Ohio State faculty members gathered in the West Reading Room of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library Wednesday afternoon, as President E. Gordon Gee addressed the crowd in his first faculty speech of the academic year.
Erin McGraw, a professor in the creative writing department, kicked off the event by reading a passage from her recently published book, “The Seamstress.”
Gee opened with remarks praising the newly-opened library and noted that 11,800 students entered during the first day of classes.
“It is the heart of the university,” he said.
Gee’s speech carried a constant theme of allegiance toward higher education.
“At this moment, we at Ohio State have great privilege, great opportunity and great responsibility,” he said. “Never has the role of education in this country been so clear.”
Also touching on the state of the economy, Gee seemed confident in the university’s ability to remain above water. He spoke about the rising tuition fees, budget cuts and economic decline of universities in other states, but praised OSU for remaining constant.
He did issue a warning regarding the state of Ohio as a whole.
“We, like any other state, are not out of the woods financially,” he said.
Mentioning his trips to India over the summer, Gee said OSU must continue to be aggressive in serving its mission internationally, asking his audience to help the cause.
“There are many giants among us,” he said.
The majority of his speech was garnered toward addressing the reformation of rewards and recognition for faculty members. Gee stated his cause to reward faculty members for research and published work.
“This university is big enough and bold enough to judge by a different standard,” he said.
Gee said the reward criteria for staff recognition must be recalibrated. He hopes to put more emphasis on the achievement and not the individual.
“We cannot rely on others to carry the burden. All of us must be engaged as university citizens,” he said.
A non-believer in college rankings, Gee joked that he may have to reconsider his position as OSU climbed the charts in a number of polls over the summer.
Looking to the future, Gee spoke with optimism regarding unifying the arts and sciences into one comprehensive department and the switch to semesters.
“We are moving to a much more transcendental university,” he said. “We can be the architects of our own destiny.”
Joe Ottobre, who works in the Animal Sciences department, was satisfied with Gee’s speech. He appreciated Gee’s remarks regarding more emphasis on the faculty reward system and faculty recognition.
“Everyone should contribute to where their strength is,” Ottobre said. “I was pleased.”
Gee ended his speech with kind and hopeful words, praising his audience.
“The people who make this institution work are you,” he said. “This is truly one of the great American institutions and we’re all truly blessed to be here.”
