Obituary
Paul R. Brown, who served as the fifth president of Zane State College in Ohio from 2004 to 2015, died on February 1 when a single-engine plane he was piloting crashed. He was 74.
Brown served in the U.S. Air Force, retiring from the service as vice president of Community College of the Air Force and achieving the rank of major. He then become vice president at Owens Community College (Ohio) at the Findlay campus, and in 2004 was named president of Zane State, which had just changed its name from Muskingum Area Technical College. Brown retired from the college in 2015.
Under Brown’s leadership, Zane State increased enrollment by 100%, added education centers in Zanesville and Cambridge, established the Institutional Research and Planning Department and the Leadership Development Institute, expanded the foundation office, and received numerous honors and awards. Among the kudos was the Leah Meyer Austin award from the Achieving the Dream Network in 2012 for the college’s advancements in increasing student success and reducing equity gaps.
“Throughout his career, Paul Brown has clearly shown the potential of each person to have a positive effect on the quality of life in our society. Over the years, he has distinguished himself as a conscientious and responsible Ohioan, and he is truly deserving of high praise,” noted a state Senate resolution in 2015 honoring his retirement and achievements at Zane State.
Current Zane State President Chad Brown worked with Brown, first as a dean then as chief academic officer and provost. He posted on Twitter: “Dr. Paul R. Brown, leader, mentor, friend. Through your vision of what this community could be and your belief in shaping a better future, you touched so many lives throughout Southeastern Ohio.”
Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), who plans to honor Brown with a speech in Congress on Monday, said in a statement that Brown was “a relentless champion for higher education and leaves behind an enduring legacy at Zane State College. It was an honor to work alongside him for so many years.”
Rep. Bill Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) also recalled Brown’s impact on the community. “I got to know him very well and was able to call him a friend over the last decade,” said Johnson, who in 2013 visited Zane State to get a firsthand look at the college’s new oil and gas land lab.
Appointments
Samantha DeZerga is the next director of the William D. Law, Jr. Learning Commons at Florida’s Tallahassee Community College. She was promoted from serving in an interim role in the position. DeZerga joined the college in 2019 as a success coach in the Learning Commons.
Hannah Watson is now high school coordinator at Savannah Technical College in Georgia. Previously, she was an admissions representative at South University.
At Gadsden State Community College in Alabama, Gerri Langley was appointed to director of the Ayers Campus and Ricky Tillis is now director of the Valley Street Campus. In addition to their new duties, Langley will continue to serve as instructor of the college’s office administration program, and Tillis will continue as the program advisor for Title III. Both are alumni of Gadsden State.
