Dive Brief:
- Ohio State University's board chose Provost Ravi Bellamkonda as the public institution's new permanent leader on Thursday, less than a week after the abrupt departure of its last president.
- Trustees unanimously voted for Bellamkonda, who joined Ohio State in January 2025, to become the university's 18th president during a special meeting.
- The leadership change comes after the board announced this week that former President Ted Carter resigned Saturday over "an inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business."
Dive Insight:
Ohio State Board Chair John Zeiger praised Bellamkonda's record during his roughly 14-month tenure as provost and said he has the "enthusiastic support of every one of our 15 Trustees."
"He played an integral role in crafting the university's current strategic plan, and his leadership throughout the early phases of its implementation excites us about what lies ahead," Zeiger said during Thursday's meeting.
Prior to joining Ohio State, Bellamkonda served as provost at Emory University and the engineering dean at Duke University.
"In looking ahead, knowing our collective strengths, I promise you this — together, we will take on hard things that are worth doing," Bellamkonda told board members and those in attendance.
The speed of the board's selection of Bellamkonda as the university’s permanent leader led Ohio State's chapter of the American Association of University Professors to call the process "hasty" and "undemocratic."
"Ohio State's system of shared governance — not to mention best practices in hiring university presidents — requires all of us having a say in the process," the group said in a statement Thursday. "This rushed process has given us no time to consider or discuss the merits of Provost Bellamkonda's elevation to the presidency, but we wish him well and hope for a successful presidency."
In the four days between the announcement of Carter's departure and Bellamkonda's appointment, AAUP-Ohio State had called for more transparency and employee involvement in the university's next presidential pick via a single search committee with faculty, staff and student representation. On Thursday, the group said that demand still stands.
"A secretive process controlled solely by the Trustees will make it extraordinarily difficult for any candidate to earn the trust of the broader university community or to succeed at a time when Ohio State cannot afford another failed presidency," the group said in a petition published Tuesday. It also noted that Carter's successor will be Ohio State's third president since 2020.
As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had garnered over 700 signatures in two days.
The day before Bellamkonda's appointment, the Ohio State College Republicans called for Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel to be considered as the university's next leader, citing his experience as the president of Youngstown State University and his years coaching football at Ohio State.
Bellamkonda's predecessor, Carter, resigned during an emergency board meeting on Saturday.
“I disclosed to the board of trustees that I made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership,” Carter said in a Monday statement. His disclosure came after someone outside the university reported concerns to the board, according to a university spokesperson.
JobsOhio, an economic development nonprofit, said in a Monday social media post that Carter's resignation "is possibly connected to a relationship between him and the host of a podcast for veterans, which we sponsored."
Two days later, the agency shared details of a $60,000 contract it awarded to The Callout Podcast, a show geared toward active duty service members and veterans, and its host, Krisanthe Vlachos, at Carter's recommendation.
Neither Ohio State nor Carter named the person with whom he had the inappropriate relationship.
JobsOhio agreed to pay $15,000 per episode for a four-episode pilot from the podcast. To date, three episodes have not been produced following "scheduling difficulties," and the one completed episode has since been removed. The agency said it is "reviewing clawback options" for the contract, which it paid in full last year.
JobsOhio also said that Vlachos submitted a proposal for an app that would connect Ohio veterans with available jobs. It did not share financial details of the proposal but said that the office of the Ohio State president had also received it.
"We conducted due diligence and decided not to move forward with any investment," JobsOhio said.
