Ohio Governor Ted Strickland approved another of Ohio University's proposed Centers of Excellence last week when he gave the go-ahead to 14 programs across the state based on biomedicine and health care.
The new Health and Wellness Center will focus on how to best serve rural populations and will be based in the colleges of Health and Human Services, Osteopathic Medicine, and Arts and Sciences.
Aligning Ohio universities with Ohio's growing biomedical and health care industries will generate economic growth and new
hard-to-outsource jobs Strickland said at a press conference in Cleveland last week.
Rathindra Bose, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College at OU, said the university's proposal included three areas: biological research, clinical research and community health services.
Bose said he was initially surprised that Strickland named so many health care centers of excellence, but that it makes sense because so many universities are trying to establish solid health-related programs.
There is plenty of room for all of us to really be creative and create our own areas of strength Bose said.
Strickland and Chancellor of Higher Education Eric Fingerhut have now announced two of five types of Centers of Excellence. The first, announced in October, addressed programs on energy and the environment. OU's focuses on creating environmentally-friendly fuel, limiting pollution and restoring natural resources. Fingerhut has said the goal of creating such centers is to raise the national profile of Ohio schools. It is part of a plan to reorganize public colleges and universities into the University System of Ohio.
OU President Roderick McDavis said he is very excited about the announcement.
I think it clearly indicates that we have top-notch scholars ... that will help us develop ... at a very high level
he said.
OU has proposed the Scripps College of Communication as its third center of excellence.
As the governor continues to announce the centers, it is still unclear how they will be funded. Bose said ideally the state would devote more money to those programs, but that for now it seems to be up to individual universities.
There is no new money in this year's (state) budget to support this
but they are asking the university to invest in the areas that we do best
Bose said. They are committed to exploring additional funding in coming years
and I hope that happens at the end of the current biennium budget.
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Emily Grannis
