Bowling Green State University is starting its second century of excellence with an ambitious plan that will provide a better undergraduate student experience and give the campus a livelier look and feel. Additionally, the University and its five Centers of Excellence will play an increasingly important role in the state’s vitality in 2010 and beyond.
Plans for the next 100 years at BGSU have begun. In addition to construction, renovation and upgrading of the buildings and grounds, the University will further develop academic areas that are both strong and forward thinking
Construction is under way on a new convocation center and a new center for the arts. The Stroh (convocation) Center is a $36 million project that upon completion will house a 4,700-seat facility for basketball and volleyball games, graduation ceremonies, concerts and other community and campus events. The Wolfe Center, a 93,000 square-foot facility, will house the collaborative efforts of theatre and film studies, music and digital arts, and feature a state-of-the-art theater, classrooms, department of theater and film offices and work spaces for costume and stage shops.
In addition to those two building projects, BGSU President Carol Cartwright announced in June 2009 that the university would embark on a $100 million investment in the revitalization of campus.
“The funding comes from the capital budgets, and in some cases private donations and not the general fund or operating budget,” she said.
The investment makes possible a rigorous schedule to upgrade the residence halls and dining facilities, which will be integrated with academic buildings. The dining centers will become more of a destination, resulting in greater “cross-traffic” as students and faculty move about the campus in their daily lives.
The residence hall and dining facilities’ upgrades are part of a newly created Residence Life and Dining Services Master Plan aimed at improving the undergraduate student experience and ensuring the living and learning environment on campus has a seamless connection for students.
BGSU Celebrates its historic past and looks forward to new renovations in the future
According to Steven Krakoff, associate vice president for capital planning and design, the additions and renovations will help make BGSU more competitive with its peer institutions. The University is paying close attention to quality of life issues such as living and dining, which have taken on increased importance when recruiting and retaining students.
“How a university stacks up to its competition is a huge factor today in students’ decisions about where to attend,” Krakoff said. “They look at housing, classrooms, labs in their majors, recreational centers. The physical facility weighs heavily.”
On the fast track, Phase 1 of the plan calls for two new buildings by 2011. The new plan was developed based on extensive surveys conducted in 2009 that looked at numerous aspects of campus housing and dining—at both BGSU and its competitors. “A substantial analysis was done of the condition of our facilities,” Krakoff said, and residence halls were also analyzed for their number and configuration of beds.
A major thrust of the plan will be to make the traditional living units for freshmen less dense so that space can be provided for programming and other means of building community and boosting learning. “We think this will vastly improve the freshman experience,” he said.
Ultimately, by the end of the second phase of the plan, the campus should feel much more like a series of neighborhoods, with dining centers no more than a five-minute walk from key student areas, housing for upperclassmen and graduate students and landscaping defining the campus boundaries.
BGSU identifies Centers of Excellence
BGSU has identified five Centers of Excellence in response to the governor’s 10-Year Plan for Higher Education that asks each institution for its programs that have national and international ranking and can serve as magnets to attract talent and investment.
The University’s areas of strength are:
21st Century Educator Preparation
BGSU has for many years been the primary producer of education professionals in the state and among the largest in the region. It also produces specialists in such areas as school counselors, intervention specialists, administrators, speech pathologists and other professionals serving children and parents.
The University is well known for the quality of its educator preparation and has recently received reaccreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education in both initial and advanced standards. In 2008, six of the Ohio “teacher of the year” awards in various specialties went to BGSU alumni.
Preview of the Wolfe Center for the Arts, scheduled to be completed in 2011.
The Arts
The University has strong, collaborative programs in visual arts, creative writing, music, dance, theatre and film that prepare students for careers. The arts also have an impact beyond BGSU. A 2007 study by the Center for Regional Development showed that the arts and arts-led industries contribute more than $2 billion per year to northwest Ohio.
A leader in many areas of the arts, BGSU is known equally for traditional and cutting-edge programs, as well as for its arts outreach to the community, both from main campus and BGSU Firelands. The synergy among the arts and academics on campus is a notable characteristic of BGSU, including the Arts Village Residential Community and the arts management minor.
Developing Effective Businesses and Organizations
A strong, competitive economy requires the development of effective organizations in the private sector as well as in the nonprofit, health care, social service and educational arenas. Developing talent and fostering innovation have been identified by the state as important factors in making Ohio competitive-and these necessarily involve the human side of organizational performance.
Addressing that need, BGSU has six programs across three colleges, comprising nationally ranked programs in industrial-organizational psychology, supply chain management and organization development, and leadership and policy studies. Other components are BGSU’s minor degree in entrepreneurship, the marketing department’s Institute for Service Excellence, and the Dallas-Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan
The University’s distinctive approach centers not on the medical aspect of curing disease but on the promotion of wellness and improved quality of life. A recent study showed that if $10 per Ohioan had been spent on health promotion every year for the past three years, it would have yielded a 6-to-1 return on investment by now.
The University has more than 100 faculty members and nearly 5,000 students in 78 academic programs, research units and student activity groups. It has garnered $10.7 million in research grant awards and $900,000 in student support grants in the broad field of health and wellness, and has more than 300 partnerships with health organizations and agencies in the community.
Sustainability and the Environment
BGSU has numerous research areas directly related to sustainability, several of which fall under the scope of the Ohio Third Frontier Project. Partners in the proposed center come from across the University, from photochemical sciences and the Hybrid Vehicle Institute to physics and astronomy and the Department of the Environment and Sustainability.
The partners have an established record of achievement in basic and applied research, engagement and education related to sustainability and the environment. Externally funded research programs in alternative energy, environmental monitoring and global change have achieved international reputations. More than $17 million in external funding for projects related to sustainability and the environment has been received in the last three years.
