Dr. Michael V. Drake has been named president of Ohio State University. This marks the first time that the state’s largest university system will be headed by an African American.

Drake is the 15th president of the system. 

From Afro:

Drake attended Sacramento City College before switching to Stanford, where he completed his undergraduate degree. He attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where he began his teaching career. His specialty is ophthalmology.

In 2005, he became the chief administrator at UC Irvine. There, he ushered in the building of a new law school and the creation of a school of education and reenergized the medical school, which had been investigated after being the site of scandal, the Dispatch reported.

Read more at Afro

According to Drake’s biography on the University of California, Irvine’s website, under his leadership, applications for admission have increased by more than 90 percent.

For 6,000 openings, the university received 82,450 applications. The number of students who graduate in four years has increased by 19 percent, and the number of “underrepresented minorities” has increased by 59.1 percent.

In 2012 and 2013, UCI was designated the top university in the country, and ranked in the top five in the world.

Congratulations on making history Dr. Drake.

Sound off below!