When Ohio State University announced that it had tapped a seasoned college administrator to become president of its 64,000-student campus in Columbus last month, the news quickly spread across the country like a blazing wildfire.
Black OSU alums took to social media to hail the appointment of Dr. Michael V. Drake—the chancellor of the University of California, Irvine (UCI)—as “bold, audacious and historic.”
The national news media wanted to know more about the 63-year-old Black medical doctor who beat out other candidates to become the first African-American to lead the public land-grant university founded in 1870.
While Drake says that he was “very flattered and honored” to have been chosen by OSU’s Board of Trustees to preside over one of the nation’s largest universities, he doesn’t give much thought these days to the historical significance of being the school’s first Black president.
“People in my generation have been firsts for so long,” says Drake in an interview with Diverse. “I was the first African-American student body president of my high school more than 40 years ago. I don’t think about that so much because, for my whole life, I’ve been a first. I think about whether I can add value, and I would hope and believe that I have added value to every institution that I’ve been able to work in.”
Still, the news of his appointment comes at a time when academics have become weary about the dismal number of African-American presidents selected to lead predominantly White colleges and universities. Even at historically Black colleges and universities, the high turnover rate among Black college presidents in recent years has left some wondering if the academy has done enough to mentor and groom African-Americans to assume such posts.
No one doubts that Drake—who was vice president for health affairs for the University of California system before he was appointed chancellor at UCI—had all the qualifications to emerge as the school’s top contender, replacing Dr. E. Gordan Gee who retired last year.
