Giving

In memorium

Lowell Smith

Lowell Smith

Ohio State Mansfield lost a significant friend and partner this winter, Lowell T. Smith. He inspired youth about higher education as a teacher, coach, administrator, and finally board member for Mansfield City Schools, in the College of Education at Ashland University, and as founder of the Tyger Scholarship on our campus.

Memorial contributions can be made to this scholarship benefitting Mansfield City School graduates online at www.giveto.osu.edu/mansfield to fund number 313982, or by mail to 1760 University Drive, 222 Riedl Hall, Mansfield, Ohio, 44906.

Students love Buckeye experience

Homecoming Queen Jordan Morse and King Joey Burley are involved in activities.

Homecoming Queen Jordan Morse and King Joey Burley are involved in activities.

At Ohio State Mansfield, our students love being involved in campus activities, from student engagement to athletics programs, making Buckeye memories and friendships they will carry with them for life.

Homecoming king and queen, Joey Burley and Jordan Morse, were chosen for their extensive involvement in campus activities as well as volunteerism in the community.

Morse plays on the intercollegiate Mansfield Mavericks volleyball team and volunteers with children with disabilities at Raemelton Therapeutic Equestrian Center and at a local dog shelter.

Burley is involved in Psychology Student Association, English Club and Boxing Club. He participates in theater productions and is a summer cleaning and maintenance staff manager at campus housing Molyet Village Apartments.

They also have a lot in common. Both are Psychology majors, resident advisors at Molyet Village Apartments and graduates from Ashland High School. And they have been a couple for about four years.

“We have so many similar interests that we can explore those interests on campus, and we also, just like any other couple, have very different interests,” Burley said. “So it’s great that not only can we achieve all the experiences we wish to do together here but we can also achieve all the experiences that we want for ourselves as well.”

Burley, looking for sparring partners, started the boxing club on campus. He credits both the Office of Student Engagement and Athletics for guiding him through the process to succeed in his goal. They helped him craft liability documents, create club flyers to recruit members and granted the new club $800 for equipment. The club has grown to about 10 who are regular participants.

The couple decided to apply for homecoming court because it was something they could participate in together. The selection process included interviews with a committee of faculty and staff who evaluated their campus and community involvement.

“I was so nervous for the interview but it went so well,” Morse said. “Everyone was so calm and I got to talk about my interests, which was the best part.”

Students chose them as king and queen.

“Something told me that it was going to be a really good experience for both of us and it wound up like a fairy tale,” Burley said. “We were treated like royalty for the whole weekend. Especially standing right alongside the one you love – it was awesome.”

While both live close enough to commute to campus, they chose to live in the campus dorm. They love the community atmosphere and the friendships they have made.

“I absolutely love it here,” Burley said. “I choose to get involved in so many different things because it’s a part of who I am and the opportunity presents itself so often here even at a regional campus.

“I think a lot of people consider getting involved to be either something that you are innately able to do or innately unable to do and I don’t think that’s true. Everyone wants that Buckeye experience. Just open your eyes, because even here at the Mansfield campus, it’s available.”

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#313112 OSU Mansfield Student Life Support Fund

#312001 OSU Mansfield Recreation Center Fund

Capital Campaign exceeds $3 million

Group study rooms at the Bromfield Library and Information Commons will be named for donors.

Group study rooms at the Bromfield Library and Information Commons will be named for donors.

Ohio State Mansfield will celebrate reaching it’s $3 million capital campaign goal and dedicate the new Bromfield Library and Information Commons at a public reception the evening of Thursday, April 10. Support from hundreds of campus and community members, including capstone gifts from Next Generation Films and the John & Pearl Conard Foundation, will provide new and expanded student scholarships and internship opportunities, as well as key improvements to campus facilities.

The Bromfield Library and Information Commons, the campaign’s main strategic priority, nears completion of the $3 million renovation into a vibrant high-tech learning environment. The crowning jewel of the space is the Learning Collaborative Classroom, funded through a $300,000 grant by the Richland County Foundation. This innovative space, shared by Ohio State Mansfield and North Central State College as well as available for business and community programs, will leverage advanced technologies to support collaborative learning.

Other vital study rooms and instructional areas have also been created through gifts from Mechanics Bank, Richland Bank, CenturyLink, FirstEnergy, and Shelby Foundation. With a $500,000 gift from the Conard Foundation, the building will be renamed Conard Hall at the April 10 ceremony.

The Gorman family helped establish a new Business Internship Program endowment with their generous leadership gift. More than 75 students from Ohio State Mansfield and North Central State College have benefited from internships this academic year with 40 local businesses, getting paid while gaining hands-on experience in engineering, business and other trades. An internship meet and greet in December attracted more than 200 students and potential employers, evidence of the great need within the community.

More than $600,000 has been pledged for scholarships in the But for Ohio State Mansfield campaign, including generous support by Vic Smith of Galion to create the new NCSC Buckeye Scholarship. The new Tyger Scholarship will help local students start college, and the new Board Leadership Scholarship will help them complete their four-year degree on the Mansfield campus. With an expanded Engineering program, the new Jack Hire Scholarship will also help the campus recruit and support new students in this exciting growth area.

“This goal could not have been met but for the dedication of our campaign volunteers who spent countless hours meeting with prospective donors, explaining our vision for our students,” Dean and Director Stephen Gavazzi said. “Our students will reap the benefits of their hard work for years to come.”

There will be many people to thank. Former Director of University Relations Rodger Smith laid the groundwork for the campaign through his decades of service before he retired in 2012. Campaign co-chairs Pam Siegenthaler and John Riedl, along with honorary chairman James C. Gorman, provided essential leadership throughout the campaign in partnership with Ohio State Mansfield Board members. NCSC Chief Public Affairs Officer Betty Preston, on loan for the campaign, was instrumental in securing the Hire Family Foundation grant; English Professor Susan Delagrange led support efforts for Bromfield renovations. Community volunteers also played key roles by raising tremendous awareness and funds for the campaign. They include Mary Bolin, Dave Carto, Don De Censo, Evelyn Freeman, Scott King, Jay Miller, John Mount, Brad Preston, Lydia Reid, John S. Roby, Doc Stumbo, Karin Turowski, Dick Walters, and Sheila York.

McCune scholarship honors a working man

John McCune, Sr.

John McCune, Sr.

The John McCune Sr. History Scholarship is not your typical scholarship. Started by Marianne Parisi-McCune in her late husband’s memory, much of the funding comes from the many friends McCune met through General Motors, United Auto Workers, of which he was president of UAW Local 549 for several terms, and his work with politicians and the community.

“If anyone would be termed a ‘Mr. Richland County,’ it would be he,” Parisi-McCune said. “He mattered when he was living and he should matter after his passing.”

A $2,000 scholarship is given annually to a student majoring in history, political science or math. While it might seem an eclectic mix, the topics fit McCune, a blue-collar worker who never attended college, to a T.

“The scholarship envelops what I think he would have wanted,” Parisi-McCune said. “He always believed in education and he was an amazing history person. He was a very dynamic political strategist. He also was a mathematician. He could add a column of numbers before someone could key them into a calculator.”

The scholarship’s first recipient is History major Donald Shumaker, who is also the student member on the Ohio State Mansfield Board.

“I give Ohio State a lot of credit,” Parisi-McCune said. “They picked a young fellow that just epitomizes what John was like. He has that burning desire and he’s just energetic. I couldn’t be happier.”

A unique part of the scholarship is a service component, in which the recipient writes an historical essay about a local political figure. Parisi-McCune wanted to somehow honor local people who made a difference in Richland County.

“Most times, you get a scholarship and you fulfill the requirements via grades, but what do you learn from it,” she said.

Working with Brian McCartney and Parisi-McCune, Shumaker researched and wrote about Kenneth McCartney, a longtime Democratic Party activist in Richland County. He presented the essay at the annual K.E. McCartney St. Patrick’s Day Memorial Fundraiser last March.

“Of all the scholarships I’ve gotten, this is my favorite, in large part because I’ve gotten to meet all the people who were instrumental in getting it started, as well as the people I met while working on the project,” Shumaker said.

Engineering program gets boost from endowment

Engineering student Connor Wood studies in the state-of-the-art engineering lab at Ohio State Mansfield.

Engineering student Connor Wood studies in the state-of-the-art engineering lab at Ohio State Mansfield.

Ohio State Mansfield is a step closer to offering a four-year engineering degree with a $75,000 endowment from the Hire Family Foundation, as well as a national technical assistance grant from the Ohio Board of Regents to help bolster science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. Ohio is one of five states to receive the national Complete College of America Award from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

The endowment will fund the Jack Hire Engineering Scholarship, the first engineering scholarship to be awarded at Ohio State Mansfield.

To enhance student retention and retain talented graduates in north central Ohio, the Business & Industry Internship Program for Ohio State Mansfield and North Central State College is in its second year of placing students in area industries, including Stoneridge, formally Hi-Stat, which was founded by Jack Hire. A growing number of engineering students entering the four-year degree program locally will benefit from the newly established scholarship fund .

The regional campus is in its third year of offering freshman- and sophomore-level Fundamentals of Engineering, the same core courses engineering students take at the Columbus campus. Thanks to support by Kokosing Construction Company and others, the courses are taught in a state-of-the-art laboratory classroom. Students build upon a pre-calculus and calculus foundation to develop fundamental technical skills to prepare for advanced coursework in any engineering major.

In the near future, Ohio State Mansfield expects the program to expand to allow local students to complete a bachelor’s degree in at least one specific engineering field from start-to-finish on the Mansfield campus.

Through the technical assistance grant, NC State advisors will help students identify and be successful in essential STEM courses in order to advance in their engineering major and then continue toward a bachelor’s degree at Ohio State Mansfield.