Celebrating the Past

This year, BGSU celebrates 50th anniversaries for WBGU, Falcon Club, the Marine Biology Lab, the College Student Personnel program, Stellar Field and Harshman Quadrangle. Fifty years ago, McDonald Quadrangle was also dedicated, an addition to Kohl Hall was completed, the tennis team was undefeated, and Butch Komives set an Anderson Arena scoring record with 50 points. Doyt Perry retired as head football coach and the medallion worn by Presidents Jerome, Moore, Olscamp and Ribeau was created.

BGSU has continuously worked to make campus a home away from home for students. Fifty years ago, students participated in a contest to name the four halls in the new Harshman Quadrangle using the letters A through D. Winners were Sherwood Anderson, Louis Bromfield, John (Johnny Appleseed) Chapman and Paul Laurence Dunbar. To accommodate even more students, Kohl Hall was expanded and McDonald Quadrangle was dedicated. Campus housing was not co-ed at the time and the dress code still prohibited women from wearing jeans except on the first floor of the Student Union.

Then, as now, Falcon Athletics united the campus. Fellow students cheered on Howard “Butch” Komives ‘64 (deceased 2009) in his single-game scoring record with 50 points against Niagara. Coach Robert J. Keefe (deceased 2005) led the men’s tennis team to an undefeated record in 15 dual matches and the 1964 Mid-American Conference championship (BGSU tied Miami for the league crown.) Doyt Perry ‘32 (deceased 1992) retired as head football coach with a record of 77-11-5, at the time the best winning percentage in college football history, and became the athletic director for the University. Falcon Club was established to provide fundraising support for the growing Athletics department.

The College Student Personnel (CSP) program has inexorably shaped the undergraduate experience at BGSU by providing practicum experiences in student services to thousands of CSP graduate students. These CSP students, in turn, provided the personalized support and programming that form the bedrock of the “BGSU experience” that so many alumni identify as key to their future success.

Still the only facility of its type in Ohio, the BGSU Marine Biology Lab began when two sophomores —Steve Toth ‘64 (deceased 2011) and John Young ‘64—offered to bring back the necessary specimens for a lab from their spring break trip to Ocean Springs, Miss. Then-newly hired biology faculty member Cynthia Collin Stong and other faculty set up five, 10-gallon glass aquaria in the basement of Moseley Hall and filled them with “Artificial Sea Water – Instant Ocean formulation.” Stong proved to be an inspirational leader, founding the program and building the marine lab into a well-respected facility that attracts students to BGSU today, even after her retirement in 1993.

These memorable 50th anniversaries highlight BGSU’s many ambitions and accomplishments. From roots as a teacher’s college more than 100 years ago, BGSU has been a place of opportunity for students from northwest Ohio and beyond who have turned to the University to realize their dreams of a college education.

Today, that dream continues to define the lives of many students. However, research from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that BGSU’s current and future student population
looks quite different from pictures from the last 50 years:

• Of the 17.6 million undergraduates currently enrolled in American higher education, just 15 percent attend four-year colleges and live on campus.
• At least 38 percent are over the age of 25 and one-fourth are over the age of 30.
• The share of all students who are over age 25 is projected to increase another 23 percent by 2019.

So in addition to serving the thousands of students who choose to attend BGSU right from high school, the University is expanding its reach to meet the needs of adult and nontraditional students.

There is an urgent need to increase access for this group of students. Fewer than 25 percent of Ohioans have a bachelor’s degree — a statistic that is alarming government and prospective employers who view an educated workforce as critical to success in a complex global marketplace.

In this climate, many nontraditional students have turned to community colleges that provide open enrollment, flexible scheduling, convenient locations and low entry cost. However, the surge of students into community colleges has not led to prosperity. Fewer than 25 percent of these students graduate and even fewer complete their goals of transferring to a four-year college to earn a bachelor’s degree.

“There is no doubt that community colleges serve as an important entry into higher education for many students,” said Dr. Barbara Henry, assistant vice president for Nontraditional and Transfer Student Services at BGSU. “Yet, if students do not have a clear path to degree success, they are no further ahead for their efforts.”

To that end, BGSU is working closely with community colleges throughout Ohio and beyond to increase graduation and transfer rates. “We have signed institutional articulation agreements with 14 colleges, and eight more are in the process of being completed,” said Henry.

BGSU has academic advisers on-site at many community colleges in the region so students receive intensive and personalized advising on their educational plans.

This personalized approach extends to veteran students. The Post-9/11 GI Bill, which celebrated its fourth anniversary in summer 2013, has paid a combined $30 billion for the education and training of about 1 million service members, veterans and family members. BGSU is proud that 245 veterans have earned a degree or graduated from the University in that time.

BGSU is recognized as 20th in the nation as being “Best for Vets” by Military Times EDGE and designated a “Military Friendly School” by G.I. Jobs. BGSU was also selected for inclusion in the 2014 Guide to Military-Friendly Colleges and Universities by Military Advanced Education.

These rankings reflect BGSU’s philosophy of tailoring programs to fit changing student populations and taking a community-based approach to providing services as outlined in Col. David Sutherland’s call to action on page 24 of this magazine. For example, according to Eric Buetikofer, an adviser in Nontraditional and Transfer Student Services and an Army veteran, “Student veterans often begin college with some credits earned before they enter the military or from classes taken while they were in the service. They also are more likely to have families to care for. We have a whole team in place to make sure our veteran students have the classes and services needed to earn their degrees.”

An important component for veteran, transfer and other nontraditional students is access to classes beyond the traditional class day and campus locations.

“In a wired world, students expect and need online class access to attain their educational and career goals,” said Henry. “BGSU is continually expanding our course offerings with an emphasis on highly interactive and effective classes.”

Additionally, BGSU provides evening and weekend classes at Levis Commons in Perrysburg and in Findlay at the Owens Community College campus.

While the University is working to be accessible and convenient for nontraditional students, BGSU remains a school of choice for traditional students, with an ambitious master plan featuring new and renovated learning spaces, technologically driven classrooms and community partnerships to provide resources in high impact academic areas such as criminal justice, aviation and communications.

While the campus will continue to evolve, one important element remains constant — a sincere concern for each student’s education and personal development. In many ways, the embrace of new student populations is a natural outgrowth of BGSU’s historic inclusive and personalized approach to education. 100 years ago, 50 years ago, today and tomorrow — success for every student, every day.