Founded when Abraham Lincoln believed education could lead the nation out of its darkest days, Ohio State now provides a powerful platform of interdisciplinary academic programs, world-class scholars, outstanding students, and extensive research capabilities.

A truly great university is a nucleus of artistic expression. It fosters creative, critical thought, and serves as a platform for civil discourse.

So if a college education is indispensable, the challenge as I see it is how to make it more accessible.

I believe everything learned in college is an answer to a question that someone has posed. Questions get posed differently and the answers that come back transport us to places we never knew existed.

I am not a scientist. I have never analyzed the far reaches of the solar system through the lens of a telescope nor scrutinized cancer cells under a microscope.

I spent the first 18 years of my life in the pastoral town of Vernal, Utah, in the shadows of the Book Cliffs and the Uinta Mountains.

Intellectual curiosity drove Einstein to some of the world's most important discoveries.