New Race and Ethnicity Institute will be named for Kirwan

COLUMBUS – In a special tribute to outgoing President William E. Kirwan for his visionary leadership and commitment to academic excellence, the Ohio State University Board of Trustees today named the university’s Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in the Americas in his honor. The institute, established this year as one of four core priorities in the university’s Academic Plan, will heretofore be known as the William E. Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in the Americas.

The board action recognizes not only Kirwan’s vision and leadership in developing and implementing the Academic Plan but also his commitment to advancing the cause of diversity while at Ohio State. Upon his arrival four years ago, Kirwan said that progress on diversity would be one of his key values and a guide to his presidency. His commitment led to the development of the university’s Diversity Action Plan, which was launched in 2000.

The Kirwan Institute will encourage top-notch scholarship and stimulate international research in the important interdisciplinary field of race and ethnicity, and will greatly enhance the university’s mission of outreach on a local, national, and global scale. It became an Academic Plan priority because of its positive role in recruiting and retaining women and people of color, as well an enhancing scholarship on diversity issues.

Naming the institute in Kirwan’s honor represents a confirmation of his career at both Ohio State and at the University of Maryland, where he had a strong interest and commitment to improving opportunities in higher education for women and people of color.

“During your tenure, the university has made great strides in becoming more diverse and more welcoming,” Board Chair James F. Patterson told Kirwan. “While we have a long way yet to go, you should feel good about the progress we have made under your leadership. Given your role in bringing the institute to where it is today, we have decided to name it in your honor.”

Kirwan has long been known as “a principled and staunch proponent of diversity,” Patterson said. “In acknowledging his visionary leadership in promoting the goals and values of diversity and academic excellence, the board felt that naming the institute in his honor was an extremely appropriate recognition of Dr. Kirwan’s tenure at Ohio State,” Patterson said.

In a highly emotional statement, Kirwan said he is deeply moved by the honor. “It is impossible for me to fully convey my feelings at this moment. To have my name associated with this great institute and university touches me in a way that nothing else has in my life,” he said. “It means there will be an enduring bond for me to this university, something that is very, very important to me.”

The university already has hired noted scholar john powell, who does not capitalize his name, currently the executive director of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Race and Poverty. powell, who founded that institute, also will hold the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. He officially joins the university in January 2003.