3 things to know about WSU’s next president

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Cheryl Schrader was named the next president of Wright State University today.

Schrader currently serves as Chancellor of the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri.

Schrader’s husband, Jeff Schrader, worked in law for several years. She also has a son, Andrew , who is pursuing a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech University and a daughter named Ella who is in the fourth grade.

Below are three interesting facts about Schrader that you may not already know:

1. Her lucky number is seven

Schrader told the students, staff and faculty on Monday that her lucky number is seven.

Coincidentally, Schrader will become Wright State’s seventh president.

Shortly after being introduced as the university’s next president, Schrader was presented with a basketball jersey with the number seven on it.

Cheryl Schrader was named Wright State University’s seventh president on Monday. She will be the first woman to lead the institution.

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2. She has Midwestern roots

Schrader is not from Ohio but she went to college in the neighboring state of Indiana.

She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University. Later on she earned her masters degree and doctorate from Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana.

During her visit to campus in February she also mentioned that her husband, Jeff Schrader, is originally from Michigan.

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3. She received an award from the White House

In 2005, George W. Bush’s administration gave Schrader the Presidential Medal of Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering mentoring.

Schrader said part of the reason she received the award was because she was able to bring more women and minorities into those fields at the universities she’s worked at.

During her campus visit in February, Schrader called diversity in higher education the “linchpin behind innovation.”

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