Less than a week after its last president resigned under controversy, Ohio State University has appointed a new permanent leader.
Ravi Bellamkonda, who had been Ohio State’s executive vice president and provost, will take over as the university’s 18th president. The university’s board of trustees unanimously approved Bellamkonda’s appointment at a meeting on March 12.
“The right leader is already at our university – and his vast experience, his personal values and management skills, and strong record at Ohio State and his ability to inspire excellence in all those around give the board of trustees great confidence that Ravi Bellamkonda is the right person to lead this university into the future as our president,” board chair John Zeiger said.
Trustees met at the Longaberger Alumni House to approve Bellamkonda’s appointment in the same room where a week ago to the day it held its last full public board meeting with former President Ted Carter.
After just over two years at the helm, Carter resigned from the presidency over the weekend after admitting to Ohio State’s Board of Trustees he had an inappropriate relationship with “someone seeking public resources to support her personal business,” according to a university statement. An unnamed tipster came to the trustees sometime after last week’s board meeting, which led to trustees calling a rare three-hour executive session on March 7. Carter confirmed the relationship and offered to resign, according to university spokesperson Ben Johnson.
Zeiger said the board was “grateful” to Carter but was caught off guard by the revelations that led to his resignation.
“As you might imagine, the board was surprised, deeply disappointed to learn of that situation and distressed to consider its consequences to the university,” Zeiger said. “We respect Ted’s decision to resign and appreciate his cooperation in supporting the orderly leadership transition that is now unfolding.”
That transition will be to Carter’s right hand at the helm of one of the country’s largest university’s. Bellamkonda officially started his tenure as provost in January 2025. Carter spent nearly a year searching for a permanent provost, calling it “the most important hire I’m making.”
In remarks after his appointment, Bellamkonda said the “special sauce” of Ohio State was the “incredible civic community” backing the university.
“What binds this wide cross-section of our community is their love for Ohio State and, importantly, their recognition that Ohio State as the flagship land grant university plays a critical role in our state economy, and they recognize the power of Ohio State to positively impact the citizens of this great state,” Bellamkonda said.
Bellamkonda said Ohio State has a role in making Ohio “the most dynamic economy in the country.”
“We often hear that Ohio State is a large place, one of the largest universities in the country, and that we are. But consider this, when excellence happens at the scale of Ohio state, we create an impact that is unmatched in its transformative power,” he said.
Between his background as a bioengineer and neuroscientist, his experience teaching and leading at both private and public universities, and having come into the role at Ohio State as a sitting provost, Carter previously told The Dispatch that Bellamkonda was everything he was looking for.
As Ohio State’s provost, Bellamkonda oversaw the university’s portfolio of programs and initiatives in the Office of Academic Affairs that supports faculty and student success across its six campuses. The deans of all 15 academic colleges and university libraries report to the provost, who also serves as a member of the president’s cabinet.
Bellamkonda moved to the United States from India to pursue a master’s program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the mid-1990s, traveling 8,000 miles away from home for higher education.
He got his start in academia in Ohio. After graduating from Brown University with his PhD in medical science and biomaterials, Bellamkonda moved to Northeast Ohio to begin his professional career at Case Western Reserve University, serving as an assistant and associate professor, as well as associate chair for graduate education.
He later served as the Wallace H. Coulter Professor and chair of the department of biomedical engineering, and associate vice president for research at Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory School of Medicine. Bellamkonda worked at Duke University for several years as the Vinik Dean of Engineering before returning to Georgia as Emory’s provost.
Bellamkonda launched and led several major initiatives in his time at Emory, including faculty recruitment and retention efforts focused on arts and humanistic inquiry, as well as artificial intelligence across areas such as medicine, business and law.
He is currently overseeing Ohio State’s new AI Fluency initiative.
“Your academics and your brilliance are impressive, but it’s especially how you treat people that’s the most impressive. I think this is a really exciting change, and I also think back on all the things that we’ve accomplished over the last year or so that you’ve been here. You’re the action in the strategic plan and I don’t expect that momentum to slow down at all,” student trustee Kendall C. Buchan said.
This story has been updated with additional information from the meeting appointing Ohio State’s new president.
Education reporter Cole Behrens contributed to this report.
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
