OCU Looks to Future

By Steven CollinsStaff Reporter for the Circleville HeraldOriginally published on 2/7/15It is shaping up to be a year of progress and growth for Ohio Christian University (OCU).Hank Kelly, provost at OCU, said two of the bigger projects coming up at the university include construction of the Southern Gateway Economic Innovation Development Center and the Ministry/Performing Arts Center.“They will change the face of the campus, definitely,” he said. “By building out that way, it will make the whole campus look bigger. New buildings always bring new people and new attention.”Mike Fracassa, vice president of operations and operational efficiency at OCU, said the expansion will benefit the community.“They’re both not only going to look great, but they’re going to be great for the community,” he said. “Obviously, the innovation center is going to be an economic development hub for small businesses. The performing arts center is going to be used for community events and that is something we don’t really have much of in the county.”Both projects are scheduled to begin in the fall of this year. The Southern Gateway Economic Innovation Development Center is expected to be completed in early 2017 and the Performing Arts Center in early 2018.Kelly said the university also has some new programming and promotions that are shaping the future and growth of the university.Dr. Bradford Sample was promoted to assistant provost and vice president for the College of Adult and Graduate Studies on Feb. 1, after being hired in September 2014. Silvia Lucaschi-Decker was promoted to vice president for Adult and Graduate Studies enrollment and marketing on Feb. 1.“We have broken Tim Eades’ role into two different ones,” he said. “We lost one vice president and we gained two. When you promote people, it shows that you value people and that they have grown. It’s a good thing for people to get promoted and to show that there is internal movement. It’s also good to have new ideas brought in, and with their promotions, we have both.”OCU has also added new concentrations to the Leadership and Ministry, Business and Business Administration programs. They have also created an Associate of Arts degree in Religious Studies and changed a previous offering to Emergency and Disaster Management.“All of those concentrations are to meet the broader needs of the students,” Kelly said. “That’s why we do that — to meet the needs of the students. That’s why we’re trying to offer all those different concentrations.”Kelly said OCU is also looking to grow its reach in Columbus and in Georgia with two recently created campus sites. OCU has the Malon Mimms Education Center in Morrow, Georgia. It has 14 cohorts and 116 students meeting at the site. Kelly said they hope to have the first graduation ceremony in April 2016.“We’re looking at having more programs and expanding our locations wherever we can hire quality teachers and staff,” he said. “I think we should make education much more affordable and easier to get.”One of the things Kelly said university officials are working on is raising the prestige of the school as they extend their reach.“I used to think that prestige was self-serving and it seems that’s what all higher education wanted to do,” he said. “But then I looked at it from the graduate’s viewpoint. It raises the value of their degree, and there’s something to be said for that. If they feel better about it, they will graduate and get a job right away. There are a lot of positives to it.”Kelly said all of these changes will help OCU achieve the strategic plan that was updated and changed in 2014.“Our thinking was that all our graduates should meet these core values and so to do that, we’ve set up three-year and six-year goals,” Kelly said. “We always pick too many and I always say we have too many, but we’re going to try to achieve them all.”