BY MEGAN HENRY
Ohio State University selected a new president last week — days after former president Ted Carter resigned over an “inappropriate relationship.”
The university appointed Ravi Bellamkonda as Ohio State’s 18th president on March 12. His salary is $1.4 million, according to his contract with the university.
His contract goes through June 30, 2031. Bellamkonda had most recently been serving as Ohio State’s executive vice president and provost since January 2025.
“I promise you this, together, we will take on hard things that are worth doing in athletics, in healthcare, in education, in fact, in all the things we do, we will lead and we will not be afraid to lead,” Bellamkonda said during a special board meeting last week.
“We choose to lead because of the challenges we face as a society, from our economy to how we organize ourselves as a society and to helping create abundant energy that powers the ideas that we have. These challenges and others demand that we lead and choose to lead.”
Ohio State did not conduct a national search for a new president. The last two Ohio State presidents only served about two years.
The university said Carter had been in an “inappropriate relationship with someone seeking public resources to support her personal business.” Turns out the relationship was with Krisanthe Vlachos, host of “The Callout” podcast, a veteran-focused program.
Ohio State announced Carter’s resignation last week after the university trustees held a three-hour closed session.
“The board was surprised, deeply disappointed and really saddened to learn of that situation and distressed to consider its consequences to the university,” Ohio State University Board of Trustees Chair John W. Zeiger said during last week’s board meeting.
“As fiduciaries charged with protecting this institution, we take this matter very seriously and are committed to acting in the best interest of the university and the state we serve.”
AAUP-OSU said they were surprised and disappointed Ohio State picked a new president without consulting faculty, staff, and students.
“Ohio State’s system of shared governance — not to mention best practices in hiring university presidents — requires all of us having a say in the process,” AAUP-OSU said in a statement.
“This hasty, undemocratic process starts this presidency on the wrong footing and sends the wrong message about our supposed shared values.”
Bellamkonda helped launch Ohio State’s new artificial intelligence initiative last fall semester, oversaw the deans of 15 colleges at Ohio State, and was part of former president Carter’s cabinet.
“When considering who the next president of this university should be, we are fortunate to have had more than a year to discover that the answer to this all important test is close at hand,” Zeiger said.
“The right leader is already at our university, and his vast experience, his personal values and management skills, his strong record here at Ohio State, and his ability to inspire excellence in all those around him give this board of trustees, great confidence that Dr. Ravi Bellamkonda is the right person to lead this university into the future as our president.”
Prior to working at Ohio State, Bellamkonda was the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Emory University and Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.
He was the Wallace H. Coulter Professor and chair of the joint Department of Biomedical Engineering shared between Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. He also was previously the associate vice president for research at Georgia Tech.
Bellamkonda’s career started at Case Western Reserve University as an assistant and associate professor and an associate chair for graduate education.
He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Osmania University in India and he earned his PhD in medical science and biomaterials from Brown University in 1994.
He was the president of American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering from 2014 to 2016 and has been awarded 11 U.S. patents.
Bellamkonda and his wife Dr. Lalita Kaligotla have two adult children.
“Our family has found a home at Ohio State, and we are looking forward to doing hard things worth doing — together with this dynamic community of citizens,” Bellamkonda said in a statement.
“Our relentless pursuit of excellence has the power to transform the world starting right here in Ohio.”
Bellamkonda is becoming Ohio State’s president at a time when the university has received more than 400 requests to remove Les Wexner’s name from university buildings because of his association with serial predator Jeffrey Epstein.
The university is continuing to deal with litigation over the late Dr. Richard Strauss sexually abusing Ohio State student-athletes. Ohio State has settled with 304 survivors who sued for more than $60 million, according to the university.
Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male victims between 1979 and 1996 during his time as a physician for Ohio State’s Athletics Department and at the university’s Student Health Center, according to an independent investigation commissioned by Ohio State University.
