I have a few comments to make to start us off today. It's a pleasure to be with you. I know it's a very busy time of the year for our students, faculty and staff as we prepare to glide into the end of the academic year, and I'm especially grateful for you taking the time to be here today.
I want to begin by acknowledging that we're in the news a little bit this week. We're always in the news, but we're in the news for perhaps unanticipated or sometimes unwanted reasons. But as I said in my message to our community, a sudden change in leadership can be difficult, and many of us are still processing what happened, including me.
And it’s been an interesting few weeks, and it's worthy of us taking the time to process a little bit. But I'm very grateful for the comprehensive work that the investigative team did, and they worked, I know, many, many, many long hours for many weeks to compile the exhaustive and thorough report that they compiled. And I'm also grateful that they, at the end of the day, their findings were that, many more people stood up and did the right thing, many of our processes held, and, no finances or other things were misused.
But still, the findings are unsettling as you read them, and that is what it is.
But as I look at that, I cannot help but go back to what I had shared when we were last together. That no single challenge, no single news story defines us as a Buckeye community.
Rather, it's our daily acts of excellence, of dedication to our mission, that demonstrate our true identity at Ohio State. And this identity, I think, it’s built on grit, on resilience, on high expectations that we have of each other, and, it's important to remind ourselves, the joy and the meaning that comes from pursuing the things we love to do, whether it's research, our education mission, or our mission helping our community. I still firmly believe this, that this event doesn't define who we are.
Last week, I'll tell you as an example, I was in Lima, launching our new Regional Campus Commitment program, which essentially allows access to the Columbus campus, tuition-free for families that qualify, $100,000 or less in AGI.
And when I was there, I met an amazing student, Sophia Walker was her name, a junior in biology, a pre-med student, who shared the story that she was a first-gen student, one of five sisters, three of whom had gone to Lima to get their education. And the transformative impact that Ohio State Lima had on her life and her family's life.
You know, this is the Ohio State that lives, breathes and exists today, and we have reason to be proud.
We celebrated 804 scholar-athletes at our annual Scarlet and Graymies ceremony. We can be proud to be part of the university, that our student athletes are humans first, students second, and athletes third. And our student-athletes represent Ohio State so well in the classroom, in our communities and in competition.
And we had a championship weekend, with men's and women's tennis and men's lacrosse, all bringing home regular-season Big Ten championship titles. Congratulations to all the teams, the coaches and the students involved.
And we honored our Innovators of the Year, scholars, scholars whose excellence in research and discovery is creating real impact for the people of Ohio and beyond. Our 2026 Innovator of the Year Award winner was Luis Morelis, assistant Professor of dentistry, a pioneer in developing surgical technologies that have reduced complications for patients, lowered healthcare costs, and expanded access to care across international markets. Excellence at scale at work.
Sixty of our programs landed in the top 25 of the U.S. News and World Report's new rankings for the best graduate schools. Now, we all have a love-hate relationship with rankings, but rankings are not the only metric that matter to us, but hey, if they count as well, we'll celebrate that. They are treated as a proxy for excellence, and sometimes they do represent excellence. So, I really am appreciative of the hard work of the faculty and staff and students who made that possible. And we are proud to be counted amongst the best in the world.
Four of our scientists were elected as fellows of the American Association of the Advancement of Science. This is one of the most prestigious honors a faculty member can earn, and I'm very pleased that we have many, many faculty who are deserving of this recognition. They're being more aggressive now in nominating faculty, and I'm delighted that we're having the success with these four new fellows being recognized.
And I'll share with you that I just got back from D.C., and I had the opportunity while I was there to engage with Ohio's congressional delegation and the Ohio State alumni living in the D.C. area.
Now, the wonderful thing about that gathering and the congressional breakfast was there was red and blue, and many shades of red and blue represented in that room. And that's the power, beauty and joy of Ohio State, its ability to convene a room like that. And there were several people from Columbus who had flown to be at that event in D.C. It just gave me tremendous joy, to be in that room with them and share a little bit about our vision for what we're trying to build. And many of our cabinet colleagues and other senior leaders were also there, and I'm grateful for that.
And of course, in a couple of weeks, we will celebrate a new class of Buckeye alumni. For me, you know, as a provost and now as a president, there are many events that I take part in. There's none quite like watching our graduates earn their diplomas, watching their families, friends and siblings, and just the joy of the event of graduation. And I'm looking forward to that.
But I know that when each of our students graduate, it took several of you in this room, advisors, staff, faculty, mentoring our students and teaching them. It takes a special set of things for the graduation to happen, and the culmination of one's journey. And I thank you for all that you do in this room to enable that.
This is the kind of work that's happening every day. Producing graduates, celebrating and opening and giving opportunity to Sophia in Lima, as a first-gen student. Incredible acts of scholarship worthy of recognition by the American Academy of Advancement of Science. This is what Ohio State reflects to me. These everyday, quiet acts of service, leadership and kindness that define us as a university. And at moments of turbulence or change, I would suggest, as I do for myself, we remind ourselves that this is Ohio State more than any one headline.
Speaking of acts of service, at the end of the academic year, the leaders of our constituency groups will be transitioning out of their roles. And I want to take a moment now to recognize them and share our gratitude for their service to Ohio State. Now, shared governance is a bedrock principle for us at this university, and in my 15 months here, I've definitely benefited greatly from the input and ideas of our students, our faculty and our staff leaders. And I know our leadership team is grateful for your engagement as well.
Now, I've said before, and I will say it again, disagreement, debate and discussion is a feature of universities, not a bug. And – this is software. Because we have an ag school, I gotta say that.
And the leaders we are honoring today have worked tirelessly and selflessly to represent their constituencies and help us build a better Ohio State. I'm keenly aware that each of these individuals I'll mention in a second, took this leadership role on top of all the work that they had to do, as students, faculty and staff, and I'm deeply appreciative for your service.
Please join me in recognizing our constituent leaders: Jessica Asante-Tutu, president of our Undergraduate Student Government. Sabrina Durso president of the Council of Graduate Students. Emily Williams, president of the Interprofessional Council. And this is a special leader who brings compassion and wisdom to her role: Alice Gaughn, chair of the University Staff Advisory Committee. And, somebody who brings life to every room that she's in, Valarie Williams, chair of the Faculty Council.
Thank you for your service. We look forward to welcoming your successors, and you set a great example for them.
Finally, I want to reserve a few words, if I may, of appreciation for an individual seated right here next to me, Mr. Jared Gardner. He does not know that I was going to do this. But many of you know that this is Jared's last meeting as secretary, as he's stepping into a support role for what would have been the final year of his term, and he's doing so for health reasons, and to better support his department, the Department of English, and its chair.
And he's got good reasons to support his chair, I think. Jared will be working with the Senate office next year in a part-time capacity, and he's too addicted to shared governance to stray too far.
The process of identifying a new secretary is underway, with self-nominations closing on the 27th. But what I do want to share is that I've gotten to know Jared a little bit. I know many things thanks to him. One of the things he's told me many times is that our narrative studies program is the best in the world, with Project Narrative.
Seriously, though, he approaches his work with a true servant's heart. He loves Ohio State deeply. And the role of the secretary is not for the uninitiated. You know, like any leadership role, many times you hear more when people think things are not going right than when they're going right, and Jared has been up to the task. It requires much expertise and familiarity with the university, deft touch as a communicator and collaborator, an attention to detail, and a distinguished record, and a commitment to leading with our shared values.
So, Jared, I deeply appreciate you answering the call to serve in this extraordinary way. We will miss working with you, but please know that you've gone above and beyond in your service to the university. We will miss you very much, but you've created an amazing blueprint for the successor who will follow, and we're fortunate to have you serve.
May the force be with you, my friend.
Let's finish this academic year strong, and let's take, I hope, after or during, some time to rest and recharge. And many of us are busy during the summer, I recognize. But I welcome the cadence that is the academic calendar.
That concludes my report. Thank you so much.