Education Commons^™

Kathy Krendl Inauguration - Twentieth President, Otterbein University

Presidential Inaugurations

Kathy A. Krendl, Ph.D., served as the 20th president and the first woman to lead Otterbein University from July 2009 through her retirement in June 2018. During her tenure at Otterbein, the university won national recognition for its distinctive undergraduate curriculum and its focus on experiential learning. Otterbein is consistently recognized on the President’s Honor Roll of community-engaged institutions. It also consistently ranks in the top tier of institutions for its commitment to a student-centered learning environment.

During her tenure President Krendl served on a number of central Ohio boards including the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation, YWCA Columbus, Ohio Campus Compact, …

C. Brent Devore Inauguration - Nineteenth President, Otterbein University

Presidential Inaugurations

Dr. C. Brent DeVore, Otterbein’s nineteenth president, brings to the College a solid combination of experience, enthusiasm and high expectations. He looks confidently ahead to the school’s bright future. The College’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the selection of Dr. DeVore as president from a field of 365 candidates. He assumed office July 1, 1984. Dr. DeVore has said his top priority as president is “maintaining a consistent quality in the total academic program.” Another goal is to make Otterbein ''the independent college in central Ohio.”

Thomas Jefferson Kerr, Iv - Eighteenth President, Otterbein University

Presidential Inaugurations

After reviewing the credentials of more than one hundred applicants, the Board of Trustees selected Dr. Thomas Jefferson Kerr, IV as the eighteenth president of Otterbein College. He assumed office on July 1,1971. Although he is young in years. Doctor Kerr has a wide range of experience as a scholar, teacher and college administrator. Having received a B.S. degree from Cornell University in 1956 and an M.A. from the University of Buffalo in 1959, he joined the department of history and government at Otterbein College in 1963. Syracuse University awarded him the Ph.D. degree in social studies in 1965.

John Ruskin Howe Inauguration - Fourteenth President, Otterbein University

Presidential Inaugurations

With the inauguration of John Ruskin Howe as President on November 4,1939, Otterbein College took another step along the path she has been treading for the past ninety-two years. The dominant spirit of this step, as well as of those taken in the past, is progress. Having arrived at her present position only through the untiring efforts of her leaders, constituency, alumni, and friends, Otterbein proposes to look onward continually to new eras of service.

Rev. Lewis Bookwalter, D.D., Inauguration - Eleventh President, Otterbein University

Presidential Inaugurations

President Bookwalter demonstrated that strong leadership can produce significant accomplishments even in a short presidency. Trustees appointed him after he had extensive experience in United Brethren college presidencies, two years at Westfield College (IL) and ten at Western College (IA). As Trustees intended, he spent most of his time with off campus constituencies. In four years, he increased enrollment from 401 students to 551. Three Otterbein fraternities formed, without University approval.

President Bookwalter's remarkable fund raising and construction record included Cochran Hall (1907, $31,000), Carnegie Library (1908, $40,000), Lambert Hall (music, 1909, $28,000), and a heating plant. He resigned in …