OU president says Kasich’s agenda dovetails with OU’s

Ohio University President Roderick McDavis responded to Gov. John Kasich's State of the State address during a press conference Tuesday, expressing optimism about how the school's priorities align with the governor's agenda.

McDavis said that he was happy to hear Kasich talk about the idea of a capital bill, which would help schools such as OU make much-needed maintenance improvements to university facilities.

"We were quite pleased to hear Gov. Kasich call on Ohioans to continue to make Ohio an even better place to live, work and learn," McDavis said.

One of the biggest potential consequences to the university, and the Athens area in general, mentioned in the governor's speech didn't get addressed during McDavis' press conference – that's Kasich's announcement of a planned 10-fold boost to Ohio's current broadband network.

The initiative calls for the state of Ohio, led by the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Academic Resources Network, to invest $8.1 million in equipment that will increase broadband speeds, from 10 gigabits per second to 100 Gbps.

In phase 1 of the program, will connect Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo by this June, while phase 2 will connect Athens, Akron and Youngstown by next October. The program is intended to accomplish a number of things, among them aid university research, expedite educational downloads and speed the transmission of medical records.

The OU president said that throughout the speech as Kasich addressed manufacturing, job development and the future workforce, Ohio University officials were pleased with how those items fit in with the university's mission and initiatives.

McDavis was joined by Provost Pam Benoit and Vice President for Finance and Administration Steve Golding during his media availability.

Benoit emphasized the school's priorities regarding graduation rates as well as student retention. She cited the school's status as having the third-highest graduation rate in the state.

McDavis said he was happy to hear the governor address the topics of technology transfer and commercialization. This refers to the process of transferring knowledge, technologies and manufacturing samples across government and university communities to develop them further, perhaps even into new products, processes and materials or services.

"We're extremely proud of our accomplishments in this particular area," McDavis said. "We've got a long way to go, but we're very proud of what we're beginning to accomplish."

McDavis said that this is an area where OU faculty can move into a realm of discovery for their research and create small businesses. He pointed to the school's Innovation Center that currently has 19 member companies. OU has been ranked by Forbes magazine as fourth in the nation for tech-commercialization and first in Appalachia.

Golding said that the administration is heartened by the governor's willingness to put forth a capital bill.

"Ohio University is in its third century of operations," he said. "We have some of the oldest buildings in Ohio."

He said that many buildings are in need of significant renovation, and the university recently has struggled to deal with this situation because it has been 18 months since money in the last capital bill was appropriated. McDavis said that one main priority for the Athens campus if the capital monies come to fruition will be the E.W. Scripps School of Communication complex planned for the old Baker Center building and RTV building.

McDavis cited expansion of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, the work of the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and the Innovation Center as evidence of how the school's mission matches the governor's agenda.

"We feel we have aligned our priorities with the governor's priorities," he said.

Golding said that the governor's office has provided information that it has a $400 million capital budget number that's being using to project what will be available.

During the media availability, McDavis was also asked about a statement Kasich made that Ohio State University was the best school in the state.

"Clearly, we talk about thee Ohio University being the first and finest," McDavis said. "And I'll stand on that. I believe that we have been educating students for 207 years. We've done extremely well… We've been here much longer than thee Ohio State University, and I believe we've been educating students much better for that much longer… I'm very proud of our institution, and we'll try to help the governor understand that we're the best."