Edited: June 10, 2008

DENISON'S KNOBEL NAMED NORTH COAST PRESIDENT;
HIRAM'S CHEMA TO SERVE AS VICE PRESIDENT

Dale T. Knobel, president of Denison University, has been elected to a two-year term as president of the North Coast Athletic Conference, effective July 1, 2008. Knobel, who had served as the NCAC's president the from 2004-2006, was chosen to succeed Douglas Bennett, president of Earlham College. Thomas V. Chema, president of Hiram College, was elected vice president.

Dennis M. Collins remains Executive Director of the conference for the 25th consecutive year.

Knobel has served since 1998 as the 19th president of Denison. He came to Granville from Southwestern University in Texas, where he was provost and dean of the faculty. He arrived at Southwestern after nineteen years at Texas A&M University. A veteran professor in the Department of History at Texas A&M, he entered the academic administration of the university in 1987 and successively served as executive director of honors programs and academic scholarships and as associate provost for undergraduate programs and academic services. In 1994, he was a recipient of Texas A&M's Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award, the university's highest faculty honor.

Under his leadership, Denison has reached important milestones, including record student applications and admissions selectivity, increasing breadth of background in the student body, expanded student research programs, and enhanced educational technology. Denison's ambitious Higher Ground comprehensive financial campaign has helped the university endowment surpass $700 million and has generated new resources for student scholarships, endowed faculty positions, and both curricular and student life programming. Extensive new facilities and major renovations and additions to academic buildings serving the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Fine Arts have marked his tenure.

A historian of the United States, Knobel is a widely published scholar on the subjects of immigration and ethnic and race relations in North America. He is the author or co-author of books dealing with ethnic stereotypes and anti-immigrant hostility published by Wesleyan University Press, Simon & Schuster, and Harvard University Press. His numerous articles appear in scholarly journals ranging from the Journal of American Studies to the Western Historical Quarterly and Civil War History. Knobel currently serves as chair of Ohio Campus Compact, the collegiate service-learning consortium; as chair of the Great Lakes Colleges Association; and as an executive committee member of both the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio. He is immediate past president of the Five Colleges of Ohio consortium. Following a term as a member of the NCAA Division III President's Council, Dr. Knobel was appointed to the NCAA Division III Presidents/Chancellors Advisory Group.

Chema is the 21st President of Hiram. He is a 1971 graduate of Harvard Law School with more than thirty years of leadership experience in business, government, and law. Prior to earning his juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, Chema graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1968. For the past decade, he has served as a voting member of the Hiram College Board of Trustees and has chaired the Institutional Advancement Committee.

After graduating from Harvard, Chema joined the Cleveland-based firm of Arter and Hadden in June of 1971. He became a partner in 1979. In 1983, Chema resigned his position with Arter and Hadden to serve as executive director of the Ohio Lottery Commission. Two years later, he joined the Public Utility Commission of Ohio as executive director. During his five year tenure with PUCO, Chema received national and international accolades for his knowledge of energy economics and regulation. He served on the advisory board to the Electric Power Research Institute, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Alternative Research and Development Strategies, and he was invited to attend the Ditchley Institute in Great Britain—an international forum for sharing insight into global problems.

After fulfilling his tenure at PUCO, Chema rejoined Arter and Hadden as a partner in 1989. In 1990, Chema parlayed his knowledge and experience working with the state lottery and utility organizations into an executive directorship with the Gateway Economic Development Corporation of Greater Cleveland. During his thirteen years with Gateway, Chema has overseen the financing and construction of two major public sports facilities, Gund Arena, now Quicken Loans Arena, and Jacobs’ Field.

Founded in 1983, the North Coast Athletic Conference consists of 10 academically selective colleges and universities - Allegheny College, Denison University, Earlham College, Hiram College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wabash College, Wittenberg University and the College of Wooster. The NCAC sponsors 22 championship sports, 11 for men and 11 for women.

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