"The state is our campus."

President Gee's summer tours of Ohio are a chance for the president to accomplish major university business: meeting officials from other Ohio colleges and universities, connecting with alumni, learning about Ohio businesses, and thinking about the state's economic future.

They're also a whole lot of fun, with trips to county fairs, diners, and ice cream parlors. This year, the Marching Band even made a surprise visit, showing up at a Buckeye Lake gathering of Fairfield County students and their families.

"I think the things that I always enjoy the most are the opportunities to connect our own students on campus and their energy with alumni and friends," President Gee says.

Traveling 1,715 miles in seven days, President Gee hit 42 stops in 37 cities. Several were green spots, including the new Wyandot Solar Farm, Hocking College Energy Institute, and Meranda-Nixon Winery, an alumni-owned vineyard that provides local wine to the new Ohio Union.

Seth Meranda, a 1994 Ohio State grad, combined his education with university research to transform his family's tobacco farm into a winery. Now, Meranda's children are learning the new family business: One young son even gives weekend vineyard tours.

Stories like Meranda's are exactly what President Gee likes to see.

"One of the great opportunities that I have is to visit our alumni in their own venues, to see how the university has impacted on our families generationally," he said.