The members of the College of Science Visiting Committee serve as links between the University and public and private constituencies by providing continuing counsel to the Board of Trustees and the President of the University. For more information on Visiting Committees or to access the Visiting Committee handbook, please see the Board of Trustees webpage.

The following are the Visiting Committee Members for the College of Science for 2008-2009.

Robert Baxter leads strategic planning, alliances, business incubation and administrative operation as Vice President of BioEnterprise. Prior to joining BioEnterprise, Mr. Baxter was the Chief Operation Officer for Edison BioTechnology Center, now BioOhio, the State's bioscience advocacy and commercialization organization. Bob Baxter has spent more than 30 years in the private sector. Most recently, he was a co-Founder and Vice Presient of Ricerca, Inc., a 200 person contract R&D company in Lake County supporting the commerilization of new drugs, biomedical devices and other life science targeted products. Mr. Baxter has served as Campaign Chairman and past President of the Lake County United Way, and is a past President of the Lake Hospital Systems Foundation. He received a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Detroit.

Matt Carroll has been the Director of the City of Cleveland Department of Public Health since 2002. Matt began his professional career as an attorney with Baker & Hostetler and began his government and non-profit service by joining Cleveland’s Department of Law, continuing in management positions with ParkWorks, and the Cuyahoga County Department of Human Services. At the latter position, Matt was a Senior Manager for Cuyahoga Health & Nutrition. Matt received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Brown University and law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Matt has volunteered for a variety of Cleveland nonprofit organizations, including having served as president of the boards of the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland and Merrick House.

Michael A. Centanni (Chair) is Chief Patent Counsel for the STERIS Corporation in Mentor, Ohio. The STERIS Corporation provides products and services for infection and contamination prevention, and health science technologies. Dr. Centanni is an inventor on 20 issued U.S. patents and has over 20 more patent applications on file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Previous positions held include senior research scientist for Ferro Corporation and research physicist for Sherwin Williams and B.F Goodrich. Dr. Centanni held the position of Chief Patent Counsel for seven years and Vice President, Chief Patent Counsel for four years for Gould, Inc. (now Gould Electronics, Inc.). He is an alumnus of Cleveland State University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science (1973) and a Juris Doctor degree from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, J.D. (1983). He also holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Centanni was honored in 2006 by Cleveland State University as a Distinguished Alumni.

Lloyd Matthew Cook, M.D. is currently Director of the Division of General Internal Medicine, and a physician at the Church Square Family Health Care Center of Saint Vincent Charity Hospital. He received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Elmira College,k from which he graduateed with Honors. He received his M.D. degree in 1983 from the State university of New York Health Science Center at Syravuse. While there, he served as a teaching assistant in Human Anatomy, and was involved with the Upstate Medical and Paramedical Association. He is a Diplomate in Internal Medicine from the National Board of Medical Examiners. Dr. Cook has worked in a number of settings in Cleveland, many of them focused on serving inner city and disadvantaged populations. He has been a preceptor for the Case Western Reserve Medical School and a teaching attending physician in the highly successful internal medicine residency program at St. Vincent Charity Hospital. He has also assistted with educational grant programs a Cleveland State University focused on enhancing student knowledge and information about health disparities.

William M. Denihan has served as the CEO of the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board and will be appointed CEO of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board effective July 1, 2009. Mr. Denihan has 35 years of government experience as a change agent and problem solver serving in the State, County and local governments at the highest executive levels. In State Government he served as the Directors of the Ohio Department of Highway Safety, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the State Employment Relations Board and special advisor on nuclear power for Governor Celeste. In County Government he served as Executive Director for the Department of Children and Family Services, Director of Human Resources for Cuyahoga County and Director of the County Recorder’s office. At the City of Cleveland he served as the Director of Public Service, Director of Public Safety, Chief of Police on two different occasions. Currently he serves as senior advisor on Mayor Jackson’s Operation Efficiency Task Force. Mr. Denihan is a graduate of Cleveland State University, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998. He received the Cleveland State Alumni Association’s Civic Achievement Award in 1998; received the Dean’s Distinguished Award in 1999; and Pi Alpha Alpha Award, Cleveland State Chapter, and serves as a member of the Cleveland Leadership Academy, the College of Urban Affairs Visiting Committee, Strategic Planning Committee for the CSU Dean’s Office of Graduate Affairs, and the College of Science Visiting Committee.

Michael Frangos is Owner of Rascal House Pizza, which has four different locations in the Cleveland area. He and his spouse, Fouly, have an interest in supporting science at Cleveland State University and endowed a new Moses Cleaveland Scholarship Fund, beginning in FY05, for students pursuing degrees in biomedical and health research. The endowment was created in honor of his deceased parents, Irene and Stavros. His mother died from Leukemia in 1983. He and his family were recently honored at the Moses Cleaveland Dinner. Mr. Frangos is very tied to CSU students and enjoys having students come back to the store after they graduate to share their success stories.

Leah Gary is President and CEO of the William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Foundation, a private family foundation committed to serving families. She was previously President for Program and Evaluation of Saint Luke's Foundation of Cleveland where her responsibilities involved the development of new grant making programs and tools for evaluating the effectiveness of the Foundation's service to its mission. Ms. Gary is a registered nurse and holds bachelor and master degrees in nursing from Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing of Case Western Reserve University and a diploma in nursing from the Fairview General Hospital School of Nursing.

Thomas E. Hopkins has been Senior Vice President - Human Resources for the Sherwin-Williams Company since 1997. He joined the Sherwin-Williams Company, Stores Division, in 1981 as an intern in the Training Department. He was Director of Training from 1982 to 1985 during which time he helped create and implement the Management Trainee Program, Sales Rep Training and a number of other field based training systems. He was promoted to the position of Division VP-Human Resources in 1986 for the South Central Division in Dallas, Texas where he had responsibility for recruiting, training, employee relations and management planning and succession issues. He was appointed Vice-President of HR for the Paint Stores Group in 1990. Mr. Hopkins is involved with several Cleveland based organizations and agencies. He is a member of (i)Cleveland, the Commission on Economic Partnership and Inclusion and a Trustee for the Vocational Guidance Services. In addition, Mr. Hopkins is active with the National Association of Manufacturers and supports the Coatings Care initiative with the National Painting & Coatings Association. He has a particular interest in Minority Business development and supports Sherwin-Williams' efforts in Supplier Diversity throughout the Northeast Ohio region. Mr. Hopkins graduated from Malone College in 1978 (magna cum laude), earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He holds a Master's Degree from Cleveland State University (1982) where he studied Organizational Psychology. Tom, his wife Marsha, and three children reside in the Chagrin Falls area. His hobbies include golf, biking, fishing, music and reading.

Daniel Laskowski is a Cleveland State graduate and is Senior Principal Research Engineer for the Respiratory Institute and the Department of Pathobiology at the Cleveland Clinic. He is the author or the co-author of numerous medical and technical papers. He is also a partner in Breath-Tech and CEO of Physiologic Measurement Systems L.L.C.

Steven M. Lake, Director of Upward Bound Math/Science at Cuyahoga Community College, provides low-income and potential first generation college students from Cleveland with the skills and motivation necessary to enroll in and graduate from college.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications (‘01) and a Master of Education degree in Adult Learning and Development (‘03) from Cleveland State University.  He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education degree in Higher Education Administration from Northeastern University. 

Jo Ann V. Raney is a graduate of the Cleveland State University Physical Therapy program and received her M.S. degree in 1983. Ms. Raney began her studies in the early sixties in physical therapy at the University of South Florida. She resumed her studies at CSU after her children were grown. She worked as a physical therapist for Metro Health for 16 years. She has also worked at Health Hill as a physical therapist providing rehabilitation for children.

Norma Blackburn Singleton is a retired personnel director for the East Cleveland School District. As an educator, she held the positions of a science supervisor and science teacher. Mrs. Singleton was a research chemist at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Mrs. Singleton earned her Master of Science degree in Biology at Cleveland State University in 1979. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Hampton University.

Missi Zahoransky is an Occupational Therapist and holds a Master of Science Degree in Health Sciences. She and her husband, David, own Integrity Home Care, Inc. in North Royalton. Integrity Home care provides nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, medical social, and home health aide services. Ms. Zahronsky is a contributing author to home health publications and is author of "Managing Change in Managed Care", a book for occupational therapists.