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The Dispatch wrote
‘It starts with me’
Sunday, June 8, 2008
BY ENCARNACION PYLE
GEE’S GOALS
- Create an image of Ohio State as a “single-minded university with worldwide reach” rather than a collection of academic programs
- Put students first with all university decisions
- Come up with creative ways to attract, keep and reward world-class teachers and researchers
- Partner with more groups to boost the university’s innovation and research potential
- Better understand OSU’s responsibilities to Ohio taxpayers and the world
- Cut out red tape for Ohio State’s operations
Related Stories:
- OSU spends on dorms as step to energize campus
- The New Ohio Union Building at OSU
I love that guy. Or I would if he were 90 years younger and female. :lol:
I’ve answered every pledge drive letter I’ve gotten from OSU since he came back. (Even got my name on a brick in the new Ohio Union.) Those goals are exactly what OSU should be all about.
Also, I didn’t know about the sign in his office, but that is a great quote: “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” Pithy and forward-looking.
Did you see the interior photo of him with all his ties? I’m estimating forty to fifty thousand dollars’ worth. Or for all of you who got high marks on your SAT:
E. Gordon Gee : bow ties :: Imelda Marcos : shoes
There are no analogies on the SAT anymore. They got rid of them almost a decade ago.
Boo…those pulled UP my score :D
OSU is huge leverage for Columbus, providing we can do what athletics has done here and make it a focus of attention on academia. I really hope that G an pull out a huge marketing campaign for the academic side of OSU, which is actually quite substantial. I’m not a graduate of OSU, but I understand the value it can bring to this area. It’s been a center of athletic excellence, but I think the academic side is undersold. Let’s get Fisher up where Duke is recognized, and you’ll see the real dollars start rolling in long term. Nice job G. Keep it up. Oh, and I can’t sport the bow-tie and look nearly as cool. So, you’ve got one up on me.
Don’t worry. Almost no one under the age of seventy can pull off a bow tie. Compare, e.g., Tucker Carlson with Gordon Gee and Justice John Paul Stevens.
E. Gordon Gee : bow ties :: Imelda Marcos : shoes
yeah that was nuts.
I hope he really means to implement his vision that students be the #1 priority. My wife’s experience at OSU is that student education is placed far behind research as a priority. A multimillion dollar renovation to the program’s building, but the classrooms are worse than my middle school, with no technology, sound system or anything. Dozens of new research labs decked out with all the latest equipment. I wouldn’t be so bitter, but we paid $30K a year for her to learn there.
Bow ties are HOTTTTT. Anyone, of any age, wins my vote with the bow-tie. Balls out.
It sounds like he’s off to a good start with those dorm renovations.
And I do think having sophomores living on campus will help out overall with performance, whether the students like it or not.
The Catch-22 here (at least in my opinion) is that in trying to attract the best students, the university wants to attract & employ the best faculty. What makes “best faculty” is often judged by reputation in the field, which is often generated by research and publications…
So these folks come in already known for their research and publications, and of course want to continue in the same vein. Then there’s the whole issue of tenure, and needing to publish to stay on track & move up within the department…
If you’re talking about trying to attract only the best students, that may be true, which is one reason that the university lost its perch as the nation’s largest university to Texas for a while (and I actually forget who’s currently on top). However, OSU is a land-grant institution and is not supposed to cater only to the top of the ladder; it has programs for honors students, but is also supposed to be a viable, valuable option for first-generation college students.
That was not quite the vision of Brit Kirwan and emphatically not the vision of Karen Holbrook. Tuition skyrocketed, admissions standards climbed, and the school shrank. There was essentially a broader, low-level war of attrition against what might be broadly defined as “blue collar” culture associated not just with students, but even with alumni. The row over the new tailgating restrictions was the most public of these, but not the only one. And joev is absolutely right about the prioritization of research over student education.
Also, I think the university does still attract top-quality students, simply because even top-quality students care about price, convenience, and culture–and, to be frank, a certain amount of special treatment, including priority registration for classes and the ability to waive prerequisites. There’s also no hard barrier between undergrad and grad-level courses, so honors students seeking a challenge can simply hop up and take a grad seminar if they want. Top high school students can get a first-class education there–you just have to be OK with no one holding your hand. I was a National Merit Finalist and I think I got as much out of going to OSU as I would have going to Princeton … and with enough scholarship money that I actually graduated with a surplus.
The Catch-22 here (at least in my opinion) is that in trying to attract the best students, the university wants to attract & employ the best faculty. What makes “best faculty” is often judged by reputation in the field, which is often generated by research and publications…
So these folks come in already known for their research and publications, and of course want to continue in the same vein. Then there’s the whole issue of tenure, and needing to publish to stay on track & move up within the department…
The best researchers and most active publishers don’t always make the best teachers; in fact in my experience, they are often less focused on classroom activities.