Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s good to be together with all of you again. We’ve had a busy but productive few months.
I would be remiss if I did not begin my remarks with some words of gratitude to our outgoing trustees: our chairman, Mr. John Zeiger, and our graduate student representative, Kendall Buchan.
John, it’s hard to believe this is your final meeting after nine years of distinguished service on the board. In all the time I’ve known you, you have been a strong champion of academic excellence and student success at Ohio State. You have consistently pushed us to reach higher and think bigger.
It was fitting that you were able to help preside over our spring commencement ceremony a few weeks ago, where we welcomed our newest class of Buckeye graduates into our worldwide network of now 640,000 alumni. You’ve always put students first – maybe a function of having been one yourself once – and we are a stronger university for your leadership.
I am personally grateful for your support and partnership, and all you’ve done to contribute to Ohio State’s upward trajectory. You’ll be missed on this board, but we know you and Cheryl will continue to serve our community no matter what you do next. Thank you.
And Kendall, you have been a trusted voice for our graduate and professional students. The student voices on this board are so important, and we appreciate your leadership. You have a bright future ahead of you. I echo Chairman Zeiger in welcoming Kendall’s successor, Annie Feibel. Annie, we look forward to having you on the board.
Just last week, I celebrated 500 days as a Buckeye... almost three months of that as your 18th president. And I remain deeply humbled by the opportunity to serve this great university. To this board in particular, thank you for the trust and confidence you have placed in me. I also want to publicly thank members of my presidential transition team, who have worked tirelessly to ensure continuity of both our operations and momentum through the leadership transition.
Those 500 days have been a journey of true joy and discovery. I want to share some of my observations with you, along with a few thoughts on where I think we’re headed next.
The first observation is that we have much to be proud of. I call Ohio State a powerhouse... across academics, research, health care and athletics. There are very few institutions that do all of what we do, at the scale at which we do it.
This alone puts us in rare company. But we are not just big. We are delivering excellence at scale:
- $1.68 billion research enterprise that supports life-changing and life-saving discovery... with a goal to grow that number to $2 billion.
- We are sixth in the nation in industry-funded research... with a vision to become the most business-friendly university in the country.
- We offer top-ranked programs in nursing, business and engineering... with big plans to further distinguish the excellence of our academic enterprise.
- We just announced a top-30 national ranking in biomedical innovation – proof of our success in delivering real-world research impact.
- We have more than 50 active faculty members in the academies of medicine, engineering, science and inventors, and we are underway with a bold effort to attract even more top talent to Ohio State with our Game Changer Scholars initiative. We have announced the appointments of two renowned scholars, Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who will be joining the Moritz College of Law, and Dr. Kang Xu, a leading expert in battery technology who will join our College of Engineering. And there are more to come.
- Our students have recently been honored with prestigious Goldwater and Truman scholarships... In fact, the 10th Truman Scholar in Ohio State history is one of our very own, undergraduate trustee Patrick Arp.
- Our medical center ranks among the very best in the country, and the new hospital tower will be a transformational force in health care, research and education.
- And of course, our athletics program is delivering excellence on and off the field. I am very proud of the new Academic Progress Rate data that was just released showing that 20 Ohio State programs achieved a perfect single-year score. In the last academic year, 227 Buckeyes were named to the Academic All-Big Ten team.
My second observation is that we are truly a destination of choice for Ohio students and families.
People are sometimes surprised to learn that more than three-quarters of all Ohio State undergraduates are from Ohio. And we are deeply committed to that as a land-grant institution that exists to serve Ohioans.
To me this demonstrates that students and families recognize that we offer an exceptional combination of accessibility and excellence. And we are working relentlessly to ensure that we continue to be both accessible and excellent. I was pleased to be in Lima recently to celebrate the launch of our Regional Campus Commitment, which promises a tuition-free education to qualifying Ohio students with a family income of $100,000 or less and demonstrated need and who begin their education at one of our regional campuses. By the way, our regional campuses are open access, creating an opportunity to pursue a Buckeye education for any Ohio student who wants to work for it.
Along with other programs like the Buckeye Bridge and President’s Ohio Scholarship, we are opening doors for more Ohio students. And the Ohio State Tuition Guarantee locks in in-state tuition, room and board for four years, providing predictability for students and families and ensuring that any changes this Board makes to tuition and fees impact incoming students only.
In all, well more than half of Ohio State bachelor’s degree recipients now report graduating with zero student loan debt.
But we are not just accessible. We provide access to excellence – to world-class academic programs, opportunities to do research alongside top faculty and to pursue real-world internships, access to an exciting entrepreneurial culture and a robust undergraduate experience that prepares students for career and life success.
Affordability is about what you pay, yes – and we recognize that higher education is a meaningful investment for most families. But it’s also about the quality experience you get for that investment... and at Ohio State, it’s excellence and opportunities that will pay dividends for the rest of our students’ lives.
My third observation is that the people who make up the extended Ohio State family are second to none.
It is true that when we put people at the center of everything we do, we can win. And more than any ranking or honor or award, it’s the people of Ohio State who demonstrate to me that we will be able to compete and win. This is a community that cares deeply, that believes in our mission, that lifts each other up and celebrates the possibilities of our collective impact.
I have had the great opportunity to engage with so many diverse stakeholders who care about Ohio State... students, faculty and staff; alumni and friends; elected leaders; the business community; higher education colleagues; community leaders in both rural and urban parts of the state. And I can tell you that they have an abiding belief in the noble land-grant mission.
That doesn’t mean they think we are perfect. But it does mean that when it comes time to work together to build a vibrant future for our state, we are all willing to lock arms like we do for “Carmen, Ohio” – forgive me if that sounds a little sentimental – and align around a shared vision for excellence.
So – the question now, as I have been posing to our teams, is what do we do with this moment?
My vision is simple. I want Ohio State to be, and I believe we can be, the finest public university in the country.
I am sometimes asked why a goal like that matters for Ohio. My answer is that a rising tide lifts all boats. Excellence should not be confused with elitism. Excellence is about including every single Ohioan in our success. Ohioans deserve a public university that delivers at the very highest levels. Just like we play to win in athletics, we should compete with the best of the best in academics and research.
As an excellent university, we will attract research dollars that support life-saving cures to devastating diseases, improved health outcomes in rural communities, and agricultural innovations to feed a growing world. We will attract new companies that will support job growth and entrepreneurship. We will attract talented students and faculty from within and beyond Ohio. With our size and scale, we will create truly transformative impact.
We are beginning to articulate big, bold ideas that will push us beyond what’s been comfortable in the past... exactly what a university like ours should be doing. We are asking questions like:
- What does it mean to be human in the age of AI?
- What is the role of education in building engaged citizens, not just professionals?
- What if we could tailor medical treatments to specific individuals? What if we could create a cancer-free world?
- What would be possible if we dramatically increased our support for student startups?
I can’t say we have all the answers yet... But I can say that we are bringing the right people to the table, we have the right alignment for excellence, we have the partnerships, and we have a commitment to hold ourselves and each other to the highest expectations, because Ohioans deserve nothing less.
I’m even more excited about Ohio State’s future than I was 500 days ago, and about the transformational impact that we can have as a powerhouse land-grant university. I look forward to going on this journey of excellence together.
Thank you again, and with that, Mr. Chairman, I’ll conclude my remarks.