From: Office of the President
Dear OSU Community Members:
I write to announce an important investment in our work to advance access, opportunity and excellence in service of OSU’s land grant mission.
I am naming Scott Vignos to a new position as Vice President for Mission and Impact, evolving and elevating the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer role with a continued reporting line to me. In this role, Scott will have expanded responsibility for working across the institution to lead broad, strategic initiatives central to advancing the university’s land grant mission while building trust among diverse internal and external communities.
The university’s commitment to inclusive excellence remains core to OSU’s mission and will be further elevated through Scott’s leadership in this new role.
Scott will continue to lead implementation of the Diversity Action Plan supporting Prosperity Widely Shared. His portfolio will expand to include both the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access and the Office of Institutional Diversity.
Becky Bangs will serve as Associate Vice President and Chief Civil Rights Officer, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, and will continue to lead the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access. Teresita Alvarez-Cortez will serve as Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and will lead the Office of Institutional Diversity. Becky and Teresita will report to Scott, and I will regularly meet with Becky and Scott to ensure the university continues to advance its important civil rights obligations.
While the Office of Institutional Diversity and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access have vital and complementary roles, their functions are unique, and each office will continue to operate with their own distinctive portfolios and structures.
Advancing OSU’s mission and our shared commitment to inclusive excellence requires creative leadership to accelerate university-wide initiatives that bridge multiple domains. At the same time, we must continue to embrace diverging perspectives and create opportunities for dialogue, growth and institutional transformation. These developments will contribute centrally to our continued, collective success.
These changes will be effective July 1, 2025. Please join me in congratulating Scott, Becky and Teresita and thanking them for their leadership in these roles.
Sincerely, Jayathi Y. Murthy, President