Roll Out the Welcome Mat

On July 1, 2024, Ohio University welcomed two new leaders: Executive Vice President and Provost Donald Leo (pictured above, right) and Vice President for Research and Creative Activity Eric Muth (above, left). Few positions, save the University President, have more potential for impact on an institution’s academic reputation or its research trajectory than these two key hires. Leo and Muth’s partnership and collective vision will set the course for OHIO’s research direction in the years to come.

“Having long served as a university provost, I knew there was a truly rare opportunity to fill these two key positions at the same time,” says President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. “In the searches I was looking for three things: leaders with the experience and confidence to act boldly, individuals who share my commitment to public higher education and the impact it has on our students and our state, and two people who simply liked each other. I couldn’t be happier that we found all of that in Don and Eric.”

Challenge accepted

As Leo and Muth stepped into their roles, Gonzalez handed both big assignments. Leo would lead the implementation of the University’s Dynamic Strategy, freshly approved by the OHIO Board of Trustees in June 2024. Meanwhile, Muth would take ownership of the strategy’s “Discover” pillar, demonstrating quick and significant growth in research expenditures in order to further solidify the University’s recently reaffirmed status as an “R1” or “very high research” university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

Both arrived at OHIO with resumes that proved their ability to take on challenges. Leo spent the previous decade serving as the inaugural dean of the  and peer institutions. The idea is to define, and then attain, “T1” status, solidifying the University as a thought leader in teaching excellence.

Muth says the access students have to seasoned faculty mentors and to best-in-class research at OHIO is rare for a national institution of this size.

“We have the ability to provide high-quality, close-knit teaching and mentoring relationships with our students, as well as access to state-of-the-art research labs, experiential learning and other hands-on educational opportunities, right here in our community,” Muth says. “If a first-generation student—like I was—wants to become an astrophysicist or perform in a symphony orchestra or make a name for themself in Hollywood, and they have the talent, we have the resources to help them achieve that goal.”

Leo, who was also a first-generation college student, adds that OHIO gives students the opportunity to put their classwork and research into practice in ways that serve communities in the region and around the world. As part of his work leading the implementation of the Dynamic Strategy, Leo advocated for expanded scholarship funding for experiential learning, community research, internships and externships. In October, the University announced added investment of $500,000 to help fund the OHIO Experience Awards, OHIO Discover Awards and OHIO Explore Awards. (Learn more at ohio.edu/experience.)

“Our hope is that all students who want to engage in experiential learning—whether that be community engagement, research or creative endeavors, internships, study abroad/away or other activities—will have the opportunity,” Leo says. “It goes back to the commitment we make in our OHIO Mission: We are holding the door open to an education that will give our students the knowledge and skills they need to make an impact beyond our campuses.”

In terms of research that impacts communities, Leo and Muth point to examples like the collaboration between professors John Sabraw in Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts and Guy Riefler in Russ College of Engineering and Technology, whose research helped launch a local company that turns acid mine drainage into paint. Or plans to shift OHIO’s Edison Biotechnology Institute to focus on healthy aging in ways that will benefit the state’s aging population. Or Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s (HCOM) recent receipt of an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund a portion of its new Heritage Translational Research Center, which will serve as home to applied research in fields such as healthy aging and diabetes.

“If we’re doing it right, we’re not just doing research for publications and research for grants,” says Darlene Berryman, associate dean of research and innovation at HCOM and the lead on the NIH grant proposal. “We are making a difference in communities and making a difference in the lives of people.”

Berryman also served on the committee that hired Muth as vice president of research—a role that had previously been a co-title for the Graduate College dean, as is common at regional institutions but not at national, R1 public universities like OHIO. Berryman is excited to see how the future will unfold under Muth’s leadership. “Researchers and those who are teaching, they feel like the change is coming,” Berryman says. “They feel it.”

Signs of change ahead

Leo and Muth sent a clear signal in October, when Gonzalez announced that she had approved the duo’s proposal to invest $1.5 million in recurring funding to support up to 15 new tenure-track faculty—in disciplines ranging from dance, visual communication, marketing and psychology to natural sciences and engineering—to support the Dynamic Strategy.

“We recognize that the faculty are the heartbeat of the University,” Leo says. “They drive curricular innovation, elevate our research capabilities and ultimately inspire student success and community impact.”

Muth says the new hires will support the research focus areas outlined in the Dynamic Strategy—healthy aging, energy and the environment, as well as artificial intelligence—and will foster collaborative research while reinvigorating historic areas of strength for the University.

“We are seeing more and more funding opportunities for research that extends across disciplines,” Muth says. “The world’s biggest problems require experts from multiple disciplines working together to build solutions.”

Muth, whose title isn’t limited to “vice president of research” but also includes “and creative activity,” goes on to say that he and Leo also expect to approve faculty lines that bring together creative scholarship and scientific research, similar to the pollution-to-paint collaboration. “I don’t see the research and the creative activity as two different things,” Muth says.

Leo emphasizes that while the new faculty investments will help broaden the University’s research portfolio, OHIO will continue to focus on recruiting and retaining faculty who are passionate about teaching and mentoring students, both in the classroom and in the lab. He says leaning into the University’s historic strength in teaching and student success while growing the research portfolio will ultimately elevate OHIO’s profile nationally.

“The future of Ohio University isn’t about just academic excellence or just exciting discoveries through applied research,” Leo says. “It’s a joint effort that doesn’t compromise in either area, and it’s what will make us a leader in serving not only our local and regional populations, but the nation as a whole.”

Robin Oliver is the vice president of University Communications and Marketing

Feature photo by Ben Wirtz Siegel, BSVC ’02