Dr. Melissa J. Baumann has been selected as the 12th president of Ohio Northern University. Her appointment was unanimously approved at a recent Board of Trustees meeting. She will begin on July 1, 2022, succeeding President Daniel A. DiBiasio when he retires at the end of June 2022.

The university’s announcement describes Baumann as “a dynamic and talented leader who has been serving as provost and chief academic officer at Xavier University…. The search committee was impressed by her academic background, leadership accomplishments, and compassionate commitment to student, faculty, and staff excellence at private and public colleges during her more than 30-year career.”

Baumann is a Mansfield, Ohio native, a first-generation college student and a first-generation American. She earned a Ph.D. and a master of science degree in materials science and engineering at Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor of science in metallurgical engineering at Michigan Technological University. She also holds the rank of professor in Xavier’s Department of Physics.

Prior to Baumann’s arrival at Xavier, she was an assistant provost and head of the Honors College at Auburn University and a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department from 2013-17. She began her faculty career at Michigan State University where she taught materials science and engineering and focused on research on biomaterials and tissue engineering. She began her administrative career as the associate dean for the MSU Honors College.

Over her career, Baumann has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautical Space Agency (NASA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She has served her profession on numerous editorial boards, as a reviewer for research journals in her field, and has been a frequently invited presenter on her research activities, student achievement and success, and promoting women in the STEM disciplines. She sat on the national review committee for the Goldwater Scholarship and actively works to promote the integration of teaching and research into the undergraduate experience. Her administrative focus has remained on balancing academic innovation, student success, and access with budgetary realities and shifts in the landscape of higher education.

Baumann has commented, “My promise is to lead from a place of authentic commitment and connection, characterized by genuine engagement with board members, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends, and to continue the legacy of President Daniel A. DiBiasio in advancing ONU’s 150-year record of academic excellence and achievement. I take seriously the opportunity to steward the institution consistent with its Methodist roots and core values.”

President DiBiasio has invited Bauman to spend time on campus during spring semester 2022. She will move to Ada in July.