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Dr. Spiers is not new to Rhodes State College. She has spent 18 years of her 29 years in higher education in senior leadership roles at Rhodes State. As she has stated, “I have put my heart and soul into this institution and am thankful for this opportunity to continue.” Dr. Spiers believes so strongly in what Rhodes State offers, because of her personal experience and the opportunities it has provided not only to the students she has encountered, but also to her own three children. Two of her children graduated with degrees from Rhodes when it was known as Lima Technical College. Her third child came back from his home university to attend Rhodes during summer terms. She saw first-hand that a viable career and transferable credits were made possible through Rhodes State.

Dr. Spiers last served full-time as the Vice President for Student Affairs at Rhodes, retiring in 2015. But, she returned in 2017 to assist the College with their Accreditation before moving into the Interim President’s role and then becoming the 4th President to serve at the College. Prior to that she served as the Vice President for Student Affairs at Owens Community College and Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assistant to the President for Planning at Rhodes State. Dr. Spiers also held other administrative positions at Rhodes, including Dean of Enrollment Management, Dean of Students, and Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs. While at Rhodes, she launched an enrollment management system of offices, bringing professional advising into the student experience. She also launched and supervised the Offices of Institutional Research and Data Analytics and led the design of a menu of reports to support data-driven management decisions.

Teaching and learning have always been part of Dr. Spiers portfolio, having a degree in physical education and previously serving as an undergraduate Physical Education instructor and Integrated Software Utilization for Sports Management instructor at Bowling Green State University, and graduate level instructor for the University of Dayton, teaching Personality and Human Development Across the Lifespan. She obtained the rank of Assistant Professor at Rhodes and became the academic Dean of Student Development Education, during which she launched the first Master Student Course – Student Development Education – which is still part of the required Rhodes State curriculum. As part of the Student Development Education (SDE) curriculum, Dr. Spiers launched a series of courses including: SDE 101, Critical Thinking (SDE 102), Portfolio Development (SDE-103), Fundamentals of Sports (SDE 120–123); and the integration of athletic participation into the curriculum as Team Sports (SDE 110–114).

What most people do not know about Dr. Spiers is that she has a passion for athletics and was an avid athlete in both high school and college. In high school she was the short-stop for a highly competitive and league winning fast pitch softball team. She participated on the Women’s Varsity Basketball and Hockey Teams at BGSU, and was named to the All-Ohio Field Hockey Team by the Ohio Collegiate Field Hockey Association. Her passion of athletics continued as she served as head coach, leading the Lima Technical College/OSU Lima Women’s Basketball team to a state runner up title in 1990 and a state championship in 1991.

Dr. Spiers earned her BS and MS in Health and Physical Education at Bowling Green State University and her PhD in Higher Education Administration and Leadership from Ohio University. As an undergraduate she was awarded the Dr. Amy Torgeson Outstanding Graduate Award by the School of Health and Physical Education at Bowling Green University and her Master’s Thesis was submitted by the School as the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Master Thesis Nominee. Her leadership in the development of the College’s Strategic and Institutional Effectiveness Model led to being selected for two years as a Bellwether Award Runner-Up, a prestigious award in recognition of outstanding and innovative practices leading community colleges into the future.

She obtained her Certification in Integrated Planning from the Society for College and University Planning Institute. She has scholarship and presentation activities at the local, state, and national level. Additionally she has held service on multiple institutional committees, community service affiliations, as well as professional affiliations.

She and Jim have three grown, married children - two sons and a daughter. They are blessed with 11 grandchildren ranging in age from 19 years to 8 months.