Sept. 14 University Day Keynote: Dr. Holden Thorp

Sept. 2, 2021

To: OSU Community

From: Edward Feser, Provost and Executive Vice President

2 September 2021

Dear OSU Community Members:

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of Science, will be our 2021 University Day keynote speaker. Dr. Thorp’s address, via zoom webinar, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.

Dr. Thorp will discuss the intersection of science, higher education, politics, and policy in light of lessons learned from the pandemic. His presentation will be followed by a conversation engaging Dr. Thorp and Faculty Senate President Selina Heppell and Emile F. Pernot Distinguished Professor of Microbiology Rebecca Vega-Thurber. To register for the keynote session, visit the University Day website.

Dr. Thorp became editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals in 2019. He served as Washington University’s provost from 2013 to 2019, and where he is Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professor and holds appointments in chemistry and medicine. He joined Washington University after spending three decades at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he served as the university’s 10th chancellor from 2008 through 2013.

In his research career, Dr. Thorp studied electron-transfer reactions of nucleic acids, developed technology for electronic DNA chips, and cofounded Viamet Pharmaceuticals. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Thorp is the co-author, with Buck Goldstein, of two books on higher education: Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century” and “Our Higher Calling: Rebuilding the Partnership Between America and Its Colleges and Universities,” both from UNC Press.

More information regarding Dr. Thorp and his many accomplishments can be found here.

Please join me for what is sure to be an outstanding keynote and discussion.

Sincerely,

Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President