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President Lori Stewart Gonzalez
Location: Walter Hall Rotunda, Streaming
September 25, 2025

Good morning and thank you for joining me for this year’s State of the University Address. Whether you’re are here in Athens or tuning in from one of our regional or extension campuses or elsewhere, I'm grateful for your time and commitment to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University.

I would like to recognize the members of our Board of Trustees who are with us today. Matt Evans, our board chair and trustees. Will you stand so we can thank you for your service?

I appreciate our faculty and staff who are here in the room or watching online during week five of our fall semester. The first few weeks of the fall term are always a whirlwind, and this one is no exception.

We welcomed more than 8,000 new students across all our campuses and OHIO online hosted countless activities during welcome week for our incoming students. We also welcomed 161 new faculty members, including 12 new research faculty hired as part of our Dynamic Strategy implementation.

We officially celebrated the addition of Roxanne Schroeder-Arce as our new Dean of the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts.

We can’t wait to see what Dean Schroeder-Arce accomplishes during a time of tremendous possibilities for COFA.

We also introduced a new member of my leadership team – Director of Athletics Slade Larscheid.

Slade picked the absolute best week for his first official trip to Athens. We were riding high off an amazing win at Peden Stadium against West Virginia and gearing up for a match up against that team just a little bit northwest of us.

I hope you watched both of those games, and let me just say to our student athletes, coaches, cheerleaders and dance team members and of course, the members of our incredible Marching 110 – you truly make OHIO shine. We’re so proud of the way you represent us in competition and performance.

Tomorrow, we will welcome President Emeritus and alumnus Roderick McDavis and his wife, Deborah, back home for a cornerstone event at McDavis Hall, which is going up on our South Green and transforming the landscape in that part of campus.

The following week, we’ll be celebrating the naming of the Levy Ceramics Studio with alumnus Dave and his wife, Kathy, which is a major milestone in the reimagining of our Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts.

Also, if you haven’t been over to the Union Street area of campus, we’re making major progress on the Heritage Translational Research Facility just adjacent to the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

I also want to celebrate a major accomplishment that occurred this past academic year — the reaffirmation of our institutional accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University has been continuously accredited since 1913, and in March 2025, we hosted a comprehensive peer review visit as part of our regular ten-year cycle.

Thanks to the tireless work of our team in Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics, the diligence of our reaccreditation committees, and the ongoing commitment to excellence in teaching and learning from our students, faculty, and staff alike—we passed with distinction, and our accreditation is in place for the next decade.

This reaffirmation demonstrates the quality of our programs, our shared focus on continuous improvement, and the dedication of our community. It was truly a university-wide effort, and I’m deeply grateful to all who contributed.

We’re also focusing on access and affordability. In fact, just yesterday U.S. News and World Report published its annual rankings, naming us Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s Best Value Public University for the SIXTH year in a row and one of the top in the nation.

And, in the latest Carnegie Classifications, OHIO was recognized as ONE of only 21 R1 research institutions in the country, and the only one in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ to be designated as an Opportunity College and University. We were recognized for being an institution that is high access with higher earnings for our students. This classification affirms our role as a national leader in providing students with an education that transforms potential into possibility and prepares them for lifelong success.

I want you to embrace all this good news. Remind yourself every day of the great work we’re doing to hold the door open to higher education to deserving students and to deliver a life-changing student experience.

Remind your colleagues and your teams of the difference they’re making in the lives of our students and the ways in which our research is impacting communities. Keep our mission at the forefront of your work.

Frankly, we’re all going to need those reminders, because even as we continue to see incredible momentum, we’re navigating a challenging environment shaped by economic pressures, legislative change, and shifting expectations for higher education.

Most universities across the country are facing similar headwinds, which makes it even more important that we approach these realities with clarity and strategy. It’s important to be transparent about the challenges and how they’re impacting our university.

At the state level, new laws like the Advance Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Higher Education Act and the state budget bill — have added new academic requirements, which are reshaping how higher education in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ operates.

Over the past several months, we’ve spent countless hours ensuring that OHIO can and will comply with these new state laws while remaining committed to our mission, to our students, and to the principles of academic freedom.

Senate Bill 1 required us to make some changes that have been difficult for us all, particularly those changes that resulted in the elimination of positions held by valued colleagues and friends. Change is even more difficult when you don’t choose it, and in its wake, we all need to ask ourselves how we will continue to meet student needs.

I want to thank Executive Vice President and Provost Don Leo and members of his team for guiding our compliance with the academic provisions within the law. I deeply appreciate Don’s commitment to thoughtful and transparent planning not just in this matter but really in everything we do.

To ensure collective input, he assembled work groups for each of the academic provisions of this new law, provided a clear charge and effectively supported their work in an incredibly short timeframe.

We shared an update about that work in a previous edition of your Monday employee news, and you can find a link to the website that includes more information about each of the groups and the resulting reports from their work.

Last week, you heard from Vice President of Administration David Moore about some of the realities of both state and federal budget legislation. The new state budget limits in-state tuition increases to three percent under the guarantee for the next biennium. Keep in mind that the guarantee means we only see the tuition increase for our incoming students, not on all four cohorts, which directly impacts our revenues.

We understand and support the state’s commitment to managing costs for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ families and ensuring employment outcomes. At the same time, we can’t ignore the financial realities of these changes — that market inflation will continue to outpace any tuition increases and that in the near term, our state funding will likely be relatively flat despite our success in growing enrollment.

At the federal level, recent changes in the reconciliation bill will affect our institution and our peers nationwide. Updates to Pell eligibility, new program-level accountability metrics, and significant adjustments to the Federal Direct Loan program are expected to create new access challenges for many families.

Our financial aid teams are already working to provide clear and timely guidance so that students and parents can navigate these changes with confidence.

On top of those external pressures, inflation has taken a real toll. In just three years, our energy costs are up 19 percent—even with new efficiency projects. The software we rely on to run the University costs 23 percent more. And healthcare expenses have climbed by $14 million dollars.

Within this challenging environment, we have invested in our faculty and staff. Over the past three years, we have dedicated $18 million dollars on annual employee compensation increases as a way to recognize the incredible work happening across our campuses.

And this year, we made the intentional choice for the second year in a row to keep employee health insurance premiums flat. It was the right thing to do, and it represented an estimated 6.1 million dollar investment in the well-being of our employees.

The faculty who deliver our academic programs are at the heart of our mission. They teach, mentor, and inspire our students every day, shaping their experiences in ways that extend far beyond the classroom. Their work is not only vital to our students’ success, but to the strength and future of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University.

This year also marks an important milestone, as negotiations with our newly formed faculty union began in August. While these conversations are ongoing, we remain committed to good-faith dialogue that reflects our shared mission and our deep respect for the people who make it possible.

It is important to note that even in challenging times, we won’t stop doing the important work to grow and expand scholarships and opportunities that hold the door open to the OHIO experience for students. In the weeks and months to come, you will hear more about new ways that we are partnering with our university’s amazing donors to expand scholarships.

At the same time, we also need to continue to make the difficult choices that move our Dynamic Strategy forward. Innovation over the next several years will be driven not just by new investments but by how wisely we reinvest in the strengths that define us.

As we make choices about our future, we’ll do so with transparency and care. It’s important to note our commitment remains firm—to safeguard Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University’s financial stability while continuing to invest in what matters most—our people, our students, and our future.

As we face the realities of today’s higher education landscape, one truth remains constant: the ingenuity of our people is our greatest strength. Time and again, faculty and staff across OHIO have found creative ways to overcome challenges, to solve problems in new ways, and to keep our mission moving forward.

This year, we’re announcing a new program to celebrate and amplify that spirit of innovation. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University Employee Innovation and Efficiency Awards program is designed to honor the big ideas, the fresh approaches, and even the small changes that can have a lasting impact.

Here’s what makes this program special: it’s not about theory, it’s about results. We want to recognize individuals and teams whose ideas generate real cost savings and help us use our resources wisely.

Employees with successful ideas will receive a financial award for either individual or team efforts. But beyond the award, their work will stand as proof that innovation lives in all corners of our university, and that our greatest progress happens when everyone feels valued, heard and empowered to share ideas that move us forward.

We’ve already seen what this kind of thinking can do. A recent staff-led redesign of our print management system cut unnecessary printing across multiple campuses, saving thousands of dollars each year while also advancing our sustainability goals.

That’s the kind of impact we want to lift up and scale—practical solutions that make OHIO stronger, more efficient, and more aligned with our mission.

These awards embody the very heart of our Dynamic Strategy Work pillar: building a stronger, more agile University by aligning our operations with our mission. They remind us that when we listen to one another, share what works, and act boldly, we can shape OHIO’s future together.

This same spirit of innovation is at the core of our Dynamic Strategy. This past year marked the first phase of our three-year institutional plan, built around the four guiding pillars of Learn, Discover, Engage, and Work.

From new student success models to increased research activity, from community-engaged coursework to redesigned administrative structures—we’ve seen promising momentum across our campuses and units. You can see highlights of this progress in our first-year report on the Dynamic Strategy website.

It’s important to note: the Dynamic Strategy isn’t just a checklist—it’s a mindset. It’s about leaning into our strengths, evaluating honestly, and adapting quickly as we learn. And thanks to your dedication, we are doing just that.

Under the Learn pillar, our R1T1 initiative—which aims to achieve the nation’s highest standards in both research and teaching —is gaining real momentum. Last month, led by Dr. Dave Nguyen, in partnership with the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education, OHIO hosted a summit that brought together academic leaders and expert faculty from across the country.

Together, they began laying the groundwork for a national rating system designed to recognize universities that are transforming themselves to better support student success. I am so proud that OHIO is leading this conversation.

We’ve also expanded undergraduate research opportunities across all colleges, creating more meaningful pathways for students to engage directly in discovery. At the same time, we have launched faculty award pathways that celebrate teaching innovation and opened pilot programs that pair high-impact instruction with cutting-edge research.

We are strengthening experiential learning opportunities across disciplines—ensuring that every student has access to internships, fieldwork, service learning, or other hands-on experiences that prepare them for life and work beyond graduation.

These efforts not only enrich the student experience but also reinforce OHIO’s longstanding strength as a leader in teaching and research. Looking ahead, we will build on this foundation by scaling these initiatives and working toward the first national recognition for teaching excellence, so OHIO can be known not only for our groundbreaking discoveries but for the extraordinary ways we teach.

Our commitment to Discovery continues to grow stronger through focused investments in people, infrastructure, and emerging areas of inquiry.

This fall, we welcomed 12 new research-focused faculty across multiple colleges, and we have one additional position that will be filled in the coming months. These strategic hires reflect our priorities in both targeted and emerging research areas.

Eight new faculty members will advance work in Healthy Aging across five colleges, three positions are dedicated to energy and the environment, and four faculty lines were created to lead in Artificial Intelligence—an area of increasing importance across disciplines and an emerging area of research for OHIO.

We also strengthened our research leadership by welcoming Dr. Kimberly Littlefield as Associate Vice President for Research Administration. She brings deep expertise in research development and administration and will help guide our efforts to expand external funding and support faculty success.

To further advance health-focused research, we have launched the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Aging, built on the foundation of the Edison Biotechnology Institute and now housed in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. This new institute will collaborate with leading OHIO centers—including the Diabetes Institute, OMNI, the Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute, and the Institute to Advance Health Equity—to position Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University as a national leader in healthy aging research.

We are also investing in infrastructure to support faculty success. Our Enterprise Research Administration system has been upgraded from a legacy, homegrown platform to a robust commercial solution. This upgrade will streamline proposal development, improve compliance workflows, and increase efficiency—allowing faculty to devote more time to advancing research and mentoring students.

Together, these investments demonstrate our commitment to expanding OHIO’s research distinction and delivering impact through discovery.

This academic year, we will take a major step forward under the Engage pillar by opening the Center for Community Impact, led by Dr. Nukhet Sandal. The Center will align and elevate our outreach and partnerships, ensuring that OHIO’s work reflects the needs and aspirations of the communities we serve while creating new opportunities for collaboration and regional impact. Equally important, the Center will allow us to better measure the outcomes of this work—so we can see clearly where our efforts are making a difference and where we can do even more.

At the same time, built off the work done last year by two of our faculty members, Drs. Dwan Robinson and Amy Taylor-Bianco, we will take the next step in our alumni mentoring and coaching initiative by beginning to embed it in our curriculum. We will extend our freshman learning communities into the Spring semester with a focus on group mentorship opportunities.

Later this year, we will launch a program to incentivize inclusion of alumni mentorship into upper-level courses with a focus on coaching to career. We are also expanding co-curricular opportunities for students. Our Alumni Association and our Career Services will be working to match students interested in one-on-one mentorship opportunities with an alumni volunteer.

I’m also excited to see collaborative initiatives beginning to develop across Pillars. Our ENGAGE and LEARN leadership teams are partnering to form a work group focused on developing non-credit-bearing courses and credentialling opportunities to support workforce needs. This will position us to align with the new SSI set aside for workforce degrees and credentials.

Initiatives like these not only bring our Dynamic Strategy to life and strengthen our responsiveness to industry; they also position us to explore creative new revenue streams that will sustain our mission.

Finally, under the Work pillar, we’ve begun important steps to strengthen organizational health. The ModernThink Workplace Survey confirmed areas of pride in our mission and teaching, while also revealing opportunities to improve trust, communication, and inclusion. We take this seriously, and our leadership teams are already using this feedback to guide action at both the unit and institutional levels. Experts from ModernThink will present the results at a special University Update on November 6.

Under the new Center for OHIO Employee Excellence we launched in year one, we have introduced a new online catalogue of professional development opportunities offered both internally and through external partners. You can find workshops focused on leadership, wellness, technology and much more.

As we look ahead, I want to leave you with this: I have absolute confidence in the future of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University and in the enduring strength of higher education as the catalyst for innovation and discovery, the creator of knowledge and the driver for positive social change and thriving communities.

For more than 220 years, OHIO has adapted, persevered, and led—and today, we are ready to keep moving forward with that same determination and spirit.

However, we cannot do it by standing still. The challenges before us demand creativity, partnership, and shared leadership. Every idea matters, every contribution counts, and every one of us has a role to play in building a sustainable future for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s First and Finest University.

So let’s lean into this moment—with creativity, with courage, and with the spirit of collaboration. As I said at the start – Remember all the incredible work happening here at OHIO and all the amazing accomplishments of our students, faculty and staff. And, remember our mission – to hold the door open to higher education and to prepare our students for success in service to communities around the world. That is our collective calling, regardless of the challenges and the changes – those we choose and those chosen for us.

I appreciate the work you do every day to move that mission forward and I thank you for believing in our students and in one another. Here’s to another year of work that matters, work that makes a lasting difference in the lives of those we serve. Together we will ensure that work continues for generations to come. Thank you and have a great year!