Joseph Alutto to deliver summer commencement address

Columbus, Ohio – Just weeks after concluding nearly a year as The Ohio State University’s interim president, Joseph A. Alutto will deliver the commencement address to summer term graduates. Alutto, whose legacy of university leadership dates back to 1991, will also receive an honorary Doctor of Higher Education degree during the ceremony.

Approximately 1,800 students will receive degrees during the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 10, at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

Alutto has twice served as the university’s interim president, served as executive vice president and provost for nearly seven years, and served as an executive dean, dean and professor.

“We are honored to have Joseph Alutto address our graduates and their families at the university’s 407^th commencement ceremony,” said President Michael V. Drake. “He has an extensive background as an academic leader and business scholar and will provide valuable insights to our graduates at the beginning of their careers.”

Alutto joined the university as dean of the colleges of Business. During his 16-year tenure as dean, he oversaw the makeover of the college to the Fisher College of Business, a highly-regarded, state-of-the art six-building campus.

In 1998, Alutto took on the additional role of executive dean of the professional colleges, where he coordinated the activities of the Colleges of Engineering; Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; Education and Human Ecology; Law; and Social Work.

From October 2007 to June 2013, Alutto served as Ohio State’s executive vice president and provost, where he was the chief officer for all academic functions of the university. During that time, some the most fundamental changes in the university’s history occurred, including the semester conversion and consolidation of the colleges of the arts and sciences.

Before joining Ohio State, Alutto was the Clarence S. Marsh Professor of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he focused his research on Sino-U.S. joint ventures and the relationships between improvement processes and corporate performance. He also served as dean of the SUNY-Buffalo School of Management from 1976 to 1990.

Alutto received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Manhattan College, a master's degree in industrial relations from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from Cornell University.

A leading authority on managerial behavior, he has lectured widely in China on management issues and was a pioneer of the first Sino-U.S. jointly funded MBA program offered in the People’s Republic of China. He has been a consultant to banks, manufacturing firms, aerospace companies, health care agencies and educational institutions. He has also served in leadership capacities for a wide variety of voluntary organizations.

In addition to conferring the honorary Doctor of Higher Education degree on Alutto, the university will present the Distinguished Service Award to two Ohio State graduates and a professor emeritus.
*William Lowrie earned a chemical engineering degree in 1966 and went on to become deputy CEO of Amoco. He has remained a dedicated supporter of his alma mater, particularly the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, which carries his name.
*Dan D. Sandman, a highly successful attorney who earned his Juris Doctor at Ohio State in 1973 and devotes much time and energy to ensuring that the Moritz College of Law remains a premier law school.
*Daniel B. Shapiro, professor emeritus of mathematics and director of the university’s Ross Mathematics Program, the most prestigious summer program of its kind in the country – which he attended as a high school student in the 1960s.

About The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University is a dynamic community of diverse resources, where opportunity thrives and where individuals transform themselves and the world. Founded in 1870, Ohio State is a world-class public research university and the leading comprehensive teaching and research institution in the state of Ohio. With more than 63,000 students (including 57,000 in Columbus), the Wexner Medical Center, 14 colleges, 80 centers and 175 majors, the university offers its students tremendous breadth and depth of opportunity in the liberal arts, the sciences and the professions.