Unlike predecessor, Ohio State President Carter holding off on a strategic plan for now

Ohio State University President Ted Carter didn't surprise attendees of his first State of the University address Thursday with a slate of plans or inititatives.

After spending more than 40 minutes sharing a history of the university, touting its successes and discussing challenges facing higher education, Carter broke the news: "I'm not introducing or announcing any new policies."

The one plan Carter did announce was that he intends to survey university faculty and staff in the coming months and use that feedback to later craft a strategic plan.

It was a stark contrast from how his predecessor approached her inaugural address.

At her virtual first State of the University in February 2021, Kristina M. Johnson laid out a set of ambitious goals she hoped to tackle over the next decade. Her aim was lofty but clear: to make Ohio State the model for land-grant universities in the nation.

Johnson envisioned an Ohio State where students could leave school with a bachelor's degree and zero debt, which led to the creation of the Scarlet & Gray Advantage. She planned to hire at least 350 new tenure-track faculty members from a diverse range of backgrounds and fields through her Race, Inclusion and Social Equity (RAISE) initiative. She pushed to double the university's research expenditures, putting Ohio State among an "elite" group of research institutions.

Johnson made strides on her goals before abruptly leaving the university in May 2023, less than three years into her tenure.

In a January interview with The Dispatch, Carter said that he is still in the process of evaluating the future of programs like the Scarlet & Gray Advantage.

Carter said during his speech that his approach to his first 100 days as president has been to "listen and learn" as much as possible.

"If we don't understand our past, and how we got to where we are, and we don't understand where we actually are … then wherever we think we're going in the future, we can be lost," Carter said. "So I want to make sure that I get a good sense of what created the culture here."

Carter said he will share his strategic plan by his formal inauguration this fall, after gathering input from faculty, staff and other university stakeholders.

"There will be time to come up with a big powerful strategic muscle movements that are coming," he said. "But as I said … this isn't just about me navigating this. We're going to do that together."

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Unlike Johnson, Ohio State President Carter to wait on strategic plan