Betsy Boze


Betsy Vogel Boze, is an American academic and higher education administrator. During her career at public universities she has been a professor of marketing, department chair, dean, CEO of Kent State University at Stark, and president of The College of The Bahamas. She is a senior fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities researching alternative revenue streams for public colleges and universities.

Education

Secondary education

Boze attended Southfield School in Shreveport, Louisiana, and graduated from C. E. Byrd High School, where she participated in social and environmental issues, including the first Earth Day. In 2009 she was inducted into the Byrd High School Hall of Fame, an honor awarded to less than one-third of one percent of graduates.

Formal education

She earned her Bachelor of Science in psychology and Masters in Business Administration degrees from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She studied international management at Thunderbird, Spanish at ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico, and Japanese at International Christian University in Mitaka, Japan. She earned her Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Arkansas, majoring in marketing, with minors in economics and sociology.

Post-doctoral studies

Boze's postdoctoral studies include Harvard University Seminar for New Presidents, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, The University of Hawaii Pan Asian Institute, HERS Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration, American Association of State Colleges and Universities Millennial Leadership Initiative, The Center for Creative Leadership and a year-long American Council on Education Fellowship. Boze is a graduate of Leadership Texas, Leadership America and Leadership Stark County.

University experience

Faculty, teaching and administrative appointments

Executive leadership

Dr. Boze was the ninth president and chief executive officer of the College of the Bahamas. The national higher education system of the Bahamas, COB's mission is "to support and drive national development through teaching, research & innovation, and service." COB, as it is known, is a multi-campus system with three academic campuses, three branch campuses in Abaco, Andros and The Exumas, research centers in New Providence and San Salvador Island.
During her tenure at the College of the Bahamas
While the dean at Kent State University at Stark in North Canton, Ohio from 2005–2009, the campus became a four-year comprehensive liberal arts university with professional graduate degree programs. During that time, the university developed a culture of planning and accountability. The first strategic plan and first enrollment management plans were developed and implemented.
Consistent with her lifelong passion for the environment, she secured private funding for the Hoover Center for Environmental Media Activism. Under her leadership, Kent State Stark was recognized on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll every year. Boze's leadership in P-16 collaboration, led to alignment of high school graduation requirements in mathematics with workforce readiness and college readiness.
Boze was an early signer of the American College and University President's Climate Commitment for both Kent State University and the College of the Bahamas

Senior administrative positions

Boze was the inaugural dean of the College of Business at The University of Texas at Brownsville and served as assistant to the president while an American Council on Education Fellow at Tulane University. She served as the chief academic officer of The University of Texas System "UT TeleCampus" MBA Online and held a Research Faculty appointment at Texas A&M University, where she was co-director of the Texas Ports & Waterways.

Early academic appointments

She has held full-time faculty and administrative positions at St. Bonaventure University, University of Maryland University College, Centenary College of Louisiana and The University of Alaska Anchorage, where she was department chair of business administration and Faculty Senate president. In addition, she was a visiting faculty member at Portland State University in Khabarovsk in the former Soviet Union.

Fund development

Through her fundraising efforts Dr. Boze has secured well over $100 million in grants, federal earmarks and personal and corporate contributions for her institutions.
She tripled the campus' endowment at both Kent State University Stark and the College of the Bahamas and at each institution she secured over two dozen new endowed scholarships to support student access and success. In addition to the many construction projects at the College of the Bahamas, public, private and foundation funds were developed for a new science building at Kent State University Stark designed to LEED Green Gold standards.

Scholarly record

Boze has published over 100 peer-refereed research articles and book chapters on marketing and business administration. She writes and speaks publicly on higher education administration, distance education, technology and women's issues.
Boze was a master planner in the creation of the University of Texas TeleCampus, the University of Texas's web-based, virtual university.

Academic partnerships and other collaborations

Boze has over twenty years' experience in unique academic partnerships.

International and regional leadership

Boze served as the chief executive officer of the Gerace Research Center and serves on the board of the International Association of Universities.
She is served on the A۰P۰L۰U- AASCU Advisory Group on Distance Education, the AASCU Policies and Practices Committee and is an AASCU state representative and the board of the Millennial Leadership Initiative.
She is a director on the Betty and Paul McDonald Foundation and the Florida-based Bahamas Education, Culture and Science Foundation, Inc. She is a former director or trustee on the following national boards in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas: the College of the Bahamas Council, Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation, the Gerace Research Center, the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, the Clifton Heritage National Park, the Bahamas National Trust and the National Advisory Council on Education. She is a director of the Canadian Foundation, Canadian Friends of COB.
Boze was a commissioner on the City of Canton Sustainability Commission and vice chair of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce. She served as trustee on the boards of the Stark County Port Authority, American Cancer Society, Canton Museum of Art, Greater Canton Chamber of Commerce, Mayor's Literacy Commission, Ohio Area Health Education Centers, Ohio Citizens for the Arts, Paul and Betty McDonald Foundation, Stark Development Board, and the Stark Education Partnership P-16.
She served on Rep. William Healy's mayoral transition team and inaugural committee and the Ohio Board of Regents task force to revise the operating manual for two-year campus programs. She was the president of the Ohio Association of Regional Campuses. She further served on the Jackson-Belden Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee, the strategic planning committee of the Stark Development Board, the strategic planning committee of the Stark County YMCA, Lake Local Schools and the Greater Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce Education Committee. She is a member of the Junior League of Washington, D.C.

Professional service to higher education

National appointments include the finance committee of the American Council on Education Council of Fellows, American Association of State Colleges and Universities Women Presidents and Chancellors affinity group and the AASCU Policies and Practices Committee. She is a sponsor, mentor and faculty member of the AASCU Millennial Leadership Initiative.
Boze is a Higher Learning Commission AQIP consultant/evaluator and PEAQ peer reviewer.
She served as faculty for the 2007-2009 ACE National and Regional Leadership Forums and 2006, 2009–14 American Association of State Colleges and Universities Millennial Leadership Institutes. In addition, she annually serves as an AASCU MLI mentor and the HERS Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration. Boze serves on the ACE Office of Women in Higher Education executive board.
She was a team leader for the 2007 AASCU Hispanic Student Success Report, and a 2008 delegate to the Mid-West Higher Education Consortium. Boze serves on the editorial boards of the international journal Teaching & Learning in Higher and Continuing Education and the American Council on Education Network News.

Recent leadership

Boze has served as the president of the Southwest Business Deans, Texas Council of Collegiate Education in Business, Junior Achievement and Girl Scouts Susitna Council.
She served from 1996 to 2005 as the state coordinator of the American Council on Education Women's Network for Texas, and serves on the editorial board of ACE Network News. From 1997 to 2005, she chaired the Women Administrators in Management Education of the Association for the Advancement of Colleges and Schools of Business.

Delta Delta Delta leadership

Boze is a third-generation Delta Delta Delta. She has served as the president of the Delta Delta Delta Alumnae Chapter, president of the Rio Grande Valley Alumnae Chapter, state reference chairman, alumnae advisor of the University of Arkansas collegiate chapter, panhellenic advisor at Louisiana State University Shreveport collegiate chapter and president of Wish Upon a Star, the Shreveport, Louisiana alumnae chapter philanthropy.

Environmental leadership

Boze has a lifetime commitment to the environmental movement. She sewed and flew one of the first Ecology Flags for the original Earth Day. She is considered an international leader in education for sustainable development. She was instrumental in the IAU Iquitos Statement on Higher Education for Sustainable Development, part of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
As both president of the College of the Bahamas and CEO and dean of Kent State University at Stark, Boze signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and the campus joined the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and become one of the largest recyclers in Stark County. The campus is the site of Stark County's Earth Day and dedicated a pond as a federally protected wetland in 2007. Beginning with the 2008 graduating class, graduates were encouraged to take the "Graduation Pledge" of social and environmental responsibility.