“It’s not for the faint-hearted,” said William “Brit” Kirwan, nearly two years after he became the 12th president of Ohio State. Now that his anniversary has almost arrived, Kirwan, 62, admitted that, “It`s been a real learning experience.”After spending 34 years as a faculty member, an administrator and its president, Kirwan left the University of Maryland to come to OSU.Although Kirwan said he expected to experience some differences between Maryland`s and Ohio`s treatment of the public higher education system, he admitted that he did not think the difference would be so extreme.He said the citizens, the government and the media in the Baltimore/ Washington, D.C. area are much more concerned with the nation`s business, than with the business of the state`s universities. “The presidents that I know in the Baltimore/ Washington area would talk about, ‘What can we do to get the media interested in us,'” he said. He admitted, jokingly, that in Ohio the opposite scenario with media is often the reality.One thing that Kirwan criticized about the state of Ohio is the subsidy support for its public universities. Public universities in Ohio receive a fixed 4 percent annual subsidy, while Maryland`s state support has increased by 10 to 12 percent over the past few years, Kirwan said.In an effort to increase financial support for the university, the administration has recently completed its Affirm Thy Friendship campaign. The campaign surpassed its original $1 billion goal with $1.3 billion raised to date.”One of the mysteries that I hope one day I can figure out and write about is how is it that people in Ohio can care so much about Ohio State and give to it, and yet the state ranks 41st per capita in support of higher education,” he said. “This needs to change.”
Living life as a Buckeye
Kirwan, who officially became OSU`s president on July 1, 1998, reminisced of his time spent at Ohio State while sitting in a brownish leather chair inside his spacious Bricker Hall office. “I was very happy where I was. I had other opportunities to leave Maryland, and I chose not to,” Kirwan recalled.However, the board of trustees informed him that they wanted OSU to become one of the best public universities in the country. Kirwan said that the thought of accomplishing that goal intrigued him enough to accept Ohio State`s offer to become the president. “My clear sense was and still is that I should be developing plans and strategies that will over time help this university advance into the upper echelon of colleges and universities,” he said.However, he admits, “The place we’re headed is not easy to reach,” Kirwan said. Shortly after his arrival at Ohio State, Kirwan announced a four-point list of initiatives that he said should guide OSU toward achieving its goals: • Improving the undergraduate experience; • Increasing campus diversity; • Expanding the Land Grant mission; • Supporting OSU`s research through the 2010 plan.According to Kirwan, the 2010 plan is designed to move 10 of the university`s programs into the nation`s top 10 rankings and 20 in the top 20 by 2010. He said the 2010 plan, which is a part of the academic plan, is on track for its goal. “The basic strategy for realizing the 2010 plan is selective investment,” Kirwan said. Selective Investment Funding provides reallocated university money to some university departments, including chemistry, history, neuroscience and political science. Each department must match the university`s gift of $500,000, for a total of $1 million, and use the money to either hire faculty or to improve the department. Kirwan said that the university has already completed two rounds of selective investment, and it is about to begin its third round. Kirwan said that by the end of this year, 12 to 13 programs will have been chosen to receive this selective investment. “I think it`s going to pay dividends for us down the road,” Kirwan said. Another area of Kirwan`s initiatives is increasing the diversity on campus. Kirwan said he realized, by looking at statistics from the past, that OSU`s diversity was not improving. “If we don’t develop the right goals and benchmark, I don’t think we will make much progress,” he said. The administration has held numerous forums and meetings to discuss the strategy of OSU`s diversity plan. Kirwan said, among other things, the diversity plan aims to increase minority retention and recruitment rates for OSU students and faculty. “I think if we have a more diverse faculty, the minority retention will increase,” he said. Kirwan hopes that OSU will see an improvement of the recruitment rates of minority and women faculty by this time next year.Kirwan admitted that he misjudged the time it would take to initiate the plans. “I think that I underestimated the time it would take to develop a broadly supported academic plan and diversity plan. So I think on both that we are a little behind,” he said. Although he had hoped that the university would have completed both plans by the end of this fiscal year, Kirwan said the plans should be finalized by Autumn Quarter. However, Kirwan said other areas of the academic environment at OSU have made faster progress than anticipated. Since he assumed the presidential position at Ohio State, Kirwan said he has advocated for the creation of living learning centers. “The basic strategy is to somehow break down the size of the university,” Kirwan said. According to Kirwan, “the idea here is to take a residential hall and sort of create an academic theme and use that to create a learning environment within the residential living experience for students,” he said. Although he had hoped that there would be more of these centers on campus by now, Kirwan said three living learning centers are scheduled to open this fall.
Behind every good man…
Since Kirwan spends most of his time assuming his presidential role, his wife`s support is instrumental to his success. According to Kirwan, his wife Patty is extremely supportive of his position as the university`s president. “I think she (Patty) makes an exceptional president`s wife,” he said. “She’s just a very genuine and giving person.”On normal weekdays, Kirwan said he starts his day at 5 a.m. Shortly after, he goes upstairs to his office to either answer his e-mails or to write memos or speeches on his computer. On average he receives about 70 e-mails daily, and most of them require some type of response, he said. During the remainder of each day, Kirwan attends back-to-back meetings with administrators, faculty, campus groups or community organizations. In addition to his presidential duties, Kirwan participates in many board and civic meetings. Aside from being the chairman of the board for the science and technology campus, Kirwan is a member of the board of directors for the NCAA, the Wexner Center and many other community organizations. He also serves on numerous committees, including the John Glenn Commission. All of these endeavors mean that his average work schedule ends around 8:30 or 9 p.m. on weekdays, and includes many weekends as well. According to Kirwan, his wife Patty had to make an adjustment in order to live this type of lifestyle. He describes his wife of 40 years as a remarkable person. “She never particularly wanted me to go into administration or to be the president. She cares about family and together time,” he explained.Kirwan and his wife have two children who are alumni of the University of Maryland. Bill, 36, is an architect and has two children, Andrew and Kyle. Their daughter, Ann Elizabeth, 31, was married in Columbus last summer and works for a health information company. Both children currently reside in Maryland.
Learning from conflict
When leading the life of a university president, one can expect moments of triumph, but one also needs to anticipate some controversial times.A tragic incident in April involved a student who overdosed from drugs and alcohol. Kirwan said it re-emphasized to the university a problem that affects some of the student body: drug and alcohol abuse.T
o help combat this problem, Kirwan said that among other initiatives, OSU will begin providing more “alternative,” or alcohol-free, events for students.Most recently, Kirwan became the university symbol of protest during the Communications Workers of America, Local 4501 strike during May. The CWA union members, who demanded immediate increases of their salaries, continued to strike for three weeks, while negotiators tried to resolve the dispute.During the strike, Kirwan attended a fireside chat with about a hundred CWA members, students and faculty. Although Kirwan realized that it might have turned into a heated situation, he said he had to attend.”I think that it’s part of the responsibility of the people who have leadership positions to make themselves available.”According to Kirwan, another issue was brought to light because of the strike. “The tension showed me we had some rebuilding to do on campus.” The day that the strike ended, Kirwan sent a mass e-mail to the OSU community, pledging to accept the responsibility to mend the tension on campus.
Looking ahead
After two years of working to improve the university, Kirwan used the words invigorating and challenging to describe his presidential position. According to him, it was the challenge of OSU`s trajectory that brought him to Columbus, and that goal for excellence still motivates him today.Even though Kirwan still has many obstacles to overcome, he said, “I still feel very exhilarated and excited about what I think can happen at Ohio State.”