Biography
Dr. Elizabeth J. Stroble
President

Dr. Elizabeth J. Stroble has been selected as Webster University’s 11th President. Her appointment begins on July 1, 2009.

As President, Dr. Stroble is Webster’s chief executive, and will be responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the University – an international network of more than 100 campuses and 20,000 students in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Stroble brings 35 years as an educator and academic leader and is committed to Webster’s mission of global education.

Coming to Webster from the University of Akron, Dr. Stroble currently serves as Akron’s Senior Vice President and Provost and Chief Operating Officer. In those roles, she provided oversight and leadership for the academic, operational, and financial resources of the metropolitan public University – one with a multi-site campus community encompassing 24,700 students and 3,500 employees. The Akron campus, under her leadership, achieved a 2008 “Engaged University” designation by The Carnegie Foundation for The Advancement of Teaching.

Prior to and concurrent with those roles at Akron, she served as Dean and tenured professor of the College of Education from 2000-2004. While Dean, Dr. Stroble helped establish interdisciplinary collaborations such as the Center for Collaboration and Inquiry, the Muehlstein Academy for Mathematics and Science, and the Center for Literacy. She oversaw the college’s review by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and served as the chair of the State University Education Deans.

While at Akron, Dr. Stroble provided statewide leadership as a member of the boards for Ohio Learning Network and OhioLINK (chair in 2004-2005), as well as appointments on three current Ohio Board of Regents committees, including co-chairing the Ohio STEM Academy Advisory Committee. Nationally, she has served on the Executive Board of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education from 2004-2007 and currently is a member of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Appeals Board. In 2003, she received Northern Ohio Live’s Rainmaker Award, and in 2004 she was a finalist for Inside Business’ Athena Award. In 2007, she was appointed a Commissioner of the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

Her higher education career has included faculty and administrative assignments at the University of Louisville and Northern Arizona University.

Dr. Stroble earned a bachelor's of arts in history and English in 1973 from Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. She earned a master of arts in history in 1979, and a master of arts in American and English literature in 1984, both from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Dr. Stroble received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction in 1987 from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.