Molly Ranz Calhoun

Long before she became president and CEO of The Ohio State University Alumni Association, Molly Ranz Calhoun ’86 knew she had the Buckeye spirit.

“Ohio State was a point of family pride throughout my childhood. My parents met and fell in love here. My father had been captain of the baseball team, and later when he brought me along for campus visits, it was during Woody Hayes’ glory days. Watching baseball and football games, and getting the chance to meet with Woody and listen to him speak — that was all very inspirational for me.”

This early spark of interest led to a genuine passion for Ohio State.

As a student pursuing industrial design, one day she saw an internship advertised by the Office of Student Life. “It caught my eye because of all my dad’s stories about living in the stadium scholarship dormitory,” Molly said. “And this was a job to renovate that very facility.”

When she graduated, the Office of Student Life offered her a full-time job. There her career spanned over three-and-a-half decades and included nearly every title possible, from design assistant to interim senior vice president for student life. 

Her career highlights include heading the university’s largest-ever residential construction project, the North Residential District Transformation, a $370 million, multi-phase residential expansion. But as Molly always says, building projects are about more than “sticks and bricks.” They are about the people whose lives you touch along the way, even if you never have the chance to meet them.

With this in mind, Molly ensured that all the names of the original North District residence halls were kept, as they recognized student veterans from World War I through the Korean War. Emphasizing diverse representation, eight new buildings were named for other student veterans who had served our country since the Korean War.

Molly also developed and implemented Ohio State’s comprehensive one-day, assisted residence hall move-in logistics plan, one of the largest, most complex and efficient in the nation. At peak productivity, 10,500 students move to campus with the help of staff, law enforcement, and student and alumni volunteers, with many participating annually.

When Molly took the helm of the alumni association in May 2020, she was the 12th leader to do so, and the first woman in nearly 100 years. Always up for a challenge, she began her new role at a time of great uncertainty for the world.

And, as expected, the Ohio State community she believes in rose to the challenge as well.

“When I sent my first email to all alumni — amid the coronavirus outbreak — their response was overwhelming: ‘What can we do to help? What do our students need?’”

Seeing the power and compassion of our more than 580,000 alumni around the globe, Molly’s enthusiasm for the future of the alumni association is boundless.

“My vision for what’s next has a lot to do with our past. I want our alumni association to be well known for honoring our collective student experience and reaching out to current students. At commencement they will already realize what it means to be a Buckeye for life.”

A Buckeye through and through, Molly’s extended family members hold 14 Ohio State degrees among them. Her children were all born at the Wexner Medical Center.

Molly’s husband Tom and her three sons (one a Fisher College of Business graduate and one a College of Medicine graduate) have always been an essential part of her Ohio State journey, from helping at move-in and making guest appearances at project meetings, to rooting for the Buckeyes in every possible way. They will continue cheering Molly on, as she uses her own Buckeye spirit to inspire generations of graduates: past, present and future.