Many college and university presidents live to debate subjects with peers, often deciding nothing but the need for further discussion.

While E. Gordon Gee, the bow-tied president of Ohio State University, America’s largest state university, understands and respects the fundamental role of debate and discussion on the campus, he revels in action and studied risk-talking, the kind the average citizen often embraces.

At 65, he has spent 28 of his 65 years making a difference as a college president, thinking outside the box on a wide variety of subjects that might vary from the future of the humanities to athletics, from trends in business and industry to the rebirth of international agriculture, from the central importance of being able to write well to the modern day role and application of foreign languages.

In a recent lecture to the American Council on Education in Washington, Gee jumped into deep water by announcing that his university — with some 58,000 students — is committed to unprecedented bonding with community colleges. He said:

“I am utterly impatient.

“I am a bit odd.

“I am somewhat evangelical.

“But I am not crazy.”

One cannot overstate the importance of the two-year-college. Half of all undergraduates in America soon will be enrolled at these expanding campuses, Gee pointed out.

He reported that Ohio State is committed to a new pipeline to medical college program that will enroll greater numbers of traditionally underrepresented students in medical studies. He is partnering with Columbus State Community College on the pilot.

“Students of great promise and an interest in practicing general medicine are identified early,” Gee told his captive Washington audience. “The initiative involves not just rigorous and easily transferable course work, but also early mentoring and extensive support for academic achievement.

The program took form when Gee and Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, explored the possibilities of building creative and enhanced partnerships.

“I am especially proud that Ohio State is the first major state university to develop such a program, but one program is simply the beginning,” Gee said. “Fully integrated programs with community colleges in a variety of areas must move from the periphery to the core of our activities.”

Gee and Caperton believe that building medical expertise is “essential to the long-term economic health of America. No community can attract business and industry without able general practitioners. The issue is a national one and it is not going away.”

Three to five other large states are likely to follow soon with a medical community college pipeline initiative.

Specifically, the project goals are:

• Develop an effective means of identifying community college students who show early promise of completing the bachelor’s degree in critical science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, and who have an interest in graduate/professional school, specifically medicine;

• Develop an advising infrastructure at community colleges and four-year institutions that assist these students in preparing for transfer and beyond;

• Provide sufficient financial aid to ensure that students may attend college on a full-time basis;

• Provide students, through summer internships, undergraduate research projects and the like, with an understanding of the scope and range of graduate/professional education in critical-need areas, such as STEM and medicine; and

• Enroll a significant number of students from underrepresented groups in medical schools.

The first phase of the program at OSU has focused on medicine, permitting a unique partnership to guide more community college students to medical school and other health care professions.

Furthermore, the College Board hopes to foster programs to train a new generation of leaders in essential professions such as engineering, medicine and technology.

It is my hope that Gordon Gee, who has held more university presidencies than any other American, will continue his well-known constructive agitation within the academy and that his good-natured manner will produce even more progress for the common good in the years ahead.

— Gene A. Budig is a former president of three major state universities and past president of Major League Baseball’s American League.