Office of the President

Presidential Communication

October 17, 2025

Dear University of Toledo Friends,

This has been a full week at The University of Toledo. We have hosted a scholarship dinner for students in the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, celebrated the UToledo Family Business Center with a luncheon at Levis Commons, held the Women’s Basketball Tip-Off event to celebrate the upcoming start of the season, enjoyed a great barbecue on HSC and on Centennial Mall, and hosted a Perspectives event focused on the impact and implications of AI. Oh, and we had a presidential inauguration.

In my inauguration remarks, I organized my thoughts around our purpose, a promise, and Rocket pride, all grounded in the history of who we are and how we came to be.

UToledo is unusual among public institutions. Most are established directly by and with the support of the state legislature or Congress. But UToledo was created as the vision of one man, Jesup Scott, who donated 160 acres of land (now Scott Park) to establish our school. He believed that a university was essential to the growth and future of the city he loved, so he simply made it happen. In accepting his gift of land, we made a promise, to always be a university rooted in Toledo, Lucas County and the surrounding region.

The university he envisioned had as its core purpose to prepare young people for success in their careers, alongside educating them about arts and “high cultures.” We are a professional university, and our aim must be to support the professional future of every student.

I cannot repeat here all the astonishing accomplishments that our University has achieved since that beginning, ranging from our work to understand the formations of stars and galaxies, to our understanding of the mechanisms of chronic inflammation, to the tremendous value we bring to our graduates. But we have many reasons to show our pride.

Our purpose – We are a research university dedicated to supporting the professional learning and future success of our students.

Our promise – We remain in service to our place in the greater metropolitan region of Toledo, and to its people.

Our pride – We recognize for ourselves, and will share with others, that we are providing world-class contributions to human knowledge and health.

I also announced three initiatives aligned along our missions of education, discovery and health, each in support of our place. These initiatives are:

Advantage Toledo: Ensure that all UToledo undergraduate students have a learning experience that bridges the classroom with the world of professional practice;

Innovate Toledo: Encourage interdisciplinary research inspired by the opportunities and challenges of our region, and support its economic growth; and

Healthy Toledo: Enable improved health outcomes throughout the area.

These efforts will attract students to our University, increase our impact as a research institution and help realize our duty to support the well-being of our community.

With this work, we will truly be not just a university in Toledo, but The University for Toledo.

There is more information in the full inauguration remarks, but stay tuned for details in the coming weeks as I work with our leadership and all of you to fully realize these efforts.

  

James Paul Holloway, Ph.D.
President
The University of Toledo