Thursday September 18th, 2025
THE LANTERN
Year 144, Issue 5.
The independent student voice of Ohio State University since 1881.
Ted Carter’s State of the University Address: aims for Ohio State to become one of the leading land-grant universities
Lily Pace and Ally Wolfe Managing Campus Editor and Senior Campus Writer
R
etaining distinguished faculty, investing resources into colleges, expanding scholarship opportunities and expanding students’ access to internships and careers are among the key points of Ohio State’s 10-year plan. Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. detailed the university’s plan for its Education for Citizenship 2035 initiative at the State of the University Address on Wednesday, delivered at University Square North. The Education for Citizenship 2035 initiative has been in the works for the past 20 months, but Carter said the wait was necessary. “I know some people think that we’ve been dragging this out,” Carter said in an interview before the speech. “The truth is, it takes this long to get it right and to get it through the fiduciary oversight processes. This has been completely approved by our board of trustees.” Here’s the top takeaways from the address. Offering expanded scholarships Announced Monday, Ohio State and Columbus State Community College partnered for Buckeye Bridge — an opportunity for low- to middle-income students who graduate from Columbus State with an associate’s degree to attend Ohio State tuition-free to receive their bachelor’s, according to prior Lantern reporting. Buckeye Bridge will be available to Ohio residents from families with an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or lower. Carter also announced the President’s Scholars Program, which will cover the full cost of tuition and fees for Ohio students who score a 36 on the ACT or a 1600 on the SAT. The university will also cover tuition and fees for students from families with an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or lower who start at one of the regional campuses before transferring to the Columbus campus, Carter said. “As I look to the next part of this investment in ourselves, Education for Citizenship 2035, I want to talk about our students,” Carter said. “Make them successful. To take that to the next level, we have to continually think about, ‘What are the people of the United States saying about education?’ One of the things they say is it just costs too much.” Carter said these scholarships aim to expand opportunities to Ohio students through affordability and accessibility. Launch a $100 million fund to attract and retain distinguished faculty Carter also announced that the university is building a $100
million fund aimed at attracting distinguished faculty and maintaining the university’s own. Carter said that he and the Board of Trustees asked each distinguished university professor to share their remarks about Ohio State, and many shared their reasons for working at the university. “We’re going to invest in having the best faculty that we can get in the country,” Carter said. “We’re creating an eminent faculty program that will be $100 million growth, mostly on philanthropy, $20 million of that have already been raised, and much of that money will be in there to retain some of our best faculty.” The university has raised more than $20 million in private funds toward the $100 million effort, Carter said. Through this investment, Carter said the university will grow research enterprise by focusing on interdisciplinary research and investment in the university’s infrastructure. Make target investments in six colleges Ohio State plans to invest in select programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, including chemistry, biochemistry, physics, political science and psychology, Carter said. Carter also announced that the university will fund the Fisher College of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Moritz College of Law and the College of Medicine. While the university is investing more resources into these colleges, Carter said that this does not mean that it will stop investing in a “well-rounded academic enterprise.” “Our academic programs are premier,” Carter said. “We’re very strong. We have some of the best scholars in the world right here, but we can still do better, and we can commit to that next level. So to do that, we have to be not afraid and not getting too comfortable and just keeping the status quo.” Carter said that this investment is in the people, faculty and programs. There is currently no spending amount set for the monetary investment, but Carter said it will be more than what the university currently spends. TED CARTER continues on page 2. SANDRA FU | MANAGING PHOTO EDITOR