Edward Jennings was appointed Ohio State interim president by the Board of Trustees Friday during its monthly meeting.
Jennings will take over July 1 after William “Brit” Kirwan steps down as president June 30 to assume the chancellorship of the University of Maryland School System.
“Ohio State has been awfully good to me and if I can help in some way I am glad to do it,” Jennings said.
He said individual board members called him on the phone three or four weeks ago and asked it he was interested in the position. On May 27, Chairman James Patterson sent letters to each board member to determine if Jennings’ appointment would be approved.
Until Jennings takes the appointment, he will become familiar with campus issues and meet with as many faculty, staff, deans, vice presidents, politicians and students to learn more about OSU.
“I think it (the role of interim) is to keep the momentum of the academic plan going, to deal with whatever issues are here on the table or will come up, and ease the transition to the new president,” Jennings said.
He said in order to become more familiar with the staff, faculty and especially students, he would probably walk around The Oval and would talk with individuals.
“I can tell you that one of the things I did as president was once a week I would invite maybe 50 students for breakfast at the Ohio Union, and we speculate we will want to do some of that,” Jennings said. “I also do an awful lot of walking around. I will show up on The Oval and talk with folks.”
As interim president, Jennings will continue working with the committees such as the ones reviewing undergraduate curriculum, and studying the organization and improving the College of Arts and Sciences.
He said Ohio needs a flagship university that is among the best in the world. Since the state is in a huge transition from manufacturing to a distribution and high technology center, these industries need the resources of a major university.
“If I can continue this process, it will be a successful interim presidency,” Jennings said.
He is not surprised he is no longer a candidate for president because there is a Board of Trustee regulation that does not allow principal administrative officials to remain in office after age 65.
“They had to waive that regulation for this position and I won’t let them waive that for the next position,” Jennings said. “What we need is someone young and energetic with new ideas and thoughts of the institution.”
Kirwan said since Jennings remained on the faculty of the Fisher College of Business after his presidency, he is well informed of what is going on in the university.
He has scheduled several meetings with Jennings so he has a clear sense of Kirwan’s perspective of the major issues and highest priority items to address.
Kirwan said Jennings holds the right values and can step into the position fully prepared to move the university forward.
“In so many ways he is the ideal person to step in at this point and provide interim leadership because everything in his career is so consistent with the current values and interests of the university,” Kirwan said.
