Zach Messitte ’90 has been named president of Ripon College in Ripon, Wis. Currently the dean of the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma, Messitte holds a master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University, and earned a Ph.D. in politics at New York University.

In 2010, Messitte established Bowdoin’s Italian awards – the Raimondi and Dante prizes. The Raimondi Prize honors the most outstanding senior in Italian Studies; the Dante Prize is given to the student who writes the best essay on Dante that year.

Messitte’s career path includes stints with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the United Nations, and as a researcher and producer with CNN. He assumes his new duties July 1.