New Ohio State president Ted Carter was a decorated Navy airmen who headed Naval Academy

The Ohio State University named Walter "Ted" Carter, Jr. as its next president on Tuesday, and he will take over the postition effective Jan. 1.

Here is a look at who he is.

Who is Walter "Ted" Carter Jr.?

Carter is currently the president of the University of Nebraska system. A Navy airman and veteran, Carter, like most military personnel, spent much of his career moving around: from Virginia, Maryland and Florida on the East Coast to Washington state and California on the West Coast.

Carter and his wife, Lynda, 63, currently live in Lincoln, Nebraska. They have two adult children.

An early life of service and achievement

Carter, the son of an English teacher, grew up in Burrillville, Rhode Island. He graduated in 1981 from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

At the academy, he majored in oceanography, lettered in ice hockey for four years and was team team captain in 1981. He was editor-in-chief of the academy's satirical magazine, The LOG, from 1979 to 1981. Carter also graduated from the Air War College intermediate course, as well as the Armed Forces Staff College.

In 1982, he became a naval flight officer, graduating from the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), according to online documents.

A decorated Navy airman

Flying F-4, F-14 and F-18 fighter jets during his career, Carter, whose call name was "Slapshot" because of his love of hockey, was a flight officer on several ships, including the USS Midway and the USS Independence.

He amassed more than 6,100 flight hours in the rear seat of fighter jets, setting records for training and assisting pilots. He landed on at least 19 different aircraft carriers. He also flew on 125 combat missions in support of joint military operations in Bosnia, Kuwait, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Carter later became an executive officer on the USS Harry S. Truman, and his tenure culminated on the USS Carl Vinson. His subsequent fleet-command assignment was commander of the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group.

Military academy leadership

Carter was named the 54th president of the Naval War College in 2013. A year later, then-Vice Admiral Carter became the 62nd superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, a post he held until July, 2019. At the academy, Carter formed the nation’s first accredited cyber operations major, and accredited a nuclear engineering major at the Naval Academy, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In 2022, Carter received the U.S. Naval Academy's Distinguished Graduate Award, the highest honor bestowed upon academy graduates. Just 110 individuals have received the honor, including former President Jimmy Carter and the late Sen. John McCain.

Nebraska's eighth president

Carter took the helm of the University of Nebraska on Jan. 1, 2020, a few months before the United States started dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an introductory letter to the Lincoln-based university, which is similar in size to Ohio State University, he pledged to make Nebraska "the best it can possibly be — an institution that stays true to its missions of access and academic excellence, that puts the success and well-being of students first, that celebrates the rich diversity that makes us great, and that works every day to demonstrate accountability to those who entrust us with their precious resources."

A love of hockey and his thoughts on ethics

"Fundamentally, ethics is about choice," Carter wrote in 2015 about the Navy. "The decisions to adhere to core values, adopt prescribed morals, and act in accordance with ethical standards all revolve around personal choice."

A longtime player and a lifelong hockey fan, Carter grew up a Boston Bruins fan being from Rhode Island originally. But he converted to favoring the Washington Capitals when he moved to the Washington area in 2017.

Of hockey, he told an NHL.com reporter in 2018: "I'm fortunate I was brought up with it. I think I'll play the sport as long as I'm able.

"I'll put those blades on whenever somebody will let me."

dnarciso@dispatch.com

@DeanNarciso

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ted Carter brings to OSU love of hockey, focus on service and ethics