President Pinto celebrates talented UC community during State of the University Address

Welcome to today’s State of the University Address. What a beautiful and historic space this is. Thank you for joining us here in Probasco Auditorium. 

Congratulations to our team in Campus Planning Design and Construction  for leading such a creative reuse of this building — allowing for another welcoming  space for us to gather,  as well as needed classroom resources. 

Thank you to Faculty Chair Greg Loving and the members of our Faculty Senate for your leadership. Welcome also to those of you joining us digitally. 

And these three constituent groups were united as one team over the past two years in our fight to fulfill our mission despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This is our first in-person State of the University in three years. Thankfully, we have been able to pull back on certain COVID restrictions and begin meeting together — in a physical space — once again. 

But as our experts rightly stress, we may not be out of the woods yet. If there is one thing I’ve learned through this health crisis, it is to never underestimate this virus. So we continue to keep an eye on the resurgence of the virus overseas and most recently in some states in our own country. 

I’d like to thank all of you — our faculty, staff and students — who worked so diligently to follow our COVID protocols. Your efforts to distance, get vaccinated and wear masks allowed us to persevere. I would be remiss to not acknowledge that some have lost friends and family members to this virus. So we remember them today. 

We also need to acknowledge the leaders of UC — particularly our UC Board of Trustees — for guiding us through the challenges of the last two-plus years. 

A special thanks to our COVID response team, led by Provost Valerio Ferme and Dr. Dustin  Calhoun, for their tireless work behind the scenes. They are ever-vigilant, and the work continues.  

Next, I’d like to talk about our excellent faculty and their dedication to teaching and learning. Recently, a group of our faculty were asked to describe the most satisfying part of their job. I’ll share a few of their responses, and I think you will notice the theme.

One said this: “The most satisfying aspect is working with a diverse group of students to solve problems that make the world a better place.” 

Another put it this way: “Teaching bright, interesting students here at UC has provided me with more satisfaction and pleasure than I could ever have imagined.” Another: “I love helping students succeed, especially first generation students and students of color.” And one more: “Whether it is research, teaching or service, it has — and is always — students at the center.” 

Our faculty work extremely hard, with passion,  to support our students and ensure their success. In 2021, more than 11,000 UC students completed their degrees, despite the pandemic. And in a couple of weeks, we will add more than 5,500 graduates to their ranks. 

Our focus on building out the foundational talent pool for our university — our faculty — continued through the pandemic. Leading into this academic year, we increased our faculty ranks by 146. We are investing in the next generation of faculty. You may also recall that as part of Next Lives Here, our strategic direction,  we  stood up the Faculty Enrichment Center in 2019, delivering on a promise to enhance faculty experiences on our campus. This served us well during the pandemic to make the transition to online teaching. 

We are fortunate to have such stellar teachers, researchers, innovators and clinicians educating the next generation. You are vital to the success of our university, and to fulfilling our vision to be “leading urban public universities in a new era of innovation and impact.” 

Thank you for all you do. 

Our university vision would also not be attainable without the incredible talent and diversity represented among the staff at UC. Staff provide critical support to our academic mission and greatly impact our students and the entire UC community. 

I’m encouraged to hear that 775 staff members — about 18% of staff — invested in their professional growth by participating in the recent Staff Professional Development Week. 

These results are also an indicator of the good work of our Staff Success Center, which we launched four years ago as a Next Lives Here pathway. Among its accomplishments, the SCC has recorded more than 20,000 course completions — proving that our staff are continually refining their knowledge, skills and abilities. 

Many have had to learn whole new skill sets and work long hours to meet the demands of their job throughout the pandemic. To all of our staff, I say thank you for all you do here at UC, for our students, for your colleagues and for our community. There are too many examples of excellence to name, but, as an example, I’ll point out the work of one staff group at UC who has simply done amazing work. 

I’m encouraged that among the incoming students who will walk into our classrooms this fall, we are seeing significant gains in the number of diverse students and first-generation students who are applying to UC. These increases have grown from intentional efforts, which are linked to the goals of our Next Lives Here strategic direction.  

Think about how we interpret Next Lives Here. We believe that the next citizen leader, the next idea, the next discovery or the next creation that will mold the future of our society lives here on our campus today. And we as faculty and staff of this university have a high responsibility to drive an agenda and instill a culture that nurtures this Next, so that it will flourish in the future and ensure our society’s continuing progress and well-being.    

As a public university, we have a special obligation to be truly inclusive — opening our doors wide and allowing more to be educated in the tradition of excellence at UC. Increasing our diversity strengthens the quality of the experience on our campus for all, and is a strategic focus that we must have to fully deliver on our mission.  

Our students are more diverse than ever, with racial and ethnic minorities making up 24.1% of our student body this year. We are seeing gains across all demographics in our applicants, so we anticipate our ongoing work will result in continued improvement. 

Last semester we announced a series of signature DEI investments, including a $6 million investment into a brand-new scholarship known as the Marian Spencer Scholarship Program. Thanks to a donor and matching UC funds, the first 10 Spencer Scholars —  students from Cincinnati Public Schools — will start at UC this fall. Within four years, 40 Spencer Scholars will be enrolled on a full academic scholarship at UC.  

These efforts and many others are creating a pipeline of students who are entering UC from Cincinnati Public Schools. The latest figures show about a 14% increase in applications from CPS students. Our CPS Strong initiative, also part of our Next Lives Here strategic direction, is working to engage and empower these students. By aligning programs and services to ensure readiness, create access, and foster success, we can achieve educational transformation and positively impact the future of our university, our city and beyond. 

The students we are recruiting today will also see the fruits of Bearcat Promise, now a program that is fully embedded in our culture. Bearcat Promise is becoming synonymous with student success at UC, and includes our pledge that  graduates will leave UC not just with a diploma, but also a professional advancement plan for their future.  

Bearcat Promise has created a supportive,  connected pathway where students co-design their education plan with excellent advisors. It is a path along which they develop professional habits, gain valuable experiences and zero-in on longer-term career goals. 

Speaking of fundraising, I’d like to thank our team at the UC Foundation for their efforts to build out philanthropic support for UC. As was stated in a letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer on Sunday, giving to UC is the “foundation for making UC our region’s premier education, research and healthcare institution.” 

The Foundation team has already raised in excess of $100 million this fiscal year, and they may eclipse $125 million by year’s end, which would be a record achievement. I’m excited to see the progress of Next, Now: The Campaign for Cincinnati, which has achieved 88% of its goal to raise at least $2 billion by 2024. The generous donors to this university are often behind the scenes, but they are quietly impacting so many lives. I can’t thank them enough for believing in UC — and for believing in our students. 

I’ve given you examples of the progress we have made with regard to our Next Lives Here strategic direction. All of this has been possible because of the incredible talent that we have at UC. 

We have also seen great progress as it relates to Strategic Sizing, our overarching initiative to increase our resources and impact in education and discovery. This initiative has involved every college at UC. I’d like to thank the provost for leading this effort as well as each of our deans. This fiscal year, 31 Strategic Sizing awards were funded, totaling $14 million. Strategic Sizing is allowing intentional and strategic growth across the university.  

It is also creating opportunities for faculty to expand their academic reach, increase their research and provide more students access to an affordable, quality public education. In other words, it is helping us to invest in our UC community. As we move into the next phase of Next Lives Here, the acceleration phase, we will be adding, based on broad input from our community, some additional pathways to our strategic direction.   

These include: 

• Under the Academic Excellence platform, the addition of the Next Graduate Scholars pathway, led by Provost Val Ferme. 
• And within the Urban Impact platform, the addition of three new sub-pathways:
  • Biosciences & Bioeconomy , led by Vice President Pat Limbach;
  • Society & Culture ;  also led by Dr. Pat Limbach; 
 

  • And Public Health led by Sr. Vice President  for Health Affairs – Dr. Andrew Filak. 


You will be hearing more about these soon.