Wright State University’s Dan Krane named American Council on Education Fellow

Dan Krane is biology professor and president of the faculty at Wright State and chair of the Ohio Faculty Council.

Dan Krane, president of the faculty at Wright State University and chair of the Ohio Faculty Council, has been named an ACE Fellow by the American Council on Education, a prestigious honor designed to prepare emerging leaders for senior positions in college and university administration.

Krane was among 31 educators from across the country—and the only one from Ohio—named ACE Fellows for the 2014–15 academic year following a rigorous application process. ACE, which announced its Fellows on April 23, is the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents.

“This is quite an honor for Dr. Krane and Wright State,” said President David R. Hopkins. “It represents a national nod to the talent and the leadership we have here at the university. These leaders are destined to change the future landscape of higher education.”

Joan Wodiska, ACE vice president and chief leadership officer, said that many previous Fellows have advanced into major positions in academic administration. Nearly 2,000 higher education leaders have participated in the ACE Fellows Program since its inception, with more than 300 Fellows having served as chief executive officers of colleges or universities and more than 1,300 having served as provosts, vice presidents and deans.

“For nearly 50 years, the ACE Fellows Program has transformed lives and grown future leaders,” Wodiska said. “The ACE Fellows Program is unique. The program immerses Fellows in learning experiences to gain insight and understanding into the changing environment of higher education.”

Krane graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from John Carroll University in 1985 and obtained a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Penn State in 1990. He did post-doctoral research at Washington University and Harvard before accepting a faculty appointment in 1993 at Wright State, where he is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Krane is one of the world’s foremost DNA experts, testifying as an expert witness in more than 100 criminal trials in which DNA evidence was presented. He is also the president of Forensic Bioinformatics, which has reviewed testing from hundreds of cases around the world every year since 2002.

He is completing the third of three one-year terms as faculty president at Wright State, in which he speaks on behalf of the faculty to the university administration and chairs meetings of the Faculty Senate. As chair of the Ohio Faculty Council, he speaks on behalf of faculty at the 13 four-year public universities to the Ohio Board of Regents, chancellor, state General Assembly and others.

The ACE Fellows Program combines three retreats on higher education issues organized by ACE, interactive learning opportunities, campus visits and placement at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single semester or year. Each ACE Fellow will focus on an issue of concern while spending time working with a college or university president and other senior officers at the host institution.

“I am very honored to be included in the very talented and diverse 2014–2015 class of ACE Fellows,” Krane said. “I am looking forward to the amazing learning experience that the ACE Fellows Program offers and hope to come back to Wright State with a new set of skills that I will be able to use to help our students succeed.”