Kirwan calls for unified plan to meet future challenges

In his first State of the University address to University Senate, President Kirwan called for "a unified, comprehensive, coherent strategy" to direct the University's efforts and resources toward common goals.

Speaking on Oct. 16 in Kottman Hall, he told the faculty members, students and administrators of the Senate that in the 15 months since he took office as the University's 12th president, he has learned much about Ohio State and its many strengths.

"In brief, I would describe the state of the University as extremely healthy," Kirwan said, outlining numerous recent achievements by faculty researchers, the increasing academic quality of the undergraduate student body, the success of the $1 billion Affirm Thy Friendship fundraising campaign, and the progress being made in the Gateway redevelopment project and the new Science and Technology Campus.

President Kirwan

But, he said, the University cannot afford to become complacent.

"All of us assembled here today know that we face significant problems and challenges, which- if not addressed- could reverse our impressive gains and turn our high aspirations into empty rhetoric."

Kirwan outlined six areas of critical importance to Ohio State's future and called on the University Senate to assist in devising strategies and solutions for dealing with them. They include:

• Faculty and staff compensation. Ohio State salaries have been falling in relation to benchmark institutions, particularly in the key areas of new young faculty and specialized staff positions. Kirwan predicted that turning this around will take several years, and called for "fresh thinking" on the subject.

• A new overall University budgeting system. This fall, Ohio State begins the final steps leading to implementing a new system that Kirwan predicts will provide the flexibility and incentives needed to increase the University's resource base.

• Research funding. He asked for Senate guidance in implementing the recommendations of the University's Research Commission Report, which found that underachievement in securing grants and contracts is a major impediment to Ohio State's aspirations to become a top-tier public research university.

• Retention and graduation rates. OSU undergraduates must graduate at substantially higher rates if Ohio State is to be considered a top-tier institution, Kirwan said.

• Diversity among faculty and staff. Calling the lack of progress in this area "one of my gravest concerns," Kirwan said he soon will present the draft plan of a special task force assigned to set universitywide goals and specific strategies for overcoming deficits in the representation of minorities and women among the faculty and top administrative staff.

• Physical facilities. While there have been some notable new structures completed recently, far too many of the classrooms, laboratories, offices and residence halls are outmoded and dilapidated, he said. Progress is being made in finding private funding to accelerate the pace of renovation on a selective basis, he said, and noted his strong endorsement for a major campaign to totally renovate the Main Library.

"As a university, we have identified many problems, and we have a large number of strategies, plans, committees and dedicated individuals making daily contributions to our efforts," Kirwan said. "What we don't have, and what we badly need, is a unified, comprehensive, coherent strategy- a single plan, if you will- that articulates goals, strategies and metrics.

"Such a plan is an absolute necessity if we, as a community, are to establish a shared understanding of how our limited resources should be directed to our common commitments and institutional goals. And it is the only way that we can systematically calibrate the impact of our initiatives and, thereby, make necessary mid-course corrections based on objective analysis."

Over the past several months, Kirwan and his vice presidents have begun assembling a plan that draws on several existing planning documents but also contains new thinking, such as in the draft diversity plan.

Kirwan said he hopes to have the plan ready for distribution to the Senate and others within the next few weeks, with review and advice concluded by the beginning of winter quarter and a final document submitted to the Board of Trustees in February.

He gave the senators a glimpse of the plan's contents.

"It will describe a core set of values for the University - such as integrity, the pursuit of truth, freedom of expression, diversity and community," Kirwan said. "It will articulate a vision of Ohio State as one of the nation's preeminent public research universities and the nation's exemplar in establishing a land-grant mission and agenda relevant for the 21st century."

The plan will have four major goals, aligned with the four themes Kirwan outlined in his inaugural address in February:

1. Pursuit of academic excellence. Continuation of strategic investment and academic enrichment programs, a development program for all faculty, recruitment of national eminent scholars and development of such scholars from within Ohio State's existing ranks.

2. Distinguished undergraduate program. Beyond improving the caliber of students admitted and improving graduation rates, the plan calls for new initiatives to create a more intimate academic environment through living-learning programs.

3. Diversity. Kirwan said the plan will be specific about goals, strategies and means of assessing progress and will demand leadership from the top, beginning with himself.

4. Outreach and engagement. As Ohio State was a national leader in fulfilling the land-grant mission in the 20th century, so must it adapt to meet the needs of the 21st century, such as improved K-12 education, economic development and lifelong learning.

Kirwan ended with some thoughts on ways the University's reward system for faculty could be adjusted to take advantage of "seasons" in the careers of most faculty- times when they are focused on research, times when they are most inspired to teach, and times when they desire to contribute to the larger community.

With tenured faculty, there ought to be more flexibility to negotiate responsibilities and allocate rewards according to the specific interests and talents of indivudals, he said.

"While we have enormous obstacles to overcome, I am convinced we can be one of those rare universities that actually rises to the top tier of academic institutions, not one of the many that just espouse such an ambition," Kirwan concluded.

Complete text of Kirwan's speech

Affirm Thy Friendship campaign hits $1 billion goal nine months early

An intense campaign promoting the University across the country has affirmed Ohio State's friendships to the tune of more than $1 billion.

The University announced that as of Sept. 30 it had raised $1,011,017,344 in its Affirm Thy Friendship fund-raising campaign, meeting its five-year, $1 billion goal nine months ahead of schedule.

The campaign's public phase began in 1995 and will conclude on June 30. President Kirwan raised its original goal of $850 million to $1 billion just over a year ago, at a point when more than $776 million had already been raised- representing 91 percent of the original goal.

"This is a phenomenal way to enter the new millennium," Kirwan said. "Our donors and volunteers on campus and around the world have sent a message- that they care about this institution and the role it will play in shaping our lives in the exciting and challenging times sure to come. I cannot express how proud I am to be a part of this team."

By achieving the new goal, Ohio State joins the ranks of only a handful of public universities to raise $1 billion or more during a single campaign, including the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois.

Jerry A. May, vice president for development and president of The Ohio State University Foundation, credits the team of donors, volunteers, deans, faculty, staff and administrators working together for the campaign's success.

"Through communication, fierce dedication and a lot of hard work, this team has made a very challenging venture look easy," May said.

Satisfying individual campaign goals will drive the campaign down the home stretch, May said.

"For example, we've raised over $92 million for scholarships, but we would like to add at least another $8 million," he said.

Other areas still in need of support to fulfill their goals include:

• Faculty and teaching, including endowed chairs, professorships, visitorships, faculty awards and deans' leadership funding.

• Academic learning and leadership, including support for the Honors Program and teaching excellence.

• Quality learning environment, including state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories.

• Arts, culture and libraries, including the Wexner Center for the Arts, WOSU stations and University Libraries.

Kirwan said OSU's long-term goal of attaining status among the top tier of public universities is a goal that depends a great deal on private support.

"This goal, and the determination of campus leaders to enhance programs with potential for national eminence, will require us to marshal the resources necessary to sustain distinction at this level," he said.

May said the campaign owes its success to many people, but he is most appreciative of the national leadership and generosity of the 40 members of The Ohio State University Foundation Board; the 11 members of the University's Board of Trustees; and campaign co-chairs Thekla Reese Shackelford, Lawrence Barnett, John F. Wolfe, Leslie Wexner and Milton Wolf, and Honorary Campaign Chair Max M. Fisher.

Campaign highlights

With nine months still remaining in the Affirm Thy Friendship campaign, funds raised are already making a substantial impact on Ohio State. The campaign has raised $1.01 billion in cash, pledges and planned gifts.

More than $325 million- including $201.2 million in cash, $87.4 million in planned gifts to be acquired in the future, and $36.4 million in outstanding pledges- will be added to the University's endowment during the campaign. As a result, the endowment is now $1.09 billion, making Ohio State one of a handful of public universities with an endowment exceeding $1 billion.

The campaign has contributed more than $121 million toward 12 University academic building projects and three nonacademic facility projects. It also has contributed $189.6 million for health and wellness programs at the College of Medicine and Public Health and the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

Other areas where the campaign has had a major impact are:

• More than one-third of the University's total number of chairs and professorships were established during this campaign.

• The recruitment of renowned historians Geoffrey Parker from Yale University and Barbara Hanawalt from the University of Minnesota, to the Andreas Dorpalen Professorship in European History and the King George III Professorship in British History, respectively, is helping to propel the College of Humanities' Department of History to the top ranks nationwide.

• Michael Caligiuri, one of the world's foremost cancer researchers brought to the University by the campaign-funded John L. Marakas Nationwide Insurance Enterprise Foundation Chair in Cancer Research, has in turn brought in millions of dollars for research, including nearly $2 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute for studies of AIDS malignancies and central nervous system lymphoma.

• As a result of 417 new scholarships and fellowships that have been established during the campaign, more than 9,000 students are receiving some form of financial assistance.

The campaign also has provided:

• $92.1 million in student support and scholarships.

• $70.4 million in faculty support, such as endowed chairs and professorships.

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