September 2012

(Posted September 30, 2012 )

Dear Alumni and Friends:

I hope you were able to join us for homecoming over the weekend. We capped our weeklong celebration with a 48-8 win over Rhode Island and welcomed back the classes of 1962 and 1972 for reunions.

One of the highlights of homecoming was the ceremony honoring the inductees into our Academy of Distinguished Alumni: Joseph Philport ’75, president and CEO of Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Management, Inc.; Ed Reiter ’62, retired senior chairman of Sky Financial Group; Linda Watters ’75, vice president for government relations at John Hancock Insurance Company; and Jack Williams ’79, partner with the law firm of Womble, Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. Follow the links above to view the compelling videos recognizing each inductee.

In mid-September I gave my State of the University Address. We celebrated the accomplishments of the last year and outlined our goals for the future – including plans to reach an enrollment of 25,000 students by the year 2020. At the same time, we're committed to improving quality and have set aggressive but achievable goals for raising the academic profile of our student body.

I was very excited to learn that the Northwest Ohio Center for Excellence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education at BGSU has been awarded more than $7 million from the National Science Foundation to fund a five-year project titled "iEvolve with STEM." I believe this is the largest grant of its kind in BGSU history.

We were so pleased to welcome Kayla Somoles and Angelica Mormile, the two BGSU students who survived a wrong-way crash March 2 that killed three of their Alpha Xi Delta sorority sisters, back to campus this semester. They’ve made miraculous progress in their recoveries and have been an inspiration to us all.

I am always deeply moved by the commitment of our community in giving back to the University to support our students. During this year’s Family Campaign, our faculty, staff and retirees donated $824,694 to benefit a wide variety of programs and areas, including scholarships, travel grants, faculty support and student organizations. Won’t you consider a gift to help support our students?

If you couldn’t make it back to see us during homecoming, I hope you’ll consider a visit soon. Fall is a beautiful time to be on campus.

Regards,
Mary Ellen Mazey, Ph.D.
President