Dr. Edward J. Ray assumed the position of Oregon State University’s President on July 31, 2003. Prior to coming to Oregon State, Ray was executive vice president and provost of The Ohio State University.
Under his leadership, OSU has completed and updated a visionary campus-wide strategic plan that is serving as the framework for the university’s development in profound and historic ways. Annual research awards and contracts have increased almost $100 million per year at Oregon State to $252 million since Dr. Ray’s arrival. President Ray has partnered with the OSU Foundation to launch the university’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign. The quiet phase of the campaign began in July, 2004 and the public phase launched in October, 2007 with a goal of $625 million. By September, 2009 the campaign total reached $531 million, including $84 million for scholarships and fellowships, 28 newly endowed faculty positions, and funding for key scientific and learning facilities as the Kelley Engineering Center and the Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Kearney Hall, the Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families, The Linus Pauling Science Center and the Student Success Center. The campaign is scheduled to end June 30, 2011.
Mindful of OSU’s commitment to the people of Oregon, Dr. Ray has overseen the expansion of dual-enrollment agreements to all 17 of the state’s community colleges, making it easier for students to complete four-year degrees. He has also taken a leadership role in fostering a more seamless P-20 system, working with area school superintendents, community college leaders and university colleagues to strengthen institutional connections and enhance the student experience. Dr. Ray has also helped to usher in a new era of partnership and cooperation between Oregon’s public universities.
Dr. Ray was a member of the economics faculty at Ohio State from 1970-2003, serving as economics department chair from 1976 to 1992. He served as an associate provost from May 1992 until May 1993, senior vice provost and chief information officer from 1993-1998, and executive vice president and provost from 1998-2003.
His research interests include the history of protectionism in the United States, the determinants of U.S. foreign direct investment and foreign direct investment in the United States, the structure of tariff and non tariff trade barriers in the United States and abroad and the adoption of Social Security. His work has been published in The American Economic Review, The Journal of Political Economy, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, The Review of Economic Studies, The review of Economics and Statistics, and other leading journals. He has co-authored a principles text, and his book, "U. S. Protectionism and the World Debt Crisis" was published by Quorum Press in 1989.
Dr. Ray received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Queens College (CUNY) in June 1966, graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his master’s in economics from Stanford University in 1969 and his doctorate in economics from Stanford in June 1971.
Before becoming first lady at Oregon State, his wife Beth worked as a practicing attorney, taught business law courses as a faculty member in the Department of Finance at Ohio State University and most recently was a counselor and assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences while at Ohio State. They have three children and three grandchildren.
