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“I’m very happy to have the opportunity to support the faculty and staff of Lake Campus,” Krane said. “I look forward to doing all that I can to help them continue to deliver on their mission to be the focal point for the educational and cultural advancement of the residents of West Central Ohio.”
Karne will take the helm of the WSU Lake Campus just over a month after the former dean was told to resign by president Cheryl Schrader.
Lake Campus dean Jay Albayyari resigned June 30 after receiving a letter from Schrader on June 13, asking him to submit his resignation. The letter and several emails between Albayyari and provost Sue Edwards were obtained by the Dayton Daily News through a public records request.
In asking for Albayyari’s resignation, Schrader cited “serious concerns” regarding the dean’s “interactions with Lake Campus personnel” and the “climate” created by Albayyari’s “management style,” according to the letter. Albayyari has denied Schrader’s claims.
The university plans to initiate a search for the campus’s next dean this fall, Edwards said in a previous email to campus. The university is working on plans to “maintain Lake Campus leadership on an interim basis,” Edwards said.
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Located around 80 miles north of Dayton, the Lake Campus has thrived in recent years under Albayyari. While Wright State has been marred by scandal, lawsuits and financial setbacks, the Lake Campus has remained one of the university’s bright spots.
The Lake Campus operates on its own budget and is funded through its own revenue streams, which are also separate from the main campus, Albayyari said in 2017.
Enrollment at the Lake Campus has increased every year since 2014, even as the total number of students attending WSU’s main campus has steadily declined since 2015, data shows. In the fall of 2018, enrollment was up by just over 1 percent at the Lake Campus and the previous fall it was up by 9 percent, according to records from the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
The branch campus built a new agriculture and water quality center in 2017 and a new library has been in the works too, administrators have said. Schrader has referred to the Lake Campus as a “gem” for the university.
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