Investiture offers community a chance to welcome the new president

By Susan Wittstock

The crowd in Mershon Auditorium gave President Kirwan not one-- but two -- standing ovations during his investiture ceremony Feb. 26.

Kirwan, as the 12th man to serve in Ohio State's top post, was wished well by members of the faculty, staff, student and alumni communities, the Board of Trustees, public officials and representatives from other Ohio colleges and universities, as well as by his family.

His first ovation came just after he was officially sworn into office by Trustees Chairman Ted Celeste.

photo by Kevin Fitzsimons

Kirwan, left, had plenty of well-wishers at the ceremony, including Trustee Chair Ted Celeste, right, and Provost Edward Ray, center.

Kirwan beamed, his medal of office hanging from a red ribbon around his neck, and thanked the audience for its support.

"I want to thank all of you for participating in one of the most important and meaningful events of my life," Kirwan said.

In his address, Kirwan encouraged the University community to come together for common goals.

"On the occasion of the investiture of a new president and at the dawn of a new century, it is appropriate to ask, what are the societal needs that The Ohio State University must address in the coming decades?" Kirwan said.

He identified the need for Ohio State to help its graduates and Ohio succeed in a rapidly changing knowledge-driven economy.

"We must intensify and accelerate our drive for academic quality and distinction," he said. "The quality of education in Ohio will determine whether we are a winner or an also-ran in the economy of the 21st century."

Kirwan also addressed the nation and the state's changing demographics. He said he wants Ohio State to become a place that draws strength from the diversity of the state and where excellence and diversity are inextricably linked.

Ohio State should be "a place where diversity is not just tolerated but, rather, is seen as an essential source of our excellence and a defining characteristic of our community," Kirwan said.

Ohio State's land-grant tradition, reaffirmed and expanded for a changing society's needs, is of utmost importance, Kirwan said. Besides agriculture, he envisions the University addressing issues such as the deterioration of urban communities, the degradation of the environment, the need for affordable health care, and the insatiable appetite a technology-based economy generates for new ideas.

As examples of how Ohio State is already expanding its land-grant tradition to reach out to the community, Kirwan cited the work of Campus Partners within the University District and the creation of the Science and Technology Campus.

"From these efforts, we will not just build an attractive environment for our University, we also will signal a new sense of enlightened engagement with the larger community," Kirwan said.

Kirwan said it will require the cooperation and dedication of all members of Ohio State's community, and the support of Ohio's citizens and government, for his vision of Ohio State in the 21st century to come to pass.

Earlier in the ceremony, Kirwan received high praise from Celeste.

"William Kirwan is more than a skilled administrator, more than an outstanding educator. He is a man with integrity," Celeste said.

Kirwan was welcomed by several speakers, including Christopher Pan, a senior from Cincinnati; Susan Fisher, professor of entomology and chair of the Faculty Council; Jeri Kozobarich, chair of the University Staff Advisory Council; Thomas Moyer, chair of the Alumni Association Board of Directors; and JoAnn Davidson, speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. Hope Taft represented her husband, Gov. Robert Taft.

"Your support is something that I will never forget, forever treasure, and always endeavor to justify," Kirwan told the crowd.

Read the full text of President Kirwan's investiture address here. http://www.president.admin.ohio-state.edu//speeches/investiture.htm

onCampus has a new look -- and it's online.

The digital version of Ohio State's biweekly faculty-staff newspaper debuted on the Web on Feb. 25, the same day the paper was published.

onCampus online is located at www.osu.edu/oncampus and is easily accessible from the OSU Faculty/Staff link off the University front door.

The online version includes all stories and sections that appear in the print version. A list of hot links, which blink in red, instantly connects surfers to the "Memos" page, the events calendar, the research page and other regular features.

Each onCampus Web page also contains links to the OSU front door, the Faculty-Staff page, and the News and Information Web page.

Every issue of onCampus online will be posted on the Web the afternoon the newspaper is published. With a circulation of 20,700, the print version of onCampus is published 23 times a year, on the second and fourth Thursdays of most months.

The University's new Web Coordinator in the Office of Marketing Communications, Ted Hattemer, led efforts to place onCampus online. Hattemer and Mary Meyers, a designer for onCampus and Marketing Communications, designed the online version.

Purchase price is still not set

Ohio State's Board of Trustees approved a resolution at its March 5 meeting that allows University Hospitals to continue negotiations to purchase Park Medical Center on the near East Side.

The resolution allows Ohio State hospital officials to pursue the purchase of Park "based on an appropriate price and resolution of related issues," said R. Reed Fraley, executive director of University Hospitals.

University officials will not discuss a possible purchase price while negotiations continue with Park owner Quorum Health Group of Brentwood, Tenn. Fraley said negotiations are expected to be complete by March 31.

Park Hospital

The 19-member University Hospitals Board unanimously voted Feb. 25 to support the purchase of Park - pending resolution of some issues, Fraley said.

Ohio State officials broke off negotiations with Quorum in the fall before resuming talks in December. Quorum wants to sell Park to a local buyer.

Park, a 404-bed, 375,000-square-foot complex in three buildings at 1492 E. Broad St., has been for sale since last summer. Quorum Health Group purchased Park in 1991 from the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, who founded the hospital in 1890. The hospital formerly was known as Saint Anthony Medical Center.

The state Controlling Board and the Ohio Board of Regents also must approve aspects of a Park hospital purchase.

Among those making presentations to University trustees March 5 on the possible purchase of Park were Fraley; Manuel Tzagournis, vice president for health sciences; and Grayce Sills, chair of the University Hospitals Board.

Fraley said Park's operating rooms, skilled nursing facility and magnetic resonance imaging equipment would help ease overcrowding in those areas at University Medical Center.

"We see ourselves as bringing a portion of our culture to that hospital, and we see Park as bringing their culture," Fraley said. "Together, it would be a hybrid culture that would let it become the teaching hospital in central Ohio."

President Kirwan, who has attended all University Hospitals Board meetings devoted to a possible Park purchase, said he supports adding the East Side hospital to the Ohio State fold.

"It represents a wonderful opportunity for the University to build new programs of excellence, as well as expand the service we give to the community, which is an important part of our University," Kirwan said.