President Scott Olson
Winona State University will celebrate the inauguration of Scott Olson as its fifteenth president at 2 p.m. Friday, April 19, in McCown Gymnasium.
The inauguration ceremony is free and open to the public. It will be followed immediately by a public reception in the second floor gymnasium of the Integrated Wellness Complex.
For more information on the schedule of events, visit the inauguration website, or call Ann Kohner at 507-457-5565.
Olson was appointed to the presidency on May 16, 2012, upon the retirement of Judith A. Ramaley.
Prior to joining WSU, Olson served as Provost, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, and Professor of Communication Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He has published two books, 30 book chapters, and 22 journal articles in publications in the United States, Canada, China, Korea, Poland, Russia, and India. He has delivered more than 100 papers at conferences in Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Korea, Poland, Taiwan, and the United States.
Olson created the Global Media Network, which won a national award from the American Council on Education, and the Center for Media Design through a $20 million gift from the Lilly Endowment.
Olson has served on 21 different international, national, and local boards, including current service on the Great River Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors, the Higher Learning Commission Institutional Actions Council, the Winona State University Foundation Board, and as Chair of the Executive Alliance of HealthForce Minnesota.
He won an Emmy Award and a Cine Golden Eagle Award in 2004 as executive producer of a documentary film about digital learning.
His Ph.D. is from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He grew up in suburban Minneapolis.
