Journal News
Posted: 12:00 a.m. Sunday, April 6,
2014
College expansion seen as job, economic driver
By http://www.journal-news.com/staff/ed-richter/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN — The arrival of Cincinnati State’s branch campus in Middletown has helped to cement
the redevelopment of the city’s downtown core and is helping to revive it’s
economy.
Michael
Chikeleze, who has been the campus’s only director since it opened nearly two
years ago, said the future is very bright in Middletown as Cincinnati State
continues to build partnerships with the local business, industrial and heath
care communities, the city and county and area school districts.
“We’re excited to be in Butler County,” he said. “To meet the
demands of the area, we’re adding more academic courses and programs, do
workforce development and are looking to keep the cooperative education
component focused.”
He said the Middletown campus, which is Cincinnati State’s second-largest venue
of its four campuses, is also working to align its academic program to where
the jobs are.
“Our
goal is to attract and keep students in the region as part of an educated
workforce with the job skills that are in demand,” Chikeleze said.
He said students can take the path toward a
technical, two-year associate’s degree to get the skills needed to enter the
workforce or take academic courses to transfer to a college or university with
a four-year program. In addition, he said the programs at Cincinnati State are complimentary to
those offered at Miami University Middletown.
Cincinnati State Middletown offers 13
associate degree programs, five certificate programs and online courses, he
said.
Chikeleze said about 200 students were
originally projected to enroll at the Middletown campus in fall 2012.
In
nearly two years, the number has jumped to more than 600 students whose average
is age is 30.
“We’ve far exceeded our original enrollment
projections,” he said. “Sustaining growth will be the challenge as well as
managing change and keeping up with growth.”
The
college, which is Butler County’s first community college, currently operates out of the
former Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. building at 1 N. Main St. that is still owned by the city. Chikeleze said there are
25 full-time employees at the Middletown branch with another 40
to 50 adjunct faculty who teach a variety of courses.
“We’re a full-service campus with classes,
tutoring, financial aid, IT (information technology), police and academic
advising,” Chikeleze said.
He said the college is working on a
strategic plan and foresees an enrollment of 2,000 to 3,000 in five years. In
addition, Boston-based Higher Education Partners provided the private funding
to assist Cincinnati State to establish the Middletown campus, with city and
college officials, are already looking at acquiring additional properties to
handle the future campus growth.
“We’re in growth mode,” he said. “Our
future is good. Over time, we’ll be better known in the Middletown area. The important
thing is continue what we’re doing and become a known option in the next 10 to
15 years.”
Chikeleze said the Middletown branch is working on
building awareness and developing partnerships with various educational and
nonprofit organizations.
“We’re helping students and people change
their lives,” he said. “We already have a lot of successful stories in
providing an opportunity for someone to go to college.”
City Manager Judy Gilleland said Middletown made a major investment
in developing the Cincinnati State branch campus.
“Over the next year, the city will have
recouped all of its investment or more,” she said.
Gilleland estimated that amount to be an
additional $100,000 on top of the $450,000 the city originally invested.
However, she did not have an estimated economic impact spin off from the campus
but said it could be 10 to 20-fold over the city’s initial investment.
“Cincinnati State has three other
downtown buildings to grow into and I envision there will be more,” she said. “Cincinnati State will also compliment
the programs at Miami University Middletown.”
Gilleland, who is retiring in about two
months, said the campus is important to the downtown community and is an
important downtown anchor. One of her original goals when she was hired as city
manager several years ago was to transform the downtown district into an arts,
entertainment and education district.
“That is coming to fruition and I’m pleased
with the development of downtown,” she said.
Gilleland
said the project was a win-win for the city and Cincinnati State’s administration and
board of trustees.
“They believed and embraced the city’s
vision in redeveloping the downtown,” she said. “It’s also helping to
reinvigorate the entire community.”
While he isn’t sure if anyone really knows
the impact Cincinnati State will bring to the
region in the coming years, Rick Pearce said the college is working close with
the business community to address their workforce development needs.
“Many companies in our area need a highly
specialized workforce with special skills, whether that be technical
manufacturing or IT,” said Pearce, who is the president and chief executive
officer of The Chamber of Commerce serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton. “The current
educational system, by no fault of theirs, is just not fulfilling those needs.
The world is changing so rapidly.”
Pearce said as new programs are developed
and adopted into the curriculum at Cincinnati State and employers begin to
hire those skilled individuals, you will see more students and facilities begin
to see the benefits of those programs.
“The obvious end result would be that we
would have an influx of facilities move to the area, due to the fact that the
area has a skilled workforce,” Pearce said. “I see Miami University and Cincinnati State complimenting each
other with the services they offer. Many students are anxious to obtain the
necessary skills and join the workforce quickly. What Cincinnati State has to offer could be
perfect for them.”
He said once those students are in the
workplace for a number of years, they may discover new interests that take them
down another path.
“Miami University will be there ready to
assist them in reaching their next set of goals,” Pearce said. “It’s going to
be extremely beneficial to the area to have two post-secondary institutions of
learning serving the educational needs of the next generation.”
Some local school districts are already
working to become affiliated with Cincinnati State.
Last
month, the Middletown Board of Education approved the opening of an enrollment
center for the college at Middletown High School.
The Middletown board will be providing
space at the high school for students to talk with college admission
representatives, discuss financial aid options as well as assist seniors with
dual enrollment courses or to sign up for classes at the downtown college.
The Franklin Board of Education last month
approved a memorandum of understanding that would create a dual enrollment
program with Cincinnati State, said Superintendent
Michael Sander.
He said in addition to students being able
to earn dual credits for high school and college courses, Franklin teachers would be
working with the college to develop a syllabus that would be rigorous enough to
meet Cincinnati State’s standards. Sander
said it would also create an opportunity for Franklin teachers to be approved
to teach at Cincinnati State.
“I’m not sure how many teachers would be
participating, but I think there will be a fair number,” Sander said. “Our
juniors and seniors like to be academically challenged.”
He said the district was moving slow on the
memorandum of understanding rather than rushing things through. Sander said the
Warren County Educational Service Center would coordinating the
program for the county’s school districts with Cincinnati State.
Then how did HEP-CS sell a building located at 1 North Main St, Middletown, Ohio, that they didn’t own
?
The deed was signed on April 23, 2014.
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