Ohio
Administrators share leadership lessons at Ohio State forum
Finding mentors, identifying professional development opportunities and preparing for career advancement were focal points of an April 15 leadership forum hosted by The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences. The forum was co-sponsored by the College of Engineering and the Fisher College of Business.
The event, held at Understory near the Columbus campus, brought together faculty, staff and students from various departments and featured speakers from higher education institutions across the country.
Keynote speakers Leslie Wong, interim president of Connecticut College, and Adele Brumfield, vice provost for enrollment management at the University of Michigan, shared insights on effective leadership.
Wong said he encourages faculty and staff to pursue professional development opportunities to prepare for leadership roles. One particularly successful strategy is to take a sabbatical from a current position and acquire skills in another department within the university.
“I really like the concept of internal sabbaticals, especially for senior administrators,” Wong said. Administrators who have taken these opportunities at various institutions he’s led “found [solutions] that saved us.”
Wong said a key component of leadership is learning to balance a desire to help others with the day-to-day demands of a high-profile position.
“A good starting point is acknowledging that being educators means explicitly and absolutely that we want to make a difference in the lives of students, faculty, communities and within this culture we call higher education,” he said. “After all, why would you want to do anything in your life if it didn’t make a difference?”
Brumfield also said she has been motivated throughout her career to make a difference, especially in the lives of students who face barriers to accessing higher education. When she held previous administrative roles at institutions such as Denison University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Brumfield said mentors from diverse backgrounds helped her identify advancement opportunities.
“Sometimes those who will mentor you may have lived a different life,” she said, “but they believe in the work that you do.”
Helping others reach their full potential benefits all parties involved, Brumfield said. She cited the example of a health challenge that caused her to take a leave of absence while serving as the director of admissions and recruitment at UW-Madison.
“You never know when succession planning will be needed. My team stepped up while I was away,” she said. “Lessons in leadership come in many forms.”
A panel discussion featured Derrick Tillman-Kelly, chief of staff to College of Engineering Dean Ayanna Howard, and Michelle Duguid, associate professor at Cornell University’s S.C. Johnson School of Business. Lisa Barclay, assistant dean of staff at Ohio State’s College of Engineering, moderated the discussion.
Tillman-Kelly and Duguid offered perspectives on how professionals who are new to administrative roles can gain valuable experience while prioritizing self-care.
Before taking on a new assignment, Tillman-Kelly said it’s beneficial to ask, “Does the willingness to do this work and serve fulfill me? Does it invite me into a space where if I did not do it, I would be upset with myself? If those answers are yes, then it’s easier for me to say yes [to the assignment].”
When tapped to take on additional responsibility, higher-education professionals can be more effective by asking for support, Duguid said.
“I ask for resources. … You need to ask for what you need to be successful in whatever role,” she said. “That’s been useful in helping me to be present and try to do the best.”
The forum was organized by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The event was designed to identify best practices in leadership, said Korie Little Edwards, the office’s interim associate dean.
“It was a great gathering of learning and fellowship among faculty and staff and others,” she said, “not only from the College of Arts and Sciences, but across the university.”
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Ohio
After months of traffic headaches, Ohio, Ontario bridges in and out of Chicago to finally reopen
After more than a year of major congestion, lane closures and traffic bottlenecks in and out of downtown Chicago from the Kennedy Expressway, two major connecting ramps from the Kennedy to River North are finally set to reopen.
Lanes on the Ohio and Ontario Street feeder bridges, which bring Kennedy drivers into the city at Ohio and out of the city at Ontario, started reopening with three lanes each Thursday morning, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. That’s up from the narrow two that has caused major traffic headaches since Nov. 2024.
As of 5:30 a.m. Thursday, IDOT was still working to finish its final overnight “punch list” for the Ohio Street bridge going east, NBC 5 traffic reporter Kye Martin said. By 6 a.m., things were clear, with new pavement markings set and traffic barricades removed.
“Haven’t been able to say that since November 2024,” Martin said.
Thursday night, Ontario street will be closed from Orleans to the Kennedy Expressway in order to finish final work westbound. By 5 a.m. Friday, the Ontario Street feeder to the outbound Kennedy was expected to fully reopen, IDOT said.
The end of the construction means drivers on Thursday will have three lanes eastbound on Ohio open from the Kennedy to Orleans. Friday morning, three lanes open westbound on Ontario between Orleans and the Kennedy.
“This will ease the bottleneck that was caused by having only 2 lanes and off-peak closures during the duration of this effort,” Martin said.
“The public can expect delays and should allow extra time for trips through this area,” IDOT said, as the closures come to an end and reopening begins. “Alternate routes are encouraged. Drivers are urged to pay close attention to flaggers and signs in the work zones, obey the posted speed limits and be on the alert for workers and equipment.”
The $15.4 million project “replaced bridge expansion joints, structural steel and deck repairs along with the installation of a new deck overlay and resurfacing on the elevated bridges,” IDOT said. It was a separate project from the three-year rehabilitation of the Kennedy Expressway that concluded last fall.
As the highly anticipated reopening comes, more work on the bridges is still needed, IDOT said, with concrete paving patching to repair both ramps to each bridge set to occur later this summer. That work will require a “full closure” over three weekends, alternating between Ohio and Ontario streets between the Kennedy and Orleans.
Top headlines of the week, May 22 2026
Here are some stories you may have missed this week in central Ohio.
Less than 100 protesters gathered at the Ohio Statehouse on May 27 to protest legislation that would criminalize certain drag shows.
Individual organizers, as well as Ohio 50501 and Ohio Equal Rights, organized the demonstration, said Logan Moon, one of the organizers. Some of the attendees were dressed in drag and donned bright colored face paint, colorful clothing, and high heels as requested in the protest announcement. One of the attendees also had a drum.
As with other protests in Columbus, members of the Columbus Division of Police Dialogue Team stayed on the periphery of the demonstration. Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol also watched from a distance as one of the organizers led chants criticizing state lawmakers.
The protest was in response to Ohio House Bill 249, which would criminalize certain drag performances anywhere but adult entertainment facilities if they’re deemed obscene or harmful to children. It also changes the definition of public indecency, with an exception for women who are breastfeeding.
The Ohio House voted to pass the legislation 63-30 on March 25. It is now before the Ohio Senate, where no hearings have been scheduled yet. Republicans control both chambers of the General Assembly.
Moon, 24, said Ohio HB 249, and hundreds of other bills throughout the country targeting transgender people, are an example of “genocide” against trans people in the country.
Moon said she was disappointed by the low turnout at the May 27 protest, saying it was an example of the apathy of the general public.
After one of the organizers led a series of chants, protesters marched at least once around the Ohio Statehouse. There were no counterprotesters in attendance.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
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