is not unusual for appointees to come from one of the three Republican House members within the Senate district — Reps. Derek Merrin (R., Monclova Township), Theresa Gavarone (R., Bowling Green), and Steve Arndt (R., Port Clinton).
The General Assembly created the Department of Education about a decade ago, making the chancellor a cabinet post under the governor and relegating the Board of Regents that used to make that hire to a largely advisory body.
Mr. DeWine, the current attorney general, stressed that one of his main priorities will be the protection of Lake Erie as he named his picks for directors on the front line of addressing the lake’s chronic toxic algal blooms at the Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency.
Former state Rep. Dorothy Pelanda (R., Marysville), an attorney, will serve as agriculture director while Laurie Stevenson, now EPA’s deputy director for business relations, is his nominee to head that agency.
The governor-elect declined to say whether he plans to keep in place current Gov. John Kasich’s executive order seeking to have much of the Maumee River Basin declared distressed in order to toughen the state’s response to nutrient runoff from farmland that helps to feed Lake Erie algal blooms.
“We did feel frankly that we need kind of a reset in this area…,” he said. “With each one of (the related cabinet picks) I had a very specific discussion concerning Lake Erie. I will be looking to them and others in my administration to tackle this big problem.”
Action on the governor’s request has been repeatedly shelved by the Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Commission as it awaits finalization of rules that has also been indefinitely delayed.
Cabinet nominees must be confirmed by the Senate. The latest announcements included:
— Jack Marchbanks, current assistant director for business and human resources at the Department of Transportation, as ODOT director.
— Lori Criss, of suburban Columbus, at the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, one of the agencies on the front lines of the state’s battle with opioid addiction.
— Kimberly Hall, senior vice president or administration and general counsel at Columbus State Community College, for the Department of Job and Family Services.
— Maureen Corcoran, president and founder of Vorys Health Care Advisors, for the Department of Medicaid.
— Ursel McElroy, of Columbus, for the Department of Aging. She managed the creation of the Ohio Elder Justice Initiative within the attorney general’s office.
— Jeffrey Davis, of Grove City, for the Department of Developmental Disabilities. He is currently interim executive director of the Ohio Provide Resources Association.
— Jillian Froment, of Marysville, remaining with the Department of Insurance.
— Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Deborah Ashenhurst, former Ohio adjutant general, for director of the Department of Veterans Services.
— Ryan Gies, current deputy director for parole, courts, and community at the Department of Youth Services, for director of that agency.
— Stephanie McCloud, attorney and former fiscal officer at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, as administrator of that agency.
— Andy Wilson, Clark County prosecutor, as senior adviser for criminal justice policy.
First Published January 10, 2019, 3:42 p.m.
