Virtual Presentations
President’s Club Presents
The President's Club began offering virtual presentations, in June 2020, with the debut of the Speaker Series. These events remain popular and the program continues to evolve offering you a variety of subjects presented by leaders in their fields at Ohio State. If you have topic or speaker ideas for future events, please send them to presidentsclub@osu.edu.
May 2023
The Ohio State student experience – a look back at the last 60 years
Molly Ranz Calhoun (BS ’86)
Senior Vice President of Alumni Engagement
President and Chief Executive Officer of The Ohio State University Alumni Association, Inc.
Molly Ranz Calhoun is a tried-and-true Buckeye. She began her career with Ohio State as a student employee more than 35 years ago. A dynamic leader with a passion for culture and collaboration, Molly has served in a variety of leadership roles in the Office of Student Life, most recently as senior associate vice president and interim senior vice president.
Throughout her decorated career, she has led some of the most impactful transformations across Ohio State’s campus, including the university’s largest-ever residential construction project, the North Residential District Transformation. She also launched the development of the Off-Campus Housing Excellence Program and served as a champion for Ohio State’s co-curricular esports programming, including the construction of a 90-player esports arena.
Molly has received the Distinguished Staff Award, the university’s highest honor for employees, and was honored as a Glass Breaker by the President and Provost’s Council on Women. She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Ohio State, and her areas of expertise include facilities construction and operations, strategic planning and community development.
Molly’s parents fell in love at Ohio State and together with them, Molly, her siblings, and their children, they have 16 Ohio State degrees.
Bill Shkurti (BS ’68, MA ’74)
Adjunct Professor in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs
Bill Shkurti was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. He entered Ohio State as a student in the fall of 1964 as part of the largest incoming freshman class up to that time. He graduated in 1968 with BA Degree with Distinction in Economics. After three years in the U. S. Army, he returned to Ohio State to earn a master's degree in Public Administration in 1974.
Bill went on to hold a number of positions in state government including aide to the chair of the Ohio Senate Finance Committee and Director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management.
In 1990, he returned to Ohio State and served for 20 years as vice president for Business and Finance before retiring in 2010. Since then, he has written a number of books and articles about Ohio and Ohio State including The Ohio State University in the Sixties: The Unraveling of the Old Order, published by OSU Press in 2016 and Ohio State University Student Life in the 1960s published by History Press in 2020.
He remains active in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs and lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio, with his wife, Renee, who is also an Ohio State graduate.
Andrew B. Pierce, II (Combined BS in Public Policy Analysis and Master of Public Administration ’23)
Co-founder of The WORTH Foundation
Andrew B. Pierce, II, was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He entered The Ohio State University in August of 2019 and graduated in May of 2023. During his time at Ohio State, Andrew served in Undergraduate Student Government from 2019, and as president from March 2022 to March 2023. He also served as an Honorary Executive Committee Member, John Glenn Civic Leadership Council, which is Glenn College's undergraduate student organization.
Andrew served as an intern in Washington, DC, at the Education Branch, White House Office of Management and Budget, as well as a finance intern for the Democratic Governors Association. Since 2020, he has served as a member of the Chief Advisory Council for The City of Columbus.
Andrew and his mother, Tina (’01, ’01, ’04 MA, ’09 PhD), are co-founders of The WORTH Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at cultivating leadership and increasing civic engagement to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values and advance human achievement.
Andrew received the Office of Student Life 2020 Outstanding First Year Award as well as the Office of Student Life 2023 Outstanding Senior Award while attending Ohio State. His future plans include attending law school.
Past Speakers
We are proud of our speakers and offer past presentations for viewing.
A Walk in Our ’Shoe: 100 Years of Ohio Stadium
Tamar Chute
University Archivist and Head of Archives (Professor)
A taste of chocolate: its origins, history and health
Dr. Mary Kay Pohlschneider
Senior Lecturer in the of Department of Food Science and Technology at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Climate Changing: On Artists, Institutions and the Social Environment
Lucy I. Zimmerman
Associate Curator in the Wexner Center for the Arts' Exhibitions Department
The Fierce Urgency of Now: Investing in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Darrell M. Gray, II, MD, MPH, FACG
Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition in the College of Medicine
Global Climate Change and the Demise of Earth's Glaciers
Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie G. Thompson
Distinguished University Professors and Senior Research Scientists in the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
Battling Cancer as a Researcher and a Patient
Dr. Jessica Winter
Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Biomedical Engineering
Understanding Stress Trauma and Resilience
Dr. Kenneth R. Yeager
Professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
Fulfilling the 21st Century Land-Grant Mission
Dr. Stephen Gavazzi
Professor of Human Development and Family Science in the College of Education and Human Ecology