OSU President Gee pays visit to county

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Ohio State University Extension office in Van Wert County held an open house Thursday afternoon in the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio that included displays explaining the various services provided by the Extension Service.

The OSU Extension event also included a visit by Ohio State President Gordon Gee, who brought his trademark bow-tie and ebullient humor to the community. Gee’s local stop was part of a six-county trip that included a tour of local agribusiness icon Universal Lettering, which maintains an eight-decades-long tradition of making the official jackets for the national FFA organization.

Gee ended up the tour at the NPAC, where he met a number of Extension workers and supporters and also spoke briefly to OSU Extension staff and those who came out for the open house.

The OSU president spoke of Ohio State’s Land Grant heritage – the reason for the creation of the Extension Service in the first place.

“Our Land Grant heritage is very important,” Gee said, noting that “each area of the state is served brilliantly by our Extension Service.”

He also thanked local residents for their support of a levy passed in 2010 that provides financial support for the county Extension Service office. “Remarkable in a time of economic turmoil that you would show such support for our Extension Program,” the OSU president told the group.

Gee also noted that the levy would be up for renewal in 2015 and said he hoped the Extension Service would continue to earn local residents’ support to allow for renewal of the levy.

Following his speech, the OSU president said he had spent the last two days in northwest Ohio, which had given him the opportunity to see various aspects of the local communities, including farms and manufacturing operations.

“It’s an opportunity to see the university in action,” Gee said of touring local farms and factories. “They’re important to Ohio and so they’re important to Ohio State.”

The Ohio State president also said the trips are a way for him to see what impact his university has on communities in person.

“It’s a way to see what I do from the ground up, rather than the ivory tower down,” Gee said of the trips.

Gee appeared impressed with at least two of the sights he saw in Van Wert County: the NPAC and his trip to Universal Lettering.

“Man, I’d like to have this facility on my campus,” the OSU president said with awe while looking around the Grand Lobby of the performing arts center.

His response to his Universal Lettering tour could be summed up in one word: “Fabulous,” Gee said, adding, “When you think about those iconic jackets they developed … just wonderful.”