Middletown Ohio


Find us on
 Google+ and Facebook


 

Home | Yearly News Archive | Advertisers | Blog | Contact Us
Friday, March 29, 2024
FORUM CITY SCHOOLS COMMUNITY
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - MUM CAMPUS
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

MUM CAMPUS

 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
Vivian Moon View Drop Down
MUSA Council
MUSA Council


Joined: May 16 2008
Location: Middletown, Ohi
Status: Offline
Points: 4187
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vivian Moon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: MUM CAMPUS
    Posted: Jan 28 2015 at 10:02pm

Posted: 5:03 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015

Local History: MUM campus was community effort

By Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN 

    About the only thing that hasn’t changed over the last 50 years was the winter weather.

    On a bitterly cold morning on Jan. 28, 1965, Middletown residents, representatives from Miami University, Ohio Gov. James Rhodes and the Middletown High School marching band participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Miami University Middletown campus.

    The campus officially opened on Sept. 6, 1966, and in the 49 years since, it has seen tremendous expansion and student enrollment. There were 1,426 students enrolled that first year, 822 daytime and 740 evening students. And today enrollment exceeds 2,900.

    Dick Slagle, 89, then CEO of the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce, recalls delivering the podium he made to the ceremony that was held near the University Boulevard entrance.

    “That was a big day for the community,” he said. “Very memorable, very important.”

He said more than $3 million was raised to bring MUM to the city by the Middletown community, a large percentage coming from payroll deductions.

    “It wasn’t like it was all paper companies and Armco,” Slagle said of the financial support. “It was truly a community effort.”

    He said the leadership in the community saw the value of bringing a regional campus — the first in the state — to the city.

    Slagle frequently drives by the university and his mind immediately flashes back 50 years. He can’t help but think of the impact the university has had on the community.

    Without MUM, Slagle said, there would be “a big hole in the community. It has become a very important asset.”

    Rod Nimtz, who has been affiliated with Miami University since 1984, said Miami started offering classes in the city in February 1959. The Academic Center used Middletown High School classrooms in the late afternoons, evenings, and on weekends.

    Beginning with 147 students enrolled in nine classes, by 1963 there were more than 700 enrolled in 57 classes, with plans for offering 75 classes in 1964. But the growth of the Academic Center presented a two-fold challenge. First, the growing number of students in the Middletown City Schools put classroom space at a premium and it was impossible for Miami to offer daytime classes during the week which limited the number of classes as well as the number of students Miami could serve.

    The first student to enroll at MUM was Robert C. Cordray II, of Middletown, whose father was news director at WPFB radio station. Cordray, 66, who is retired and living in Butler, Pa., took classes for two years at MUM, then transferred to the Oxford campus.     He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in personnel and operations management in 1970 and his commencement speaker was Neal Armstrong. He graduated on a Sunday and the next day he reported as a Marine to Parris Island, S.C.

    He remembers MUM’s humble beginnings.

    “There were still boxes in many of the classrooms and chairs were still in boxes,” he said. “It was a barren existence for the first little bit.”

    When the campus opened, Cordray said it was almost “a curiosity” around town.

    “It is not polite to say, but some people said it was just a high school with ash trays,” he said. “That was not the case in any stretch of the imagination. As it became part of the community, as it was accepted and it grew, it became a center of culture, a center of learning.”

    Armco eventually donated 135 acres to Miami, with additional land and the Holiday House donated by the Armco Girl’s Foundation, to set the site for the new campus.    McGraw Construction of Middletown had donated the engineering feasibility study, with additional support coming from Middletown’s Barnitz Fund for the preliminary drawings of the new campus.

    On that day 50 years ago, the official welcome from the City of Middletown was delivered by William Donham, chair of the City Commission. Then Logan T. Johnston, who was chairing the local efforts working with the Chamber of Commerce, spoke of “The Middletown Dream.”

    Acting Miami President Raymond Wilson shared Miami’s thanks, and then, on behalf of Miami’s Trustees, announced the first classroom building on the campus would be named for Johnston.

    Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor John D. Millett, who had been Miami’s president during the planning for the new campus, spoke next, and then the official turning of the first shovelfuls of earth took place. Then Rhodes brought greetings from the state, speaking of Ohio’s vision for higher education in the future.

    Perry Richardson, senior director of marketing for Miami, called the groundbreaking “an important day for education in Ohio.”

    Nimtz, now director of the Voice of America Learning Center in West Chester, said MUM brought more than buildings and educational opportunities to the city. He mentioned major culture resources, the library, artist series, and a venue to host community events such as Middletown Symphony concerts and the Chamber Expo.

 

 

Back to Top
Cooper View Drop Down
MUSA Resident
MUSA Resident


Joined: Apr 25 2014
Status: Offline
Points: 62
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cooper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 28 2015 at 11:46pm
MUM is 50 years old today. In its first year, it had 1400 students or so. Today it has 2900.

In 50 years, it has 2900 students.

Did Cincinnati State make an error with a calculator in figuring 5,000 students in 5 years? Just saying.... 
Back to Top
Mike_Presta View Drop Down
MUSA Council
MUSA Council
Avatar

Joined: Apr 20 2008
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 3483
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike_Presta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 29 2015 at 4:31pm
Originally posted by Cooper Cooper wrote:

MUM is 50 years old today. In its first year, it had 1400 students or so. Today it has 2900.

In 50 years, it has 2900 students.

Did Cincinnati State make an error with a calculator in figuring 5,000 students in 5 years? Just saying.... 
Everything grows faster and bigger downtown!!!

(There's a lot more fertilizer thrown around downtown.)
“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012
Back to Top
Vivian Moon View Drop Down
MUSA Council
MUSA Council


Joined: May 16 2008
Location: Middletown, Ohi
Status: Offline
Points: 4187
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vivian Moon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 29 2015 at 5:59pm
Cooper
I posted the enrollment numbers on this blog from the two other HEP schools in Mass. and they didn't have 5,000 students either. 

Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.105 seconds.
Copyright ©2024 MiddletownUSA.com    Privacy Statement  |   Terms of Use  |   Site by Xponex Media  |   Advertising Information