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Roderick McDavis, President of Ohio University

OU partners with nations, colleges as part of McDavis' commitment

The Interlink Alliance formed about six years ago, but has yet to formally collaborate on submitting a grant to fund research opportunities.

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series analyzing President Roderick McDavis’ decade at Ohio University. 

Ohio University President Roderick McDavis entered the office more than a decade ago with a goal of expanding the university’s research and influence beyond Athens.

“We will increase partnerships in the region, throughout Ohio and throughout the nation,” McDavis said in his inaugural speech Sept. 10, 2004. 

During those 10 years, McDavis founded — and currently chairs — the Interlink Alliance, which has encouraged networking and sharing research ideas among OU and nine other universities but has yet to formally submit a grant for collaborative research.

Outside of the Interlink Alliance, OU has seen an increase in the number of its international partners.

 

The Interlink Alliance

Formally founded in 2008, the Interlink Alliance was McDavis’ “brainchild,” said Tyrone Carr, director of the Interlink Alliance.

“We’ve been able to have faculty that are collaborating and discussing collaboration on grant applications, on their … common research interests and wanting to involve students in research and mentor students,” Carr said.

The alliance is intended to create partnerships between faculty members and is composed of 10 institutions in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Ohio, most of which are historically black colleges and universities.

But the alliance hasn’t formally collaborated to submit grant proposals yet — about six years after it started, said Valerie Martin Conley, professor of higher education and Student Affairs at OU.

Officials are discussing proposing a grant to fund a program that would focus on increasing the number of women studying in STEM fields. The grant might be proposed for the next cycle of funding Conley said, who also serves as chair of the department of counseling and higher education in OU’s Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education

The alliance hasn’t produced “concrete” research partnerships among faculty or students in the participating institutions, though the opportunity has existed for six years, Conley said.

The program’s original goals focused on “faculty development, student leadership and an African-American male initiative that engages and motivates prospective college students as early as middle school,” according to an OU news release from 2008. 

Carr said about 12 to 15 OU faculty members work with the alliance.

The alliance has convened for three faculty development conferences since 2010 and two student leadership conferences, Carr said.

Interlink alliance members also communicate electronically and meet one-on-one.

“In one sense, one of the emphases for our forming was in order to improve the diversity effort,” Carr said. “Our students (visit) historically black colleges and universities and interact with people they wouldn’t normally interact with (as a result of the alliance).”

OU doesn’t have a specific fund for the alliance and the university doesn’t make money off the program. Event costs are split between participating institutions after fundraising.

“We weren’t formed for financial gain or financial benefit,” Carr said.

Carr divides his time between the Interlink Alliance and as the Special Assistant to the Vice Provost of Diversity and Inclusion.

That means half his salary — more than $45,000 — is for his work with the alliance.

 

International partnerships:

OU has three “main strategic partners” overseas in Germany, Japan and Malaysia — all of which began before McDavis’ tenure at the university, said Nick Claussen, assistant to the vice provost for Global Affairs and International Studies. 

However, the university has seen an increase in the number of partnerships it has with universities abroad during the past decade, though the exact number of new partnerships was not immediately available, Claussen said.

OU has 78 partnerships and 72 memorandums of understanding. Those institutions agreed to collaborate on projects such as student research and study abroad programs, Claussen said.

“A lot of the partnerships are just agreeing to work together, you aren’t necessarily spending money on them or bringing money back,” he said.

He added that a number of the relationships have been in place for decades.

The Post tried to speak with McDavis about his legacy of building partnerships at OU over the past decade but was unable to speak with him in-person before press time.

“We build partnerships to support our mission, advance our vision, and bolster our deep commitment to our students, our university, our region, our state and most importantly, the advancement of education,” McDavis said in an email. 

McDavis’ inaugural address 10 years ago opened and closed with standing ovations, according to a previous Post article. The speech lasted about 20 minutes during which McDavis also vowed to improve diversity rates and to become a more prominent research university. These topics will also be analyzed by The Post.

“When I think of Ohio University the words “excellence,” “exceptional,” “distinction” come to mind,” McDavis said 10 years ago. “I want you to think of Ohio University in the same way.”

Tweet @ThePostCampus to join the conversation reviewing McDavis’ 10 years at OU.

@ohitchcock

oh271711@ohio.edu

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