Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam has been named Ohio State’s new provost in a Thursday afternoon announcement. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State
This story was originally published May 28 as “New provost looks to make lasting impact at Ohio State, promote a more inclusive environment” and May 27 as “Melissa L. Gilliam to be university’s new provost.” The stories have been combined and updated for the BuckeyeBound edition.
Ohio State’s next Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam grew up in Washington, D.C. She said her sense of service and civic engagement comes from her mother, who was the first Black female reporter at The Washington Post, and her desire to truly engage with people from her father, who is an artist.
Gilliam will begin her new role Aug. 1. Before serving as the vice provost of the University of Chicago for the past 15 years, Gilliam attended several institutions, including Yale University, the University of Oxford, Harvard University and the University of Illinois.
Drawing on her experience at the University of Chicago, Gilliam said she plans to increase the diversity of Ohio State’s faculty and student body by furthering University President Kristina M. Johnson’s RAISE initiative — which aims to hire 150 diverse tenure-track faculty in the coming years — and supporting students in the pathway from high school to STEM fields.
“One thing is that students are a really, really great way to recruit and you have somebody who is similar to you and looks similar and had a similar background and they come and they tell you that they’ve gone to Ohio State, and they’ve had a fantastic time. That means a lot,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam said she has been afforded a great deal of opportunity and hopes to create similar opportunities for students and faculty at Ohio State.
“I work in a way that is very human-centered, instead of sort of saying, ‘Oh, I’d like to look at the system,’” Gilliam said. “I’m really interested in individuals’ experiences.”
In a December email, Johnson announced that former Ohio State Executive Vice President and Provost Bruce McPheron would step down from his position effective June 30. McPheron served in the position for five years and will continue at the university as a professor of entomology in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“Dr. Gilliam is a national leader in multiple areas — from recruiting, developing and building strong, engaged and innovative faculty across all disciplines to ensuring exceptional student education,” Johnson stated in a May 27 press release.
Gilliam said she also wants to expand the university’s views on diversity — including factors that may be historically overlooked.
“Many students have disabilities that are not apparent and many students are quite concerned about disclosing them,” Gilliam said. “And so when you start to shift to this idea of what we call universal design, so that regardless of disability, whether it’s visible or not visible; it’s open to anyone.”
Gilliam said she also wants to increase enrollment among Black students, veterans, students from rural communities, and low-income and first-generation students.
Coming to a renowned research institution like Ohio State, Gilliam said research is one of the areas she is most excited to pursue and improve at the university.
“Ohio State not only has to think about being really a research engine for the state; we also have to think about supporting students and making sure we have a tremendous pipeline of students who are interested in STEM fields,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam said she plans to recruit more research faculty and put an emphasis on cross- and interdisciplinary research. She said research requires collaboration, which she is excited to help foster throughout her time at Ohio State.
“We’re at a point where scientific questions and human problems are so complex; they’re not going to be solved by a single discipline,” Gilliam said.
