After serving as President of Ohio State for over a year, Kristina M. Johnson officially holds the position in not just title, but also ceremony following the Presidential Investiture Friday afternoon. Credit: Becca Duncan | Lantern reporter
After serving as President of Ohio State for over a year, Kristina M. Johnson officially holds the position in not just title, but also ceremony following the Presidential Investiture Friday afternoon.
University President Kristina M. Johnson officially took her oath of office at the ceremony, which was delayed over a year due to the pandemic. Johnson gave a speech detailing how she hopes to decrease crime around campus, grow the university’s reputation and provide more students with the ability to graduate debt-free.
“As president of Ohio State, my first priority is putting the safety of our students, faculty and staff first,” Johnson said.
Johnson recognized the recent rise in violent crime in the campus area, pointing to new programs such as the Task Force on Community Safety and Well-Being that have focused on student safety. She said crime in the campus area has decreased 60 percent since August.
Johnson said safety is not the only thing she plans to improve at the university. She also aims to make education at Ohio State more affordable through her new plan titled “Scarlet and Gray Advantage,” which will help students graduate debt free.
“If you want to be a force for social mobility, the details matter — especially affordability,” Johnson said.
The Scarlet and Gray plan consists of four factors: operating efficiently within the university, an increase in the Ohio College Opportunity Grant funding, generosity of alumni, friends, partner corporations and foundations and the contribution of students towards their own financial well-being. Johnson said students will help fund their own education through paid internships and on-campus work experience.
Ultimately, she said she hopes the program will help students stay in college and graduate on time. The program will begin with 125 low- and middle- income first-year students next fall.
“Within 10 years, I intend for us to rank among the top five public universities in the nation in our four-year graduation rate,” Johnson said.
Shivani Patel, president of the Inter-Professional Council, was selected to represent students at the investiture. Patel said Johnson is a great leader for the university because she listens to students.
“The first time I met President Johnson, she said to me ‘Anything you bring to me, it’s going to get done. It might take a little bit of time and a lot of patience, but it’s going to get done. I promise,’” Patel said. “Let me tell you, she has not let me down.”
Johnson said she has big goals for the university while serving as president, stating that she wants to see Ohio State’s reputation continue to grow.
“We are going to make Ohio State University just what it should be,” Johnson said. “The greatest land-grant university of the 21st century.”
