President Roderick McDavis outlined VisionOhio in his State of the University address today, emphasizing that the university is moving forward and reaching the goals set by Ohio University's founders.
Raising Ohio University's national prominence, increasing the diversity of its student body, bringing in more financial support and growing partnerships with other institutions are the primary goals of VisionOhio, McDavis said during the hourlong ceremony.
How do we as an institution continue to serve our founding mission and make it relevant in our current condition
McDavis said. The answer to that question was the creation of a document we call VisionOhio.
More than one-third of the 76 initiatives identified by the executive implementation team are either implemented or in committee for review McDavis said. There are ten implementation teams examining initiatives to meet VisionOhio's outlined goals.
A $15 million dollar donation from the Scripps Howard Foundation to the College of Communication and a $10 million donation from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation for the building of an integrated learning research facility show the university is meeting its goal of enhancing financial support, McDavis said.
The institution which is not steadily advancing is certainly falling behind McDavis said, quoting James Angel, a former president of the University of Michigan.
The Urban and Appalachian Scholars programs featured prominently in McDavis' discussion of diversity on campus, but he also cited increased efforts to attract out-of-state and international students.
Next fall we expect the number of learning communities to grow 50 percent
or about 2
000 students in our freshman class
McDavis said. This will help involve more freshmen and raise retention, he said.
Not all McDavis said was serious.
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
McDavis quipped. Oh how we long for those days.
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