The board of trustees of Ohio State University announced Thursday afternoon that Michael V. Drake would be the 15th president of the university. When he takes office in June, Dr. Drake will be the first African American to be president of Ohio State.
Currently, Dr. Drake is chancellor of the University of California, Irvine. He has held that post since 2005. Earlier, he was the director of education and research for the 15 health science schools of the University of California system.
Dr. Drake began his higher education career at Sacramento City College but transferred and graduated from Stanford University. He earned his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco. An ophthalmologist, he began his academic career as an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco.