It’s an honor truly for Lalita and me to be here. I’d like to begin by thanking the board for your faith in Ohio State and for your dedicated service. From our first conversations you alluded to 14 months ago, you have made it very clear that you believe that Ohio State, from its inception, was built to lead. And, indeed, we were one of the first universities to be invited to join the AAU, the Association of American Universities, back in 1916.
Lalita and I joined, as I said, the Ohio State family about 400 days ago, a little over. And we’ve gotten to see and experience our motto, Education for Citizenship, in action. Citizenship is wonderful because it alludes to both the individual, and the relationship of the individual to the community that they are part of. And, indeed, what a community we are part of. In our 400 days here, we’ve had the pleasure to interact with our amazing faculty, our staff, our students, our student leaders. Our clinical leaders. Our cabinet colleagues, who are wonderful. The University Senate and our shared governance process. Our leaders across the institution, from deans to department chairs and center directors. And not just our own community here. Our governor and first lady have been incredible, our state legislators, our mayor and his team. The higher ed partners – it really takes a village – our higher education partners, Chancellor Duffey is here, and agencies and our business partners. And not to mention our federal and state congressional delegations. Our regional campuses are represented and are so important to us. And our unbelievable alumni who show up every day, not just on football Saturdays, to help the university.
There is another special sauce we’ve experienced, which actually took us a little by surprise but in a delightful way. There’s an incredible civic community in central Ohio that’s very invested in us doing well as a state and as a region. And we’ve had the joy of experiencing that.
When I reflect on this, what binds this wide cross section of our community is their love for Ohio State - and importantly their recognition that Ohio State, as the flagship, land-grant university, plays a critical role in our state’s economy. They recognize the power of Ohio State to positively impact the citizens of this great state. When a first gen student graduates from Ohio and Ohio State, they are transformed. Not just they – their families, their siblings and their children will be transformed. That is the promise and delight of The Ohio State University.
The whole world knows and talks of us as an athletics powerhouse – and that we are. I had the joy, five days after starting – and I know you told me not to get used to this – of winning the national championship, and what an experience that was. Thanks to our amazing student athletes and coaches, we compete at the highest level, show excellence on the field and off the field at the Olympics and for many national championships in many sports, not just football.
In tennis, for example -- Lalita like to play a little tennis – I’ve had the pleasure of trying to keep up with Coach Ty Tucker on the tennis court, and it was quite a humbling experience, actually.
But what the world doesn’t fully know, and what I know as the chief academic officer of this university for the last 400 days, is that we are an academic powerhouse as well.
We are ranked no. 5 by Time Magazine in public universities. We have a top-20 public engineering school. We have the finest nursing school in the country, the top public nursing school in the country. Our undergraduate business program is ranked sixth among publics in the country, and they’re reimaging business education. We are one of the finest, most amazing cancer hospitals in the country in The James, something that we have to be proud of. And our College of Arts and Sciences has 13 departments ranked in the top 10 in publics universities. We have a fantastic agriculture school, vet school and the list goes on.
These top ranked departments and schools don’t just mean that we do an amazing job with our education, but the research and innovation that are presented across the university is really breathtaking. We are ranked no. 12 in the country, not just publics, in our research prowess and expenditures. We have three national centers that our faculty lead in the space of artificial intelligence. And at a time when artificial intelligence is asking us what does it really mean to be human, we have incredible strengths in the liberal arts, humanities and law to probe and answer that question – and lead in defining what that future looks like.
We are an academic powerhouse, thanks to this board’s support, without a doubt. Why does it matter, one might ask oneself? It matters because the best scholars in the world are in our classrooms, teaching our undergraduate, graduate and professional students. It matters because our entrepreneurial mindset and relentless pursuit of excellence have the power to transform the world starting right here in Ohio.
We pursue excellence not because we want to be elitist. We pursue it because when we accept one dollar, whether it is a tuition dollar, or philanthropy from the generosity of our supporters, a sponsored research dollar or a dollar from a taxpayer here in Ohio, we are serious about being the best possible stewards of that dollar. And that is why we pursue excellence.
We pursue excellence because we want to rid the world of cancer, to help diminish the agonizing helplessness of families facing challenges in mental health. We pursue excellence because we want to make Ohio the most dynamic economy in the country.
We often hear that Ohio State is a large place, one of the largest universities in the country – and that we are. But consider this: When excellence happens at the scale of Ohio State, we create an impact that is unmatched in its transformative power. That is the power of Ohio State. That is why Ohio State matters to the state and to the country.
And so in looking ahead, knowing our collective strengths, I promise you this. Together, we will take on hard things that are worth doing. Hard things that are worth doing. In athletics, in health care, in education – in fact, in all the things we do, we will lead and we will not be afraid to lead. And we choose to lead because the challenges we face as a society – from our economy, to how we organize ourselves as a society, and to helping create abundant energy that powers the ideas that we have – these challenges demand that we lead. That is the promise of Ohio State.
And we will lead with humility, in a manner informed by our values, and we will do it with responsibility. And, yes, we will do it with some abandon and joy, as well.
I have been here a little over 400 days, and I know I have much to learn. But what I do know confidently is this – we know how to win, and each of us at Ohio State, in this room and across our beautiful state, has the agency to create the Ohio State we want. And we will choose to exercise this agency in the service of hard things worth doing for the citizens of Ohio and the world.
So I thank you, Chairman Zeiger and this board, for this honor, and I thank the broader community of Ohio State. Lalita and I are at once humbled and proud to be citizens of this great community. Go Bucks!