President McDavis said the past 10 years have been a transformative decade for Ohio University.
For Ohio University and President Roderick McDavis, the past 10 years have been a decade of transformation.
In his annual State of the University address, delivered at this year’s Faculty and Staff Convocation on Wednesday, McDavis cited increase in enrollment and a raise in some recent college ranking reports as signs that the university is making positive strides. OU ranked in the top 2.2 percent of degree-granting institutions worldwide by the Center for World University Rankings.
“There’s a buzz about Ohio University,” he said, something he believes goes hand-in-hand with successful “strategic planning.”
Still, the university dropped slightly in the U.S. News and World Report in 2014 for best overall university to the 135th spot — a four-spot drop from 2013.
McDavis used the event, held at Walter Hall Rotunda, to praise the university’s research, ongoing construction and what he called an expanding “welcoming atmosphere.” The roughly 50-minute speech, attended by about 230 people, was also live streamed.
McDavis, who was appointed president in 2004, cited that friendly environment to many of the faculty, staff and students at the university, namely the Presidential Advisory Council on Disability and Accessibility Planning.
Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones, who sits on the council, echoed that sentiment, saying “every single one of us has a piece of that welcoming environment.”
Pointing to the recently opened Walter Fieldhouse and Schoonover Center, in addition to 2007’s Baker University Center, McDavis also highlighted physical changes at OU. He called it “nearly 180 degrees of transformation.”
McDavis cited relationships with the City of Athens, OU’s branch campuses and partnerships with international universities as ways faculty, staff and students are “changing the world.”
“Leadership in the university has to set the example,” McDavis said in an interview after his address. “The more you connect with the students that are on this campus, the more they feel like this is home. The more they feel like people are trying to understand and relate to them.”
Christopher France, distinguished professor of psychology who gave opening remarks, called McDavis, who earned his bachelor's degree in social sciences in secondary education from OU in 1970, a “true Bobcat” for his work at the university.
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