Ohio Northern University

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Ohio Northern University
Established	1871
Type	Private
President	Kendall Baker,Ph. D
Faculty	207
Students	3,526
Undergraduates	3,202
Postgraduates	324
Location	Ada, Ohio, USA
Campus	Rural
Latin motto	"Ex Diversitate Vires"
Colors	Orange, Black, White
Nickname	Polar Bears
Mascot	Klondike
Affiliations	United Methodist Church
Website	http://www.onu.edu/

Ohio Northern University is a private, United Methodist Church-affiliated university located in the United States in Ada, Ohio, founded by Henry Solomon Lehr in 1871. ONU is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. ONU is a sister university with Dankook University, a private university in Seoul, South Korea.

[edit] Academic programs

The university is comprised of five colleges:

• Getty College of Arts and Sciences
• College of Business Administration
• T.J. Smull College of Engineering
• Rudolph H. Raabe College of Pharmacy
• Claude W. Pettit College of Law [1]

Prior to 1973, the ONU law school was known as "the Warren G. Harding College of Law." ^[1] It was renamed in honor of Claude W. Pettit, a judge and former dean of the college.^[2]

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

Henry Solomon Lehr, a former solider in the American Civil War, became the schoolmaster for the Ada public school in 1866. Lehr began offering additional courses in the evenings to motivated students to cover topics beyond the standard curriculum. After five year, he approached the town about starting a university. In August 1871, the Northwestern Ohio Normal School started with nearly 150 students attending classes in downtown stores and local churches until the first classroom building was completed in October.

Lehr built the university from the ground up, and was involved in all activities from building construction to faculty selection and curriculum design. Like most of the schools in the post-civil war period, the school’s focus was on preparing public school teachers. However, by the mid-1880s, the school’s curriculum had expanded to include programs in pharmacy, engineering, law, and business. In 1885, the school trustees changed the name to Ohio Normal University to reflect the expanded scope.

President Lehr’s educational philosophy formed through his own educational experiences, and emphasized low tuition, flexible schedule and curriculum, and allowed women as both students and faculty. To secure the school’s future, Lehr tried to secure state support for the school, but when that failed, he arranged to sell the school to the United Methodist Church. When the transfer was completed in 1899, he was succeeded by Dr. Leroy Belt in 1900, and then by Dr. Albert Edwin Smith in 1905.

[edit] Growth and struggle

Between 1900 and 1930, the school grew and underwent an administrative reorganization. During this time, the name changed for the last time, taking the name Ohio Northern University. A medical school and agriculture school were attempted but failed to develop. As high schools became more common in Ohio, ONU closed its preparatory program that had allowed students to prepare for the university. Dr. Smith traveled extensively on behalf of the school, and secured financing of nearly $500,000 for the first endowment fund. Fraternities continued to make a presence on the campus, and Smith fought to maintain the student code which forbids smoking and drinking.

During the Great Depression and World War II, the school struggled as student enrollment dropped as a reflection of the economic times. Dr. Robert Williams introduced efficiency measures by reducing the administrative staff and combining academic programs into colleges. During the war years, the university participated in government programs supporting the Army Air Corps and Navy. In the 1940s, both the yearbook and student newspaper ceased publication, a classroom building closed, and intercollegiate sports were temporarily suspended. President McClure served his first year without pay and many of the faculty went unpaid or on reduce salaries.

[edit] Post-war education boom

In 1944, the G.I. Bill promised to bring servicemen to universities across the country, and ONU received an influx of students starting in the fall of 1945 which continued for several years, straining the local housing marking and forcing the university, under the leadership of Dr. Robert McClure, to add trailers and student dormitories. By 1949, Dr. F. Bringle McIntosh shifted the school’s focus from survival to enhancing academic programs and securing accreditation. During the following years, individual programs were accredited and in 1958 the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools accredited the undergraduate program.

Under Dr. Samuel Lewis Meyer and Dr. Ray B. Loeschner, the university continued to grow its campus and its curriculum, enjoying financial stability from the steadily increasing enrollment. In the 1970s, new buildings included the Heterick Memorial Library, the Tilton College of Law and Taggart Law Library, the Wesley Center, the Young Building for Philosophy and Religion, the Biggs Engineering Building, the King-Horn Convocation Center, ONU Sports Center, Park Hall, two McIntosh extensions, along with refurbishing the Taft Building, the Wilson Art Center, and the Meyer Hall of Science. Five national honorary societies established chapters on campus, student organizations grew, and intercollegiate athletic teams expanded.

[edit] Recent growth

Growth continued under Dr. Debow Freed through the 1980s and 1990s with additions to the Taggart Law Library, Presser Hall, Dukes Memorial, Wilson Art Building, Biggs Engineering, Heterick Memorial Library, and Meyer Hall of Science, and the construction of the Freed Center for the Performing Arts and a new president’s on-campus home. Under Dr. Kendall Baker, campus additions include Dicke Hall and the Dial-Roberson Stadium.

[edit] Technology growth

Starting in the early 1980s, the university provided computer services to a growing segment of the university’s population, expanding from a centralized mainframe to networked personal computers and a computer network. ONU joined OhioLINK and technology revolutionized academic administrative activities and supported classroom activities. With the addition of the Internet, the university began offering its first distance learning courses in the pharmacy program. Today, there are over 1,200 networked computers and Internet access on campus.

[edit] Athletics

ONU students participate in intercollegiate, intramural, and sports clubs in a variety of sports. The ONU Polar Bears compete in the Division III Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). The men's volleyball team participates in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association in the Great Midwest Men's Volleyball Conference (GMMVC).

[edit] Men’s intercollegiate teams

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross country
• Football
• Golf
• Soccer
• Swimming
• Tennis
• Track & field
• Wrestling

[edit] Women’s intercollegiate teams

• Basketball
• Cross country
• Golf
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming
• Tennis
• Track & field
• Volleyball

[edit] Notable alumni

• Michael K. Allen, former prosecuting attorney for Hamilton County, Ohio
• Frank T. Bow, jurist and politician who was honored by naming the Frank T. Bow Federal Builiding in Canton, Ohio
• James Cloyd Bowman, a children's book author who received a Newbery Honor in 1938 for Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time
• Anthony J. Celebrezze Sr., an American politician who served as the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio and as a cabinet member in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations
• Robert R. Cupp, Ohio Supreme Court Justice
• Mike DeWine, a politician who most recently served as a U.S. Senator from Ohio between 1995 and 2007 [2]
• Simeon Davison Fess, a Republican politician a former president of Antioch College
• George E. Killian, a sports administrator and a president of the International University Sports Federation (FISU)
• Cassius Jackson Keyser, a mathematician
• Joseph Banks Rhine, founder of the parapsychology lab at Duke University
• Baldemar Velasquez, is president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO
• Jamal Robertson, NFL football player
• Victor L. Streib, a notable attorney specializing in violent crime and the death penalty who has written over 300 books, articles, manuscripts, etc. on these issues.
• Benjamin Brafman, a prominent criminal defense attorney based in New York.[3], [4],[5], [6]
• John Williamowski, judge and former prosecutor.

[edit] Trivia

• The school mascot is a polar bear named Klondike.^{[citation needed]}
• The central part of the university's campus is referred to by students and faculty alike as the "Tundra".^{[citation needed]}
• The ONU varsity football team defeated Mount Union College in 2005 to snap the Purple Raiders 110 game regular season winning streak.^{[citation needed]}
• The ONU varsity Men's Swim Team won their third straight OAC Conference Championship in 2007. ((Fact|date=March 2007}}
• For 2007, US News & World Report listed Ohio Northern as the fifth-best comprehensive college^[3] in the Midwest.
• Enrollment in 2005-06 was 3,542 students.^{[citation needed]}
• There are over 150 student organizations, including 4 national sororities, 6 national fraternities, intramural sports, musical performance groups, theatrical performance groups.^{[citation needed]}
• The first house built specifically for fraternity in Ohio use was built by Ohio Alpha chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. The chapter currently still resides in the house.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• The Great Quest

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Article at StudentsReview
• ONU Sports
• Polar Bears in the Pros
• Ohio Athletic Conference.
• President Lehr memoirs

Ohio Athletic Conference
Baldwin–Wallace • Capital • Heidelberg • John Carroll • Marietta • Mount Union • Muskingum • Ohio Northern • Otterbein • Wilmington

Midwestern Undergraduate Private Engineering Colleges
Cedarville University • Indiana Institute of Technology • Kettering University • Lawrence Technological University • Milwaukee School of Engineering • Ohio Northern University • Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology • Saint Louis University • Tri-State University • University of Detroit Mercy • University of Evansville • Valparaiso University