98-01-05 William Kirwan Named 12th President of Ohio State

WILLIAM E. KIRWAN NAMED 12TH PRESIDENT OF OHIO STATE

	COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees today (1/5)
appointed William E. Kirwan as the 12th president of the university.
Kirwan was the unanimous choice of the 17-member search committee chaired
by Board Chair Alex Shumate, and his nomination was unanimously confirmed
by the university trustees meeting in special session today.  He succeeds
E. Gordon Gee, who resigned to become president of Brown University.

	Kirwan, 59, has been president of the University of Maryland, College Park
since 1989 and has served as a professor and administrator there for 34 years.

	“We set high standards in this search -- so high that some people
questioned whether or not we could reach them,” Shumate said.  “My fellow
trustees and I are very pleased to say that we have found, in William
Kirwan, a person who has all the qualities of leadership, scholarship,
vision, innovation and integrity that we sought.”

	Shumate noted that as president at Maryland, Kirwan has been widely
recognized for his success in boosting academic standards, attracting
quality faculty members, enhancing the student experience, and making
diversity an institutional goal.  He is known for his commitment to fiscal
responsibility and effective management and for his capacity to lead a
large university.

	“Dr. Kirwan is a leader who inspires a shared vision and who fosters
collaboration and builds spirited teams.  He believes in shared
governance,” Shumate said.  “He enables others to act, and he expects them
to achieve extraordinary results.

	“We have created a vision and a strategy for Ohio State -- a vision of
what a complex public university can be, and of how it can contribute to
the larger community.  Dr. William Kirwan is the individual who can take us
to the next level.  We are pleased to welcome him and his wife, Patricia,
to The Ohio State University.”

	In response, Kirwan said: “I am honored and delighted to have been
selected as president of The Ohio State University.  While it will be
difficult emotionally for me to leave behind my long-term affiliation with
the University of Maryland, the opportunities that the Ohio State
presidency offers are so extraordinary that I am eager to undertake this
new challenge.”

	To smooth the transition at Maryland, Kirwan has offered to remain there
through the end of this academic year.  At the same time, he will be
familiarizing himself with Ohio State and is expected to assume
presidential duties in Columbus no later than July 1.  His salary will be
$275,000.

	During the transition, Richard Sisson, senior vice president and provost
at Ohio State since 1993, will continue to manage the operations of the
university as interim president.

	Born April 14, 1938, in Louisville, Ky., William English Kirwan received
his bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky in 1960, and his
master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers in 1962 and 1964.  He joined the
University of Maryland as an assistant professor of mathematics in 1964
and, except for one year as a visiting lecturer at the University of
London, has been there ever since.  He was promoted to associate professor
in 1968, to full professor in 1972, to chair of the Department of
Mathematics in 1977, to vice chancellor for academic affairs in 1981, to
provost in 1986, to acting president in August 1988, and to president in
February 1989.

	During his tenure as president, the University of Maryland emphasized
undergraduate education, selectively enhanced academic programs, recruited
and retained distinguished faculty, achieved diversity goals for
underrepresented minority groups, and successfully completed its first
capital campaign.  While serving as provost in the 1980s, Kirwan raised
admissions standards, increased merit scholarships and graduate
fellowships, and established an academic planning process.

	He is known for his long-range vision and for his talent as a consensus
builder.  Under his leadership, Maryland undertook a major restructuring of
its academic organization, as well as a streamlining of its academic
offerings, made necessary by reduced state support.

	Also noted for his enormous energy and long work days, Kirwan regularly
found time to teach an undergraduate class.  To relax, he enjoys attending
classical music concerts and playing tennis.  He and his wife, Patricia
Harper Kirwan, a native of Lexington, Ky., have two children, both Maryland
graduates: a son, William E. Kirwan III, an architect in Washington; and a
daughter, Ann Elizabeth Kirwan, a journalism graduate working in the health
care field in the Washington area.

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Contact: Ruth Gerstner, University Communications, (614) 292-8424


[Submitted by: Ruth Gerstner  (gerstner.2@osu.edu)
               
Mon, 05 Jan 1998 20:25:28 -0500]
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