Summit brought Ohio State community together to reflect on Shared Values

The Ohio State University’s Shared Values Summit brought together faculty and staff last Thursday at the Ohio Union to discuss how the university’s mission, vision, values and goals have been integrated into campus culture.

Presented by the Office of University Compliance and Integrity and the Center for Ethics and Human Values, the purpose of the summit was to reflect on Ohio State’s Shared Values in a communal setting, said Gates Garrity-Rokous, vice president and chief compliance officer.

“We’re here to remember the values that bring us together,” he said. “We’re here to remember the behaviors that make us a Buckeye. And we’re here to entrench the things that we’ve made and done so far in our Shared Values together.”

Ohio State’s Shared Values are:  

Excellence and Impact – demonstrating leadership in pursuit of the university’s vision and mission.

Diversity and Innovation – welcoming differences and making connections among people and ideas.

Inclusion and Equity – upholding equal rights and advancing institutional fairness.

Care and Compassion – attending to the well-being of individuals and communities.

Integrity and Respect – acting responsibly and being accountable.

“I urge everyone to remember that our Shared Values are not just words on a screen,” said Melissa Shivers, senior vice president for student life. “Nor are they just something else to add to our to-do list. They are both actions and commitments we make to each other, to our students and to the communities that we serve.”

Ohio State’s Shared Values are exemplified in service projects such as the university’s collaboration with The Pack Shack organization to address food insecurity, Shivers said. At an event coordinated by the Office of Student Life, faculty, staff and students partnered with the organization on Sept. 26 to pack food for people in need.

“This supersize service opportunity for more than 600 people resulted in more than 200,000 meals being put together and delivered for the hungry throughout the state of Ohio, including our own campus food pantry,” Shivers said. “This effort will individually affect the lives of those who will receive the food, and it also created a sense of community and opportunity to bring people together to fight the epidemic of loneliness.”

During a panel discussion, faculty and staff from various colleges and offices offered insights into how their units successfully utilized Ohio State’s Shared Values to help solve tough problems or achieve certain goals.

Moderated by Piers Turner, director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values, the panel included Lisa Barclay, assistant dean for inclusive excellence in the College of Engineering; Hannah Martin, a talent acquisition consultant with the Office of Human Resources; Fonda Robinson, an associate dean in the College of Dentistry; and Britt Collier-Gibson, a professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology.

Collier-Gibson said she created assignments for general education courses that prompted students from all majors to explore how their values integrate with the university’s Shared Values.

“They, too, have principles and values that are driving them – why are you here? What do you believe in? What brought you here?” she said. “It was really getting them into that academic mindset.”  

The summit concluded with participants working in small groups to share details of current and future Shared Values projects.  For more information about Ohio State's Shared Values, visit osu.edu/shared-values.