Voinovich School luncheon connects scholars and alumni, celebrates legacy

Faculty and staff of Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service gathered at The Ridges recently to celebrate the Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar program.

During the event, OHIO alumni spoke with current scholars about their experience in the program and shared advice to prepare for post-graduation.

These luncheons are organized by the Voinovich School and occur on a semester basis to encourage community and connection among scholars, Voinovich staff and alumni of the program. Dr. Anirudh Ruhil both directs the Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar program and is a professor and associate dean at the school.

According to Ruhil, the luncheons started to celebrate the visits of former U.S. Senator, OHIO alumnus, and namesake of the school, Senator George V. Voinovich.

“Without a doubt, the part the senator loved the most was meeting the students,” Ruhil said. “He would go around the room talking to students. He'd ask, ‘What are you working on? What's your major? Where's your home?’ And you could see his face just light up like a Christmas tree.”

Though the luncheons stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, they were brought back in 2023 to celebrate the school and the VURS program.

“The scholar lunches do two things,” Ruhil said. “First, it celebrates the senator's legacy. Second, it allows us to also recognize and bring in alumni.”

OHIO alumni Zoe Graham and Mollie Fitzgerald were invited to speak at the Fall 2025 Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar Luncheon. Both worked as scholars while earning their undergraduate degree at the university.

During the luncheon, they spoke about their time at OHIO and their post-graduation journey.

Fitzgerald graduated from OHIO in 2013 with a bachelor's in health communication studies and organizational communication studies and in 2018 with a master's in public administration. She is the executive director of the Athens County Economic Development Council.

Among the skills she learned as a scholar, Fitzgerald most valued her time spent fostering her critical thinking and written and verbal communication skills.

“It's easy to not think when you have a little computer in your pocket at all times, but in the real world, you need to apply critical thinking skills,” Fitzgerald said. “Communication is vulnerable and it's uncomfortable, but you have to sit with that, and it truly does make you better at whatever you're doing.”

Developing critical thinking can expand a student’s skillset, according to Graham, who graduated from OHIO in 2014 and currently works on for University Communications and Marketing at OHIO as web analytics manager

“As an undergrad scholar, I used critical thinking skills to interpret data,” Graham said. “What is this data telling me? How can we make this impactful? What changes can we make? What are the implications of this data? And that all stemmed from working as an undergrad scholar.”

As for how scholars benefit from these luncheons, Ruhil points to the real-world benefits of speaking with alumni of the program.

“The world suddenly becomes a little more real,” Ruhil said. “We can be in a cocoon up here on The Ridges at OHIO and it feels as if post-graduation is very linear, but I think these meetings introduce some non-linearities too.”

As the Voinovich School looks toward another year, the luncheons remain a small but meaningful tradition that connects past and present scholars while honoring the legacy of Senator Voinovich. The Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar Luncheons continue to reflect on one of the program’s central missions: preparing scholars not just for the work they do at OHIO, but the professional world they will step into next.

If you’re interested in becoming a Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar, applications for next year are open now.

You can learn more about the program and apply here.