John Carey was appointed chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents on Wednesday by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. As chancellor, Carey will head the University System of Ohio, the largest public higher education system in the country including 14 universities, 23 community colleges and more than 120 adult workforce and training education centers.
Carey’s appointment begins April 29, pending the consent of the Ohio Senate. He is replacing Jim Petro, who retired Feb. 1 after more than 30 years of service.
Stephanie Davidson served during the interim term.
Carey, 54, is a graduate of Ohio University. He will be working to “inject (a) job creation mentality” into the university system, Kasich said in a press release.
“John Carey can help to continue to transform Ohio’s system of universities into a university system, and in doing so, higher education can become a stronger partner in Ohio’s job creation efforts,” Kasich said.
OSU Undergraduate Student Government President Taylor Stepp said although he did not work with Davidson during the interim term, USG worked “pretty closely” with Petro in 2010 on the enterprise university model. Stepp said that conversation has since “fallen by the wayside,” but he could see talks revamping with Carey’s administration.
Stepp thinks it is likely Carey has similar ideas to Kasich’s about the future of higher education in Ohio.
“As I understand it, the governor’s agenda is one that would move toward streamlining and looking at education, higher education specifically, in unique ways, especially the financing,” Stepp said.
Kasich said in the release that the efforts on financing higher education are made in order to help more people from Ohio graduate from college.
“The reforms we’ve made to date have led to greater collaboration among the universities, an increased emphasis on research commercialization, and a funding plan that focuses on improving graduation rates,” Kasich said. “As a result, universities can better control their costs and help more Ohioans get their degrees.”
One of the Board of Regents’ initiatives is called “Complete College Ohio.” Along with graduating more students, the initiative intends to encourage students to remain in Ohio upon graduation, according to the University System of Ohio website.
Sarah Murray, a second-year in psychology, said convincing graduates to stay in-state is a good thing, but she does not necessarily see the state’s borders as boundaries to her career.
“I don’t have any issues with Ohio. I guess I would just go wherever there were job opportunities,” Murray said.
Carey spent 17 years of his career in Ohio’s House of Representatives and Senate. Carey’s most recent position was as assistant to the Shawnee State University president for government relations and strategic initiatives. Before his election as a legislator, Carey was mayor of Wellston, Ohio.