TAFT PRESENTS OHIO EMINENT SCHOLAR AWARD TO
WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY
COLUMBUS (November 13, 2003) - Governor Bob Taft today joined the Ohio Board of Regents and Chancellor Roderick G.W. Chu today to present an Ohio Eminent Scholars Program award to Wright State University officials at the November meeting of the Ohio Board of Regents.
Gov. Taft presented the $731,250 award in advanced data management and analysis to Kim Goldenberg, president of Wright State University. The Ohio Eminent Scholar program is part of Taft's $1.1 billion job creation program to expand Ohio's high-tech research capabilities and promote start-up companies to create high-paying jobs.
Wright State University, under the guidelines of the program, must match the award. LexisNexis, a global leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications, has agreed to supply the matching funds on behalf of the university. LexisNexis recently broke ground in Springfield, Ohio, for a 60,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar data management and research and development facility. The combined eminent scholar endowment is maintained in perpetuity to cover the expenses of the position.
"The public/private partnerships of institutions and companies like Wright State University and LexisNexis are the key to building a knowledge economy and creating new, high-paying jobs in Ohio," said Taft. "Today's announcement is a big step in continuing to position Ohio to take advantage of the rapidly growing information technology industry."
This award comes on the heels of Gov. Taft's Oct. 27 announcement that the university will receive a $10.8 million Third Frontier award to establish the Wright Center of Innovation for Advanced Data Management and Analysis. The project will further the research and commercialization of new technologies advancing the application of data management solutions. Effective solutions for data management will be important to advances in many areas, including research, clinical medicine, retail, manufacturing, military operations and homeland security.
Today's award, Wright State's first eminent scholar award, is the 12th since the program was reinstated by Taft in FY 2000-01, making this award the 48th since the program was created by the Ohio General Assembly in 1983. The program was created to foster national eminence of selected outstanding academic programs and to improve Ohio's economic development initiatives as part of a statewide effort to make Ohio more competitive in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.
The Ohio Board of Regents is the coordinating body for higher education in the state. Created in 1963 by the General Assembly, the 11-member public board has a direct, non-governing relationship with all of Ohio's colleges and universities.
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Contact: Orest Holubec, Press Secretary, at (614) 644-0957; or Jamie Abel,
Ohio Board of Regents, at (614) 644-1988.