| | OHIO UNIVERSITY
FOUNDERS DAY CONVOCATION
Friday, February 2, 2007; 10 a.m.; Baker University Center Grand Ballroom View webstream archive
Thank you Provost Krendl!
Good morning! I am pleased to extend my welcome to the Ohio University Board of Trustees, Distinguished Professors, faculty and student honorees, and all members of the Ohio University community.
From Ohio University’s very beginnings, students, faculty, and staff who possess a certain energy, passion, and intellectual curiosity have been a part of our institutional character. The first students at Ohio University were no exception.
Imagine what it was like to be a student at Ohio University in the early 1800s. Surrounded by the wilderness, they had little to do with their time but study. So to occupy their free time, they created literary societies. Through those societies, they honed their debate, oratory, essay writing and reading, and interpretation of literature skills.
In 1811, with the help of President Lindley, they secured 25 dollars to promote their speaking activities. And in 1812, they secured 16 dollars for a stage. Those beginnings were the creation of the University’s first extracurricular organization. That organization continues to exist and is known today as our very distinguished and nationally respected Forensics Program.
This program was a seed planted by our very early students and our first president. It continues to grow and prosper with the nurturing of our faculty and staff who are coaching those very talented students. We should all ask ourselves, what have we planted?
Professor Crowl has honored us this morning with the telling of Ohio University’s history. As he so eloquently illustrated, we have a deep and rich history, one of which we are very proud. And it is important for us to share our history.
In 2004, I appointed the Presidential Task Force on the Future of Ohio University. Its charge was to examine our past, our present, and our future. The members of that task force focused their attention on our historical mission, and asked the question, “How do we, as an institution, continue to serve our founding mission and make it relevant in our current conditions?” The answer was Vision OHIO.
That 60-page planning document provided a framework for how we translate our founding mission and make it viable in today’s world. It outlines how we should enhance and support undergraduate education, graduate education, and our outstanding faculty through the achievementof four goals: to build national prominence, promote diversity, enhance financial support, and grow partnerships.
What have we planted to build national prominence?
This year the University was ranked 40th among 245 institutions as a national university by Washington Monthly. In assessing each university, the publication examined the institution’s contributions to the nation on three factors: community service, research, and its commitment to providing access to a higher education. That recognition places Ohio University amongst the ranks of Harvard, Yale, and Columbia universities.
As Dean Fidler shared with us this morning, our students are having great success competing for nationally and internationally competitive awards. This past fall, 14 Ohio University School of Visual Communication students earned 25 awards, including the 2006 College Photographer of the Year. They earned almost 30 percent of the 85 awards given in the national competition. And they were the only students from a university in the State of Ohio to win any honors at the oldest and most-respected collegiate photography competition in the nation.
Faculty members also are receiving prestigious honors. Professor of English Mark Halliday was one of 187 United States and Canadian artists, scholars, and scientists selected for a Guggenheim Fellowship. He joins a distinguished list of past fellows including Langston Hughes, Martha Graham, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Fifteen of Ohio University’s dedicated and talented faculty were recently recognized in Ohio Magazine’s 2006 “Excellence in Education” program. Featured among the issue’s 150 top professors in Ohio, our honorees represent four of our six campuses and teach in disciplines such as physics, fine arts, nursing, journalism, theater, and music.
We are home to a nationally-ranked women’s volleyball team, which has won the MAC regular season and tournament championship four seasons in a row. Our women’s field hockey and cross country teams won their respective MAC championship titles this fall. And our winning football team took us to our first bowl game in 38 years.
What have we planted to promote diversity?
At Ohio University, we believe that a climate which represents and appreciates the human spirit, regardless of its packaging, only serves to enhance our abilities to provide all of our students and members of our community with relevant experiences to successfully compete in our diverse world.
Through programming we are creating new opportunities for our students to engage one another and learn more about those different from themselves. For example, first-year Ohio University students who enrolled in a University College course called Collaborative Learning/Peer Mentoring are developing their skills in the areas of leadership and personal reflection. They also are finding strength in differences and persevering toward their career goals. The course is based upon the book called “The PACT: Three young men make a promise and fulfill a dream.” It was written by Doctors Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt, also known as the Three Doctors, who recently were on campus as a part of our Kennedy Lecture Series.
Ohio University has an extensive international legacy which has led to the development of National Resource Centers in African and Southeast Asian Studies. These centers develop curriculum, bring scholars from Africa and Southeast Asia to campus, and equip students with the skills necessary to study and work in countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Through the Urban Scholars Program and the Appalachian Scholars Program, we have created new opportunities for high-achieving students to attend Ohio University. We also have increased our efforts to actively recruit out-of-state and international students.
What have we planted to enhance financial support?
We have received the two largest gifts ever in our 202-year history. The Scripps Howard Foundation invested $15 million dollars in our Scripps College of Communication, bringing its total commitment to $20 million, further enhancing a 40-year partnership.
The Osteopathic Heritage Foundations awarded $10 million in support of our College of Osteopathic Medicine to help build an integrated research and learning facility.
We also continue to strengthen and increase our resources.
In fiscal year 2006, external funding reached $57.2 million. Notable awards among the 610 granted to faculty and staff include a $1.67 million National Science Foundation grant for faculty and graduate students in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology and the College of Education. They will use those funds to develop new middle school science curricula that use video games as an instructional tool.
The National Institutes of Health granted $1.6 million to Professor of Psychology Christopher France and his colleagues to study how to prevent adverse reactions in people donating blood for the first time.
Early data from the University’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs indicate a continued increase in awards activity for the current fiscal year. In the last six months, Ohio University received 347 awards totaling $33.6 million compared with 267 awards and $26.2 million during the same time last year.
One of those awards is a grant from The Ohio Department of Development’s Third Frontier Entrepreneurial Signature Program. The ESP program awarded $3.5 million to our Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs and venture capital firm Adena Ventures to invest in new technology businesses in Southeast Ohio. This grant will expand the Voinovich Center and Adena Ventures partnership, which has become a national model for rural economic development. It also will provide our faculty and students on the Athens and regional campuses with the opportunity to share their business and financial expertise with new entrepreneurs.
What have we planted to grow partnerships?
The Office for University Outreach is a direct outgrowth of recommendations made through the Vision OHIO planning process. The office was created to assist in the development of partnerships that support outreach activities and other multidisciplinary research.
Additionally, this past year, we have joined other universities in our state and region to expand access to our educational programs.
Complete to Compete is our new partnership with Kent State University. Together, Ohio and Kent State have 14 campuses, which equal more than half of the state’s total. Through this initiative, we will target adult learners in Eastern Ohio that have some college coursework but no degree.
Our other newly formed partnership, Educate the Tri-State, forges a historic educational coalition. Ohio University joined seven other institutions of higher learning to expand access to education in theTri-State region. Through this partnership, we will collaborate on market research, joint program offerings, degree articulation and transfer, tuition reciprocity, and other initiatives for our region.
In his 1871 inaugural address as president of the University of Michigan, James Angell observed an evolution of the American university in the late 19th century. He said, “In this day of unparalleled activity in college life, the institution which is not steadily advancing is certainly falling behind.”
I share his observation with you, because the public University, especially in the State of Ohio, is once again in transition. But Ohio University is advancing and we will not fall behind. Rather, we will continue our work to be leaders amongst our peers in the state and nation.
As we entered the implementation phase last year, the 10 Vision OHIO implementation teams – composed of more than 250 members from across the institution – identified a series of 150 priorities that were directly related to their areas of focus.
The Executive Implementation Team, which consists of the chairs and co-chairs of these individual teams, reviewed all the recommendationsand reduced the list to 76 initiatives.
The faculty, staff, and students involved in strategic planning recommended three top priority areas in which the University should invest: undergraduate education, graduate education and research, and the faculty.
For Undergraduate Education, we are focused on improving general education, expanding service learning and other learning growth opportunities, and improving the first-year student engagement. To that end, we are expanding our learning communities. Next fall we expect the number to grow to 50 percent or about 2,000 students.
Areas of investment for graduate education and research are focused on increasing support for graduate research and creative activity, increasing efforts to recruit and retain excellent graduate students, and establishing realistic workload guidelines. We initiated the Graduate Education and Research Board process to develop and implement a way to prioritize specific research and creative activity initiatives for strategic investment that is consistent with the Graduate Education and Research Academic Priorities established in Vision OHIO.
We are continuing our efforts to examine ways to invest in faculty support. We are focused on increasing ways to recruit and retain outstanding faculty. This month, the Faculty Compensation Task Force is expected to present the Budget Planning Council with a five-year plan for increasing faculty salaries. Answering the call to enhance faculty development, we are conducting a search for the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. And construction is expected to begin this spring on the Faculty Commons on the third floor of Alden Library.
More than one-third of the 76 initiatives identified by the Executive Implementation team are either implemented or in committee for review. For example, the Childcare Task Force is working to identify specific child-care needs in the Athens area. Results of the task force’s survey are expected to be reported this month.
Several of the implementation teams and many participants in the open-forum discussions recommended examining a change from quarters to semesters. I have appointed a 20-member Task Force on the Academic Calendar and System and it will make a recommendation by the end of spring quarter.
The Academic Honesty Committee is exploring the development of an honor code. It also has been developing a Web site on academic honesty, and it is working with Judiciaries to define more clearly the judicial process for academic dishonesty. Its work is to be finished by the end of this academic year.
I would like to ask all members of the 10 Implementation Teams who are with us this morning to please stand.
Your work is a testament to our collective investment in ensuring that Ohio University’s students receive an academic experience of the highest level. Thank you for your time, ideas, passion, and perseverance!
Each one of us has the opportunity to influence OHIO’s future as never before by supporting our historic commitment. Through the work of the 10 Implementation Teams, we are beginning to see the fruits of our work as we secure the legacy and the future of Ohio University.
I leave you with a quote by George Bernard Shaw, which was famously used by Robert F. Kennedy. He once said, “There are those who look at things the way they are and ask why... I dream of things that never were and ask why not?”
We must continue to encourage one another to dream of things that never were, and ask why not. Together, all of us build national prominence, promote diversity, enhance financial support, and grow partnerships!
Thank you!
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