The Leon County Commission honored Vice President for Research Gary K. Ostrander with a proclamation celebrating his years of service to Florida State University and the local community.
Ostrander is stepping down from his position at the end of December to return to the faculty and spend the next chapter of his career fully focused on his research endeavors.
Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier, before reading the proclamation, noted that while Ostrander had always championed Florida State’s interests, he also saw the university as part of the greater community.
“If we use that phrase town and gown, you are the example of town and gown that we hold up, and I hope your successor understands that, and they have some very big shoes to fill,” Dozier said.
Ostrander came to FSU in 2011 and has grown the research portfolio to record numbers, overseeing more than $200 million in research activity annually while attracting top-tier faculty in a variety of disciplines and forging partnerships with community leaders and businesses.
This past year, university research attracted a record $250 million.
Dozier also noted Ostrander’s success in bringing in $8 million from Triumph Gulf Coast to help create a recovery plan for Apalachicola Bay and his assistance in Leon County winning a $10.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to build a high-tech business incubator.
Ostrander recounted a story from his first year in Tallahassee when then-FSU President Eric Barron noted that the university and the county played a vital role in the other’s success.
“That really resonated with me and that’s really been a guiding principle of mine for the last nine years, and that’s the message I’ve left upon my office as we move forward,” he said.