[Excerpt from President's Special Message] I have dedicated my career to public higher education, serving at institutions in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina and growing in my career from faculty member to Associate Dean to Dean to Provost. While that trajectory has helped me prepare for this role, I want you to know that this opportunity represents far more to me than a culminating professional position. I am a second-generation college student, raised in a small Appalachian town by parents who believed deeply in the power of education to shape our lives and in the responsibility we had to give back to our neighbors and to society as a whole. My whole life I have understood my personal mission and purpose to be service in and through education, and I consider it an incredible gift to have the opportunity to live that purpose as President of Ohio University.
With that in mind, my commitment to you is to share in and champion, always, OHIO’s commitment to our students and their success; to work hard and collaborate eagerly to uplift our faculty and staff so that they might do their best work; to see, hear and respond to the needs of our state with a particular focus on the Appalachian region where many of our campuses are located; and to remain focused on the difference we can and will make together as we pursue discovery and provide access to experiential education that changes lives and improves the communities we serve.
