Walsh University welcomed Paolo DeMaria, Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction and Nancy Hollister, Ohio Board of Education District 8, to campus on Monday, April 3. During the informal meeting, the two education leaders met with Walsh President Richard Jusseaume and Division of Education students, faculty members, alumni and local industry partners including Stark State College and Our Lady of Peace elementary school. The event marked the State Superintendent’s first visit to a private university since taking office in July 2017.
The discussion focused on how Walsh University is preparing future educators, unique aspects of Walsh’s programming and ways that the Ohio Department of Education can help support private universities. While in Stark County, Superintendent DeMaria also visited the Canton City School District and Lake Local School District.
Colleagues hail Paolo DeMaria as a passionate leader, a tireless worker, a respectful listener, a consensus builder and a man with a great sense of humor. All are qualities Paolo calls on daily as he works to support an education system of nearly 3,600 public schools and more than 1.6 million students.
Much of DeMaria’s 30-year career has focused on school finance and promoting higher student achievement, college readiness and completion, and school choice for families.
Gov. John Kasich appointed Nancy Putnam Hollister of Marietta to the State Board of Education in May 2016.
Mrs. Hollister attended Kent State University. She served on the Marietta City Council from 1980 to 1984, when she became mayor of that city. In 1991, Gov. George Voinovich appointed her head of the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, which she led until 1994 when she won election as Ohio’s lieutenant governor. In that office, she oversaw state offices and commissions, including the State and Local Government Commission, the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force and the Governor’s Office of Appalachia.