Students, students everywhere — as far as the eye can see, which was not very far — as students jammed the arts and sciences table at the Student Involvement Fair this past Sunday.

Today, classes begin and with them, new friends, connections, opportunities and adventures.

Welcome to a new academic year.

Each year, before the start of term, Ohio State hosts the Student Involvement Fair on the Oval. What a great way to give our incoming students a warm Buckeye Welcome. There is, literally, something for everyone. If it’s happening, it’s happening bigger and better at Ohio State. No one ever leaves thinking they landed at the wrong place!

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I’ve cycled for years and years and miles and miles, mostly in glorious solitude.

So nothing prepared me for the experience of getting on my bike and heading out in the company of thousands of other riders, many of them arts and sciences colleagues – faculty, staff, students – all of us united by a common goal.

It was especially gratifying to be riding with some exceptional arts and sciences undergraduates – recipients of 2014-15 Pelotonia Undergraduate Fellowships – whose innovative research projects seek to help put an end to cancer.

These twenty-two fellowship winners exemplify the best of Ohio State and the College of Arts and Sciences. All were either riders or virtual riders. They, and all my fellow riders and those who supported our rides and cheered us along the way, made me feel proud and humble to be a part of this great ride.

This year I rode 50 miles and enjoyed it so much that next year I plan on going 100 miles!

Photo by Kimberly Todd Sayers

Last month, I had the opportunity to “go on tour” with more than 40 other Roads Scholars from Ohio State. Among them were several from the College of Arts and Sciences: Theresa Delgadillo, Christopher Hans, Lillia Fernandez, Lynn Itagaki, Fabio Leite, Zhiguo Xie and Ying Zhang.

This annual, two-day, traveling seminar, led by the Office of Outreach and Engagement, has become an important Ohio State tradition that takes faculty and administrators away from campus and puts us in the broader context of the state of Ohio.

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