CLEVELAND (June 7, 2022) – After a national search, Cleveland State University has selected Andrew Kersten, Ph.D. as inaugural dean of the newly forming College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Kersten is currently dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at University of Missouri-St. Louis and will officially join CSU on July 1, 2022.

“I am truly excited to welcome Dr. Kersten to CSU. His depth of experience in previously managing a College of Arts & Sciences is going to be invaluable as we launch our own new college,” said Nigamanth Sridhar, Ph.D., interim provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. “He has a deep passion for providing students a solid base on top of which they can build disciplinary expertise. As well, his vision for supporting faculty members engaged in a wide variety of research endeavors from the sciences to the humanities is going to help set the newly forming college on a strong growth path.”

Cleveland State’s College of Arts and Sciences is forming through CSU 2.0, the university’s aggressive, growth-oriented plan to be a stronger, more focused institution. The College of Arts and Sciences encompasses the following academic units that were previously part of either the university’s College of Sciences and Health Professions or the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences: anthropology; art and design; biological, geological and environmental sciences; Africana studies; chemistry; English; film and media arts; history; mathematics and statistics; music; philosophy and comparative religion; political science; physics; psychology; theatre and dance; and world languages, literatures and culture.

“The new expanded College of Arts and Sciences brings together disciplines that shape our program of general education, which is the heart and soul of undergraduate study,” added Dr. Sridhar. “As we deepen CSU’s commitment to research in both the sciences and the humanities, we will add to our standing as a student-centered research university with the educational and reputational benefits inherent in housing these disciplines in a single collegiate unit.”

“I am incredibly honored and grateful to join Cleveland State University as the inaugural dean of the new College of Arts and Sciences. I look forward to working with the campus leadership team, faculty, staff, and students as we build the new college and engage the strategic goals of CSU 2.0.,” said Dr. Kersten. “CSU has an extraordinarily bright future, and I am proud to be a part of the university community that has such importance to Northeast Ohio.”

Dr. Kersten, a U.S. historian, has served as dean of University of Missouri-St. Louis’ College of Arts and Sciences since 2018. Under his leadership, the college became an engine for growth, while adding 40 new faculty and launching several interdisciplinary degree and certificate programs.

Previously, he was dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Idaho. Additionally, he was a faculty member, department chair and associate provost at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. As a faculty member, he taught courses in U.S. history as well as the interdisciplinary program, Democracy and Justice Studies.

Dr. Kersten researches and writes about American history since Reconstruction. His books include an investigation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fair Employment Practice Committee (Race, Jobs, and the War, 2000), a history of the American Federation of Labor during World War II (Labor’s Home Front, 2006), a biography of labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph (A Life in the Vanguard, 2006), and a biography of the famous defense lawyer Clarence Darrow (Clarence Darrow: American Iconoclast, Hill and Wang, 2011). His other professional passions include public history, interdisciplinarity, international education, inclusive excellence and innovative curricula.

Dr. Kersten obtained both is Ph.D. and M.A. in U.S. history from University of Cincinnati. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from University of Wisconsin-Madison.