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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > November > 28 > Entry
Editorial: Gee’s recognition good for OSU, Ohio
On Saturdays in the fall, Ohio State University is all about football.
But there are six other days of the week, and three other seasons of the year, and, on those days, there is so much more to the university.
Time magazine captured some of those other things in a recent piece in which it named OSU President Gordon Gee one of the country’s “10 best college presidents.”
The acknowledgement was not just important for Ohio State and its popular and proud-to-be-a-dork president. The notice is good for Ohio.
President Gee and most of Ohio’s public and private college presidents get it that the roles of their institutions have expanded. The days when their missions revolved just around students and journal articles are over.
Today they’re seen as originators of the next big things and engines for job growth. Time puts it this way:
“Forget the ivory tower: Colleges and universities are catalysts of economic development, stewards of public health, incubators of social policy and laboratories of discovery. Nearly every great national challenge — from the raising of our children to the quality of our food supply, from the hunt for clean energy to the struggle against insurgent enemies, from the quest for opportunity to the search for sustainable prosperity — depends for a solution on institutions of higher ed.”
Of course, colleges and their students alone can’t save the world. They are very much working with, and for, governments, the military and private businesses.
All of those entities, though, are increasingly deciding that to be good at what they do, they need formal partnerships with scholars, experimenters and the next generation of workers.
When these collaborations go well, everybody wins — most of all the students who get practical experience, real-world exposure and connections to those who can help them get jobs.
Meanwhile, the communities where the schools are located also benefit immeasurably. They become more attractive to young people and businesses, and so often the students’ learning takes them into neighborhoods, schools and government offices to make important contributions.
Gov. Ted Strickland and most lawmakers deserve credit for realizing the shift that has occurred. Though Ohio went through a long period when its colleges were under-appreciated and under-leveraged (and under-scrutinized), that seems to have come to an end.
There’s a widespread understanding that Ohio is rich in both the number and quality of its public (and private) universities and that they’re geographically accessible.
Having such a continuum of choices is nothing but positive for the state.
Under former Gov. Bob Taft and even more so since Gov. Strickland has taken over, Ohio State has been given the enviable responsibility of being the state’s flagship institution.
That’s pretty much always been the reality, but now there’s an explicit acknowledgement that, for Ohio’s sake, it needs a pre-eminent institution.
The other state universities will have their centers of excellence, they will be helped to grow and expand, but Ohio State’s $4.35 billion budget and its sheer size make it an economic development weapon for the entire state.
(That can be a good thing even for the smaller schools. They can compete for grants and projects that, on their own, they wouldn’t have a chance of winning; but, in partnership with OSU, they can be serious contenders.)
President Gee is a powerful and recognized personality in a state that doesn’t have very many. Time’s recognition shows that it doesn’t hurt to have a few.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Ellen Belcher, Higher Ed, Ohio government
Comments
By OSU falls in Rose Bowl
November 28, 2009 11:09 AM | Link to this
Let’s see. Other noteable bow tie wearers are Bill Nye “the science guy” Pee Wee Herman, Louis Farrakhan and the late Karl Marx. Not a group I would want to associate with.
By Go Bucks!
November 30, 2009 4:38 PM | Link to this
What about Orville Redenbacker? He’s king of the bowtie, way more recognizable than any of those other guys. Orville’s in every house in America, just like Gordon Gee on a football Saturday. Who wouldn’t want to be associated with all that popcorny goodness? And please tell me what’s wrong with Bill Nye the Science Guy? Is it just the “science” part? ‘Cause I like him way better than Bob Newl, Creationist Tool. That dude wears a string tie but he thinks “string theory” is what you use to teach a 4 year old how to tie his shoes.
By null
December 1, 2009 1:37 PM | Link to this
Gee only cares about his football team. Maybe he should concentrate on the organization as a whole such as the extension offices with their technology is under par and facilities are poorly maintained.