Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. delivers the State of the Address at University Square North Wednesday. Credit: Sandra Fu | Managing Photo Editor
Retaining distinguished faculty, investing resources into colleges, expanding scholarship opportunities and expanding students’ access to internships and careers are among the key points of Ohio State’s 10-year plan.
Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. detailed the university’s plan for its Education for Citizenship 2035 initiative at the State of the University Address on Wednesday, delivered at University Square North.
The Education for Citizenship 2035 initiative has been in the works for the past 20 months, but Carter said the wait was necessary.
“I know some people think that we’ve been dragging this out,” Carter said in an interview before the speech. “The truth is, it takes this long to get it right and to get it through the fiduciary oversight processes. This has been completely approved by our board of trustees.”
Here’s the top takeaways from the address.
Offering expanded scholarships
Announced Monday, Ohio State and Columbus State Community College partnered for Buckeye Bridge — an opportunity for low- to middle-income students who graduate from Columbus State with an associate’s degree to attend Ohio State tuition-free to receive their bachelor’s, according to prior Lantern reporting.
Buckeye Bridge will be available to Ohio residents from families with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $100,000 or lower.
Carter also announced the President’s Scholars Program, which will cover the full cost of tuition and fees for Ohio students who score a 36 on the ACT or a 1600 on the SAT.
The university will also cover tuition and fees for students from families with an AGI of $100,00 or lower who start at one of the regional campuses before transferring to the Columbus campus, Carter said.
“As I look to the next part of this investment in ourselves, Education for Citizenship 2035, I want to talk about our students,” Carter said. “Make them successful. To take that to the next level, we have to continually think about, ‘What are the people of the United States saying about education?’ One of the things they say is it just costs too much.”
Carter said these scholarships aim to expand opportunities to Ohio students through affordability and accessibility.
Launch a $100 million fund to attract and retain distinguished faculty
Carter also announced that the university is building a $100 million fund aimed at attracting distinguished faculty and maintaining the university’s own.
Carter said that he and the Board of Trustees asked each distinguished university professor to share their remarks about Ohio State, and many shared their reasons for working at the university.
“We’re going to invest in having the best faculty that we can get in the country,” Carter said. “We’re creating an eminent faculty program that will be $100 million growth, mostly on philanthropy, $20 million of that have already been raised, and much of that money will be in there to retain some of our best faculty.”
The university has raised more than $20 million in private funds toward the $100 million effort, Carter said.
Through this investment, Carter said the university will grow research enterprise by focusing on interdisciplinary research and investment in the university’s infrastructure.
Make target investments in six colleges
Ohio State plans to invest in select programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, including chemistry, biochemistry, physics, political science and psychology, Carter said.
Carter also announced that the university will fund the Fisher College of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Moritz College of Law and the College of Medicine.
While the university is investing more resources into these colleges, Carter said that this does not mean that it will stop investing in a “well-rounded academic enterprise.”
“Our academic programs are premier,” Carter said. “We’re very strong. We have some of the best scholars in the world right here, but we can still do better, and we can commit to that next level. So to do that, we have to be not afraid and not getting too comfortable and just keeping the status quo.”
Carter said that this investment is in the people, faculty and programs. There is currently no spending amount set for the monetary investment, but Carter said it will be more than what the university currently spends.
Hire faculty to support the AI Fluency initiative
Carter announced that Ohio State will hire 100 new faculty members to support the AI Fluency initiative, on top of the 300 that the university currently has. After launching this past summer, every Ohio State student from the class of 2029 on is going to graduate fluent in AI programs, according to prior Lantern reporting.
Carter said the goal of the initiative is to prepare students for a tech-ready workforce by teaching them how to use AI in their field of study.
“We’ve recently received a large federal grant from the National Science Foundation that will help us set up artificial intelligence for responsible use and governance, using our faculty from business, from law and engineering and partnering with other schools like Baylor, Northeastern and Rutgers,” Carter said.
The Brookings Institute recently ranked Columbus as a “Star AI Hub,” meaning that the city is in the top 25 percent in the country for AI talent and innovation. Carter said he aims to see a future where Columbus can become the next Silicon Valley.
Expand enrollment in the College of Nursing, College of Veterinary Medicine
Carter announced that Ohio State plans to double undergraduate enrollment within the College of Nursing and expand enrollment within the College of Veterinary Medicine.
For the nursing program, the number one ranked public institution in the country, Carter said the university is trying to meet an urgent workforce need, especially with our nation having a shortage of over 500,000 nurses within the next five years.
To combat this, within those next five years, the number of nursing graduates will increase from 176 to 320, Carter said.
With this offer, the College of Nursing will offer graduates designated rotation slots, early job offers and employment guarantees at the Wexner Medical Center to establish their careers here at Ohio State.
Enrollment within the College of Veterinary Medicine will also be raised to 200, an increase from the current yearly average of 165 admitted students.
Carter said in the address that he owes thanks to Gov. Mike DeWine and members of the General Assembly for their support, which will allow the university to increase the number of in-state students enrolled at the college who will go on to serve in communities across Ohio.
“Both of these programs are intended to not only produce more numbers but inspire Ohioans that get into these programs, because we know we have a high percentage of keeping them here in Ohio,” Carter said before the speech.
Becoming the No. 1 school for veterans
Carter said he wants Ohio State to become the No. 1 university in the nation for veterans over the next 10 years.
Ohio State is currently tied with Rutgers at the No. 22 ranking, according to the U.S. News & World Report. Carter said he wants to guarantee veterans that the university is the destination for them and that they can do better than most other universities in taking care of them.
“They will not have to spend any money outside of their post-9/11, GI Bill stipends to guarantee them a degree in three years or less if they have 10 years of military service,” Carter said in an interview before the speech. “If they want to come here to Ohio State, [we] would be guaranteeing them a paid internship with a path to the job.”
In addition, Carter said in a pre-speech interview the university aims to aid veterans who choose to complete their education remotely and “that would be an opportunity to build out our remote education capability.”
Open Career Services Center of Excellence
Carter also announced the launch of a “Career Services Center of Excellence.”
Carter said the goal of this center is to strengthen connections to companies and expand opportunities for internships and experiential learning so that students are better prepared for the workforce.
Carter said the university hopes to equip students with the ability to not only find jobs, but also create jobs. With programs like the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Software Innovation, students are being prepared for a future in which they can be employees but also creators, innovators and problem-solvers, Carter said.
Carter said the center will be, “A one stop shop for any one of our students, who I expect every undergraduate student [to] get a paid internship experience while they are here at Ohio State.”
Carter said the center will do two things: teach students what is possible within a two-way interview with future employees and inspire students to find not only good jobs, but ones that are right here in central Ohio.
Carter said while this is a big undertaking with multiple elements and sections coming together, he is excited about what is to come.
“Impact 2035” plan launching to remove barriers and expand access for all Ohioans
Dr. John Warner, the chief executive officer of the Wexner Medical Center and the executive vice president at Ohio State, and his team launched “Impact 2035,” a plan for the medical center to expand care and resources for all Ohioans, Carter said.
Carter said the university’s goal is to provide cutting-edge care to everyone living in Ohio, not just those living in Central Ohio. The university is currently building partnerships with local health systems and community leaders to expand resources at a local level, Carter said.
“So the point of telling you all this is this is going to increase not only our stature, but our ability to increase what we can do in women’s, child care, health care, what we can do for large organ transplants, stroke care, and certainly in cancer care,” Carter said. “So this is a very important part of the future of this university for health care, taking care of every single patient, every single time.”
Carter said that the university has also invested in a Health Outreach Mobile Experience Bus that will be prepared to hit the road next year and provide dental care to communities across the state.
Carter announced University Hospital will also open in exactly 158 days. This will transform patient care and advance research breakthroughs in the medical industry.
This hospital has 26 stories, making it the largest single-facilities project Ohio State has ever undertaken, Carter said. The hospital will also have 150 new beds for The James Cancer Hospital, which once the University Hospital opens, will make The James the second-largest free-standing cancer hospital in the country.
Maintaining athletic strengths
Entering the first year of shared revenue and continuation of NIL — which allows athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness — Carter said Ohio State’s athletic programs are just as strong.
Carter said that taking care of the student athletes is the model the university wants to preserve.
“When our athletes come here, they don’t come here just to compete in the Big 10,” Carter said. “They don’t come here just because there’s an expectation that we win. They come here because they want to get a degree.”
This year, Ohio State will share a revenue of $20.5 million across 36 sports, the vast majority of which will go to football, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball. However, Carter said there would be an investment coming back to the Olympic sports that will not generate revenue.
“91 additional scholarships will go to student athletes, increasing in a higher percentage of our student athletes that will actually be on scholarship,” Carter said.
Carter talked about how fortunate he is to represent not only Ohio State, but the entire Big Ten as a representative on the board of governors of the NCAA.
