Profile: Charles See

Meet Charles See. Vice Chancellor for External Relations and Education Technology at The Ohio Department of Higher Education.

Name: Charles See

Job: Vice Chancellor for External Relations and Education Technology at the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

City: Columbus

Hometown: East Cleveland

Q: What does the ODHE do?
The Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) is a Cabinet-level agency for the Governor of the State of Ohio that oversees higher education for the state. The agency’s main responsibilities include authorizing and approving new degree programs, managing state-funded financial aid programs, and developing and advocating policies to maximize higher education’s contributions to the state and its citizens.

Q: What’s a problem you're working to solve? 
Awareness. ODHE is completely aligned with the mission of InnovateOhio to establish the state as the most innovative and entrepreneurial state in the Midwest. One of the primary strategies to achieving this goal is unlocking the full entrepreneurial, innovative, and technological potential of the state’s colleges and universities.

Through initiatives such as the Ohio IP Promise, the state is signaling to its faculty and student innovators its commitment to ensuring that there are transparent, and efficient pathways at our universities to move innovative ideas from concept to commercially viable IP. We want that same message to be heard by industry, venture capitalists, and others in Ohio’s commercialization ecosystem as they seek to engage our colleges and universities to advance innovation, product development, and commercialization in our state.

Supporting strategies such as the Ohio Innovation Exchange assists in raising awareness of Ohio’s innovative capacity by creating a centralized portal where business, industry, and others seeking assistance in advancing their innovations can efficiently access the vast intellectual and human capital housed at Ohio’s institutions of higher education. ODHE is working closely with InnovateOhio to develop and promote other initiatives to enhance awareness about the innovation and entrepreneurial resources of the state. 

Q: What’s a lesson you’ve learned that's shaped your work? 
The status quo must continually be challenged even if all apparent metrics seem to indicate things are “going well,” As an organization that provides services to both internal and external constituents, ODHE has a responsibility to continually assess its customers’ current and future needs and be positioned to respond accordingly.

Q: What’s a trend in technology or innovation that doesn’t get enough attention? 
While not necessarily constituting a trend, the need to drive more entrepreneurial and technology-related curriculum to the secondary education level does not get enough attention. These efforts are important to ensure that graduating high school students have a competitive foundation as technology and innovation become more ubiquitous in everyday life. These efforts are also important for creating a steady pipeline of individuals with significant exposure to entrepreneurial- and technology-related concepts as they seek postsecondary education opportunities and as Ohio builds its workforce of the future.  

Q: What’s one moonshot idea that could help make Ohio a world leader in technology and innovation? 
The state should explore developing systemic mechanisms for harnessing the collective, technological, and innovative capacity of the state’s college and universities. The trend in research is toward interdisciplinary teams to solve the more complex problems of today (food security, autonomous vehicles, poverty, climate change, etc.).

Ohio has the capacity to assemble interdisciplinary teams that can work together and leverage their strengths to truly drive innovation and entrepreneurship. The logistics industry is a great example of innovation in our region that combines the disciplines of artificial intelligence, data analytics, and management all while boosting profits. Similar collaboration among our colleges and universities in emerging technology and research areas could also be a catalyst for attracting public and private capital investments. 

Q: What’s a recent book, podcast or news story that you found interesting? 
I recently read an article posted on CIO.com entitled, What IT Leaders are Doing to Increase Blacks in Tech. The article presents all-too-familiar statistics outlining the severe underrepresentation of minorities in tech fields. The article also highlights how minorities who do work in IT fields often face isolation issues and other overt and subtle discriminatory practices and further feel like there are no safe avenues to express their views regarding equity and diversity issues. 

The article chronicles how companies that have not traditionally been focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplace are now taking steps to ensure these issues are discussed transparently, and are implementing policies and procedures that reflect a commitment to hiring a more diversified IT workforce. The article highlights specific practices companies are using to ensure that diversity and inclusion become key priorities of the organization, such as making them components of the C suite leadership structure. The article further highlights a variety of recruiting, training, and workforce development strategies in which companies are engaged with the intent of creating a pipeline of qualified minorities ready to join the technology and innovation workforce.

The article underscores the importance of why companies – especially IT companies – need to pay close attention to this issue. As put so succinctly by one of the individuals highlighted in article: “There are so many open IT jobs and if we don’t start inviting the underserved into innovation nation, we will have a shortfall that will impact the economy and the nation.”

Q: What's your favorite place in Ohio? 
There are a few places in Ohio that I can label as favorites:

• Ohio Stadium on a football Saturday. I love the instant comradery that is forged with the people sitting around you, all interacting like they are lifelong friends.

• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. A great place for learning, reflection, remembrance, and motivation to forge a better future.

• Cedar Point. Because I’m still young at heart.

Q: What makes Ohio special to you?  
Ohio offers great quality of life opportunities, competitive with most any other place one might want to live (and at a much lower cost of living than most places, I might add). There is also recognition here that much more can and must be done to improve the lives of Ohio citizens and nurture growth. There is always an active conversation in Ohio regarding what is needed to get the state to the next level. The sense of urgency and commitment to continuously improve makes Ohio a special place. We also have the Browns.   

Connect with Charles on LinkedIn.