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Lori Stewart Gonzalez

Lori Lee Stewart Gonzalez (born October 20, 1957) is an American speech pathologist and academic administrator serving as the 23rd president of Ohio University since 2023. She was the interim president of the University of Louisville from 2022 to 2023.

Gonzalez was born on October 20, 1957, in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, to Ruby Harmon and Wayne Stewart.^[1][2] She completed a B.A. in speech-pathology and audiology from the University of Kentucky.^[3] She earned a M.A. in communication disorders from Eastern Kentucky University.^[3] She earned a Ph.D. in communication sciences and disorders from the University of Florida.^[1] Her 1989 dissertation was titled, Relationship Between Severity of Phonological Disability and Generalization of Learning of /s/ Plus Stop Clusters in Young Children.^[2] Alice Tanner Dyson was her doctoral advisor.^[2]

In 1988, Gonzalez joined the faculty at Southern Illinois University Carbondale as an assistnat professor.^[3][2] In 1991, she became an assistant professor in the communication sciences and disorders program at the University of Kentucky.^[3] She later became its associate dean of academic affairs and in 2005, the dean of the college of health sciences.^[3] Gonzalez was the provost and executive vice chancellor at Appalachian State University.^[3] She was a special advisor to the senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina General Administration.^[3] Gonzalez was the vice chancellor for academic, faculty, and student affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.^[3] She was the executive vice president and provost of the University of Louisville.^[1] She succeeded Neeli Bendapudi in January 2022 as its interim president.^[4] She served in the role until January 2023 when Kim Schatzel was hired.^[1][4]

Elected unanimously in March 2023, on July 1, 2023, she became the 23rd president of Ohio University.^[3] She succeeded Hugh Sherman.^[1] Gonzalez is the first female to lead the university.^[3]

Gonzalez married Randall John Gonzalez in April 1988.^[2]