The Executive Board of the Thiel College Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Dr. Robert Olson ’60 as interim president of Thiel College, effective today.  Olson, in turn, has appointed Gary Witosky ’79 to the position of interim senior vice president and chief operating officer (COO).

Olson, who will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of the college’s 17th president Dr. Lance A. Masters, retired from Thiel College in 2005 as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college.  He had previously served as professor of history at the college.

The search for the 18th president will begin in June and Olson is expected to serve as the

interim president until a candidate has been selected.  Olson is not going to be a candidate for the permanent position.

After graduating summa cum laude in 1960, Olson earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in history from The Pennsylvania Sate University in 1962 and 1969, respectively, with a concentration in U.S. diplomatic history.

Olson returned to his alma mater in 1965 as an assistant professor of history and rose through the associate and professor ranks teaching a variety of U.S. history courses with a special interest in the history of American Indians.

In 1999 Olson was appointed to the position of vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college after having served as interim vice president and dean since 1998.

Throughout his professional tenure at Thiel, Olson has served on numerous committees including faculty council, and he proudly carried the Thiel College mace as faculty marshal for 21 years.  He also served as adviser to various student organizations such as Alpha Chi, Thiel’s most prestigious academic honor society.  In 1996 he earned the Thiel College President’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

Beyond campus, Olson has been active with the community.  He served as president of the Reynolds School Board from 1981 to 1989, is a member of the Mercer County Historical Society Board of Directors and belongs to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Greenville.  He holds membership in the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, American Association of University Professors and Phi Alpha Theta.

Olson, a resident of Mercer, and his late wife, Margaret – who was for many years the college’s bookstore manager and purchasing agent – are the parents of a son, Erik.

Witosky will have particular oversight of the college’s finances, planning, facilities and human resources divisions. Witosky, who has been an adjunct professor in Thiel’s business administration and accounting department since 2002, also served as the college’s interim vice president of finance in 2004. 

Witosky graduated magna cum laude from Thiel College in 1979, earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration.  He is a certified public accountant (CPA) and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Ohio Society of CPAs.

His background includes 25 years of progressively responsible positions in both public accounting and private industry.  He spent six years in public accounting at Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young) in Cleveland.  Prior to his retirement in 2001, Witosky was the vice president of finance, treasurer and chief financial officer of American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. (AAM), and was the president and COO of its subsidiary Colfor Manufacturing, Inc.

Witosky has served as a member of Thiel’s Board of Associates and the Alumni Board of Directors and is an adviser to the Haller Enterprise Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. He is an active member of St. Luke Episcopal Church in Chardon, Ohio, where he is currently the parish’s senior warden.  He is a director and treasurer of The Ophelia Project, a national non-profit organization dedicated to reducing peer aggression in schools and communities, and is also a volunteer guide at the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio.

He and his wife, Kate, reside in Chardon, Ohio, and have two children, Adam and Emily.