CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio State University will hire a minimum of 350 tenure-track faculty over next ten years, focusing on hiring from underrepresented backgrounds, promoting research in social justice and equity and boosting research dollars overall.
President Kristina Johnson, in her first “State of the University” speech on Thursday, also said the university would work over the next decade to ensure OSU students graduate debt free. Johnson began her term in August 2020. The speech highlighted the challenges the university and its students faced with the pandemic, but focused on the university’s future investments.
OSU needs to replace its vice president and provost and chief academic officer, Bruce McPheron, who will be stepping down to rejoin the faculty. Johnson said when the new provost is in place, these 350 tenure-track faculty is “the most urgent priority,” She noted that since 2008 undergraduate enrollment went up by more than 5,800, but 219 tenure-track faculty left.
“I want every single Ohio State student to be able to look across the lecture hall or seminar table and understand immediately that their dreams are valid and achievable,” Johnson said in the speech.
The hiring plan includes:
— 150 faculty who are Black, indigenous or people of color or are from underrepresented backgrounds
— 50 who conduct research in social justice and equity issues within their fields
— 150 scholars in “high-demand” fields with high student-faculty ratios and where class sizes are more than 50. Johnson used the example of the Fisher College of Business.
— 50 faculty in “emerging fields of leading-edge research,” but Johnson did not specify which fields.
Johnson also highlighted the university’s plans for addressing the cost of college, a continuing national discussion highlighted by the ongoing discussions with Congress and President Joe Biden’s administration over canceling part of student debt. She did not highlight strategies for making OSU the first university to offer a bachelor’s degree at zero debt within the speech.
OSU also will look at further increasing the minimum stipend for graduate students, who are often conducting research or teaching classes at the same time as taking classes. The minimum stipend recently increased $4,000 to $21,280 by fall 2021.
Johnson’s speech follows the Columbus Innovation District announcement on Wednesday, a partnership between Ohio State University, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and JobsOhio. The project, the third announced in Ohio, is $1.1 billion dedicated to expanding research and development, focused on health care and biosciences. OSU will invest $650 million in new buildings as part of the project, WOSU reported.
Previous education news and coverage:
— Ohio State proposes increase in tuition and fees for new first-year students
— Cleveland State long-time academic leader will rejoin faculty in fall
— Kent State president shares what fall semester could look like, ‘approaching normal’
