Be on the lookout for five notable new faces on Ohio State’s campus this fall.
These accomplished individuals, some with Ohio roots, were recently hired as OSU faculty and staff members.
One of those faces is Andrew Sorensen, or “Andy,” as OSU President E. Gordon Gee calls him.
Sorensen, who began his position as senior vice president for development on Wednesday, will lead OSU’s development efforts and the upcoming university-wide fundraising campaign.
Sorensen began his career in higher-education administration in 1983, when he served as dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Most recently, he served as president of the University of South Carolina from 2002 to 2008 and president of the University of Alabama from 1996 to 2002.
“Andy’s experience, wisdom and strategic vision will be enormously valuable in engaging alumni and friends in new ways to secure a strong financial foundation for the work of our students, faculty and staff,” Gee said in a Sept. 15 news release.
Sorensen said his new position at OSU is “very similar” to his roles at USC and Alabama.
At OSU, Sorensen wants to improve the “efficiency and effectiveness of university administration,” he said.
Sorensen’s job is to coordinate activities among groups of facilities and administrators.
“I’m not their boss, I’m just their coach and cheerleader,” he said. “I’m actually being asked to do here what I have a huge amount of experience doing at other universities.”
Sorensen said committees are off to a good start.
“We had a terrific meeting (Wednesday) that lasted almost two hours where representatives from all of those entities came together, and they’re well along in their plans,” Sorensen said.
He added that he has found a “can-do spirit throughout the campus” since his arrival and hopes to be able to interact with students in his new position.
Another notable hire OSU made this fall was Ron Sega, vice president and enterprise executive for energy and the environment.
The new three-year position is unique in that it is a joint position shared by OSU and Colorado State University.
Sega, an Ohio native, will help about 300 OSU faculty members and 200 CSU faculty members work together toward national initiatives regarding energy and the environment.
“One of the things I really want to do is add opportunities between the two institutions and provide new opportunities for funding,” Sega said.
Sega also said he wants to continue enhancing strategic partnerships, such as those with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and Battelle in Columbus.
Though OSU and CSU are more than 1,000 miles apart, Sega said he will spend at least one week each month in Ohio or Colorado.
Terry Foegler is also in a newly created position this fall: associate vice president of physical planning and real estate.
Foegler, president of Campus Partners from 1996-2008, has returned to OSU after a brief stint as the city manager of Dublin. He also served as development director for Dublin before becoming president of Campus Partners.
Foegler said he believes there will be some similarities between his previous positions and his position at OSU.
“In many ways, it’s very similar to what happens in a city — you have to look at parks, streets, utilities and zoning and development,” Foegler said.
Foegler also said planning for OSU is an “exciting prospect.”
His goals are to advance projects involving the Olentangy River, Neil Avenue and student housing, all of which he called “relatively bold.”
In another hire, Dr. Catherine Lucey has been named interim dean for OSU’s College of Medicine. Lucey also serves as vice dean for education in the College of Medicine and associate vice president for health sciences education.
Lucey said she came into the position as an outgrowth of her position as vice dean for education, in which she oversees all educational programs within the College of Medicine. Interim deans step into their positions because the existing dean has departed. In Lucey’s case, the dean accepted a position at Dartmouth College.
An interim dean “is someone who understands operational issues and has a track record of being someone who can manage the complexity of the position but also relates well to the people who are doing good work for the College of Medicine,” Lucey said.
The length of Lucey’s interim dean position depends on how long the search for a permanent dean takes, Lucey said.
Her goals are to move forward initiatives underway in the College of Medicine.
Christopher Carey has been named director of global gateway initiatives.
In his new position, Carey will be “tasked with developing self-sustaining Gateway offices in key locations around the world to expand Ohio State’s global reach,” according to a Sept. 7 news release.
The goal of OSU’s gateway offices is to serve as recruitment, networking, teaching, consulting and training facilities.
OSU’s most recently opened Gateway office is in Shanghai, China. Explorations of similar opportunities are ongoing in Brazil, India, Turkey, Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.