Dr. Cathann A. Kress has served as Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) at The Ohio State University since May 2017, and was reappointed for a second term in June 2022. Dean Kress has responsibility for leadership of the college which also comprises OSU Extension, the CFAES research enterprise - our statewide Agricultural Experiment Stations (Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center), and the Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster. She is also a full professor within the department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership.
Dean Kress previously served as Vice President for Extension and Outreach at Iowa State University, overseeing the 99-county campus network for research and education and as full professor in the School of Education. Prior to her tenure with Iowa State, she was Senior Policy Analyst for Military Community & Family Policy in the Department of Defense, leading national efforts to engage land grant universities in support of military service members and their families. Prior to that, she served as Director, Youth Development at the United States Department of Agriculture, which included serving as Director at National 4-H Headquarters. She was also Assistant Director, Cornell Cooperative Extension at Cornell University.
Dean Kress also served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Miami University. In addition, she previously served as an Academic Counselor within the Women’s Athletic Department at the University of Iowa.
Dean Kress serves on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Board of Trustees, the State of Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, the Ohio Expositions Commission, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) Board of Trustees, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio Board of Trustees and previously served on the National 4-H Council Board. Dean Kress has also served as the chair of the administrative heads section of the Board on Agriculture Assembly, Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.
Dean Kress graduated with distinction from Iowa State University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree. She received her Master’s and Doctorate from the University of Iowa, where she was an American College Testing (ACT) Special Research Fellow.