Claire Van Ummersen

Van Ummersen died in a car accident in Needham, Massachusetts, on September 29, 2021, at the age of 86.

2014: Dr. Mary Evans Sias, Kentucky State University.

2013: Dr. Anne Ponder of the University of North Carolina, Asheville.

In 2001, Dr. Van Ummersen joined the American Council on Education as vice president and director of the Office of Women in Higher Education until 2005, before serving as its vice president for the Effective Leadership Program from 2005–2010. She set national agendas to support the advancement of women leaders and state networks, which operate to identify emerging leaders.

In 1993, she was appointed president of Cleveland State University, a post she maintained until 2001. During her tenure at Cleveland State, she developed major partnerships with the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University, which led to Biomedical Research Cleveland, a research collaborative on structural biology. In collaboration with Kent State, University of Akron, Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine and Youngstown State University joint masters programs were developed in social world (MSW) and public health (MPH), delivered via a new interactive video network that also served 17 regional high schools providing advanced placement courses for high school students and graduate course work for teachers. Additionally, as stated by former U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich, "[u]nder her leadership, Cleveland State University executed an extensive building construction program and implemented several resourceful degree programs. The university's endowment grew fourfold during her tenure. Recently, [in 2001] the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Institutions of Higher Education suggested that Cleveland State University be honored continuing accreditation without qualification for the next ten years."

She also held several honorary degrees, including: doctor of science from the University of Massachusetts in 1988, doctor of science from the University of Maine in 1991, doctor of humane letters degree from New England University in 2005, doctor of humane letters from Granite State College in 2009.

From 1986–1992, she served as the chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire during which she launched the Instructional Video Network to link all of the system campuses as well as selected local schools. In 1994, former U.S. Representative Louis Stokes said on the floor of the House, "under Dr. Van Ummersen's leadership, higher education has witnessed a major reconstruction. Her energies have led to innovative techniques being used to foster education and expanded services being offered. From 1986 to 1992, while serving as chancellor of USNH, she managed over 29,000 students and a $300 million operating budget. In addition, Dr. Van Ummersen was responsible for launching an innovative instructional television network. Her unyielding efforts resulted in the linkage of all of the state's universities and colleges by televised instruction. She was also responsible for spearheading the implementation of a doctoral program in environmental sciences."

From 1981–1986, she served on the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education in several leadership positions including vice chancellor of management systems and telecommunications and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. Statewide planning and program review were critical components of her responsibilities.

Dr. Van Ummersen’s academic and research career began when she was selected, while in a Ph.D. program, as a member of Tufts' Investigation Group tasked with investigating the effects of microwave radiations on human health. Her team is credited with establishing present-day safety standards for microwave exposure. From 1963 to 1966, she served as a post-doctoral teaching associate. In 1967, she became a lecturer at the department of biology at Tufts, only to soon join the faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 1968, where she began 14 years of leadership and teaching positions including as assistant and associate professor of biology, director of the graduate program in biology, associate vice chancellor of academic affairs, and interim chancellor from 1978 to 1979. She was also tasked with chairing the pre-med, pre-vet, and pre-dentistry committees and the faculty senate committee on strategic planning. Her legacy at the University of Massachusetts is best remembered for her major responsibility in developing the first campus-wide Ph.D. program in environmental sciences with an emphasis on marine ecology, coastal zone management and marine toxicology.

Claire Van Ummersen (July 28, 1935 – September 29, 2021) was an American scholar and academic administrator, who served as President of Cleveland State University from 1993 to 2001. She was also national leader in career flexibility in higher education and women's advancement and leadership.

Van Ummersen was born in July 1935 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. An interest in science led her to Medford High School in Medford, MA, where she was enrolled in advanced classes in chemistry, physics, and biology. She enjoyed learning foreign languages, especially French and Latin. The latter helped her to excel in biology. In 1953, she was awarded the Mary Edward Peters scholarship to attend Tufts University, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1957 with a baccalaureate degree in biology. During her freshman year at Tufts, she had to change her academic adviser because he didn’t allow her to enroll in as many science classes as she would want to at any given time. Later, she received her master’s (1960) and doctorate (1963) in biology from Tufts, with a dissertation titled “An experimental study of developing abnormalities induced in the chick embryo by exposure to radio frequency waves.”