Marvin Duane Nellis (born July 26, 1954) is an American educator, university administrator, and 21st president of

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He was previously the president of

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

and the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

. Nellis previously served as provost and senior vice president at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, and dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Science at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

Early life and education

Born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, Nellis was raised in northwestern

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

and graduated from

Libby High School The former Libby High School is a building in Libby, Montana, US added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 20, 2008. According to the filing documents: The historic Libby High School stands at the southeast corner of Mineral ...

He attended

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

Bozeman Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

and earned a bachelor's degree in earth sciences and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

in 1976. Nellis went on to graduate from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

with a master's in geography in 1977 and a Ph.D in geography His doctoral dissertation was on

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...

in water resource management.

Academic career

After graduate school, Nellis has worked for over 30 years in various administrative roles at

., and most recently at

. At Kansas State, Nellis was a department head, associate dean, and after returning from West Virginia (where he served as dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences), served as provost and senior vice president from 2004 until his departure for the university presidency at Idaho in 2009. He later became president of Texas Tech in June 2013, serving until 2017. Nellis' research has focused on

geographic information systems A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a br ...

and remote sensing, and he is internationally recognized for his work in this area, including receiving numerous university, national and international teaching, research and advising awards, and serving as president of the Association of American Geographers, president of the National Council for Geographic Education and president of

Gamma Theta Upsilon Gamma Theta Upsilon ( or GTU) is an international honor society in geography. History On May 15, 1928, a local professional fraternity by the name of Gamma Theta Upsilon was formed at Illinois State University under the guidance of Dr. R. G. Bu ...

, the international honor geographical society

University of Idaho

Nellis arrived at the University of Idaho in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 2009 and led a major $225 million capital campaign, and oversaw over $80 million in campus facility improvements. He created the President's Diversity Council, enhanced what became a nationally award-winning engagement effort through creation of the Office for Community Partnerships, improved major inter-disciplinary initiatives, and significantly improved business partnerships between the university and business and commodity groups in Idaho and throughout the

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

. As UI president, Nellis was a member of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee. As a nationally recognized higher education leader, he has served as a commissioner for the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities (one of 8 nationally recognized accreditation bodies). He also served as a Governor-appointed commissioner of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which coordinates higher education efforts for the 15 western states, and has been involved in various national committees for the

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) is a research, policy, and advocacy organization of public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and higher education organizations. It has member ca ...

(APLU).

Texas Tech University

Nellis was announced as the final candidate for the presidency of

on March 1, 2013. According to news reports, he was recruited for the position, and had not applied. On March 22, the Texas Tech Board of Regents unanimously confirmed him as the university's next president, effective June 15. During his tenure, Nellis promoted moving Texas Tech University forward toward higher levels of national prominence as a major public research university. He has advocated for continued quality enrollment growth (including stronger advocacy for national and international student recognition), accelerated research expenditures and faculty recognitions, creating a more engaged institution while promoting industry and community partnerships, with a commitment toward global connections and creativity while seeking external revenue sources to invest in the university enterprise. Under Nellis' leadership, Texas Tech was named in 2014 an APLU Innovation and Economic Prosperity University. Texas Tech also achieved Tier One Carnegie Designation for the highest research category at the conclusion of his presidential term. Nellis also served as a tenured university honors professor while working on broader university strategic initiatives. From 2013 to 2017, Nellis was a trustee of the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...

Commission on Colleges.

Ohio University

In 2017, Nellis was announced as the next president of

on February 22, and he officially took office on June 12. In 2018, Nellis is credited for starting a new OHIO Honors Program instituted under the established Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. Evidence suggests that this reinforcing of academic excellence improved Ohio University's ranking and incoming student GPA scores since 2018. He served as a member of the

Commission on Economic and Community Engagement Executive Committee in 2019. On May 4, 2020, the Ohio University Faculty Senate approved a vote of no confidence (44 to 11) in Nellis and Vice President for Finance Deborah Shaffer following an announcement from the president's office that 140 positions at the university would be cut as part of a budget reduction plan. The faculty senate accused Nellis of "leading the university to a budget crisis, made much worse by the coronavirus pandemic." Ohio University had been facing "significant" budget shortfalls due to declining enrollment and in March 2020, Nellis announced that the university's academic colleges would have to make $26 million in budget cuts through 2023 and that administrative cuts amounting to $8 million would have to be made with no timeline on the latter. Although the faculty senate vote was nonbinding, a petition was created that had nearly 200 signatures by March 4 and by March 6 the petition neared 600 signatures. The OU Trustees maintained their support of both Nellis and Shaffer per a statement issued on May 11. Nellis stepped down as the President of Ohio University in 2021, and , serves as a President Emeritus and Trustee Professor of the university. Nellis was name
2023 Fellow of the American Association of Geographers
a lifetime achievement award recognizing his expertise in the field of geography, particularly remote sensing, and his leadership roles in higher education.

Awards and honors

*Ohio Commodores, Member, Distinguished Business Leaders of Ohio *Distinguished Honor Member, National Collegiate Scholars *Leadership Award, Dialogue Institute *Alumni Award of Excellence, University of Idaho *Honorary Alumni Award, University of Idaho *Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science *Fellow, Explorers Club, New York City *Distinguished Mentor Award, National Council for Geographic Education *Fellow, Royal Geographic Society *Young Research Scholar Award, Institute of British Geographers *Distinguished Alumni Fellow, Oregon State University *Distinguished Alumnus Award, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University *Outstanding Teaching Award, Kansas State University *University Advisor of the Year Award, Kansas State University *Gilbert Grosvenor Geographic Education National Honors, Association of American Geographers *

John Fraser Hart John Fraser Hart (born April 5, 1924) is an American geographer. Over the course of his career he published over 150 scholarly papers, over a dozen books, and taught over 50,000 university students in his 65 years of teaching from 1949 until his r ...

Award for Excellence in Research, Association of American Geographers *Outstanding Contributions Award in Remote Sensing, Association of American Geographers *

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

, Golden Key,

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...

, Sigma Xi, Mortar Board,

*President (2002-2003), Association of American Geographers *President (1994), National Council for Geographic Education *President, (1999-2000) Gamma Theta Upsilon (International Geographic Honor Society) *Mortar Board, Forum Chapter, inducted as member March 2015 *2023 Fellow of the American Association of Geographers

Personal life

Nellis met his wife Ruthie as an undergraduate at Montana State. She was from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and became a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

. As a librarian, she oversaw a science library at Kansas State, and the medical school library at West Virginia. She also worked in Kansas State's commercialization initiative, and was project manager on several major library building projects at West Virginia. Married in 1975, the couple has two sons, Jonathan and Jason.

References

External links

Ohio University
– M. Duane Nellis
Texas Tech University
– M. Duane Nellis {{DEFAULTSORT:Nellis, Duane American geographers Kansas State University faculty Living people Montana State University alumni Oregon State University alumni People from Moscow, Idaho People from Spokane, Washington University of Idaho faculty West Virginia University faculty Presidents of Texas Tech University 1954 births Presidents of the University of Idaho Presidents of Ohio University Presidents of the American Association of Geographers People from Libby, Montana