Nearly 100 faculty and staff met at an open hall Wednesday to discuss Ohio State’s plans for the future.
Meeting on the 11th floor of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, the university employees met with Jeff Kaplan, senior vice president for Administration and Planning, who presented the “One University” framework outlining OSU President E. Gordon Gee’s goals.
These goals include “the forging of one Ohio State,” Kaplan said. Gee’s other five goals are to put students first, focus on faculty success, recast the university’s research agenda, commit to OSU’s communities and simplify systems and structures.
The framework focuses on future plans for buildings, including the $1 billion in deferred maintenance in university buildings. The project also addresses future transportation systems on campus and new approaches to parking and land along the Olentangy River, as well as sustainability.
OSU has enlisted help from urban design and planning firm Sasaki Associates, Inc. in order to achieve these goals.
“The magnitude of this project is great,” Kaplan said, “which is daunting in one sense, and exciting in another.”
The long-term project has no definite end mark — it could end within 25 years, or it could turn out to be a 60-year project, Kaplan said.
Robert Meier, director of the faculty and staff assistance program, asked how the health and wellness of faculty and staff are being considered in future plans.
Kaplan said those areas are being considered as plans are being developed.
After the meeting, Gordon Aubrecht, a professor of physics at OSU, said the focus on the future is a positive step for the university.
“All of this is really fascinating,” he said. “Now they care. When President Gee came back they started paying attention to the future.”
OSU officials are developing a Web site to provide the public with more information as plans for the project move forward.
