Photo courtesy of: Ohio UniversityOhio University President M. Duane Nellis met with area business leaders to discuss local economic development, education and opportunities for improving community relationships during an August 13 roundtable luncheon on the Eastern Campus.
Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis met with area business leaders to discuss local economic development, education and opportunities for improving community relationships during an August 13 roundtable luncheon on Ohio University’s Eastern Campus.
Dr. Nellis was joined by Interim Dean of Ohio University Eastern Dr. Bob Klein and Executive Dean of Regional Higher Education Dr. Bill Willan. It was the fifth and final stop on Dr. Nellis’ regional roundtable tour that included visits to Lancaster, Zanesville, Chillicothe and Ironton.
Nellis began the meeting by sharing one of OHIO’s strategic pathways – to create a holistic engagement ecosystem – that focuses on working alongside the businesses and entities within each of the University’s campus communities and engaging more fully with their surrounding regions.
“Each of OHIO’s regional campuses is vital to our overall engagement efforts because they serve as not only a pathway to a transformative education, but to meaningful professional careers as well,” President Nellis said. “I truly believe that creating a more engaged ecosystem between the University and the region, at all of OHIO’s campuses, can lead to economic growth and shared success.”
Nellis also highlighted OHIO’s continued commitment to being part of the solution for the state’s opioid crisis by working to collectively elevate the impact of the region’s opioid-related initiatives. He noted that the ongoing opioid crisis will continue to affect area opportunities for jobs fulfillment and increased economic success if left unchecked.
“It’s important that we work together to eliminate the root of the opioid problem in order to ensure our region’s long-term wellbeing and economic prospects,” Nellis said.
Roundtable attendees during the Eastern Campus visit represented numerous local industries, including: manufacturing, business and entrepreneurship.
Attendees shared a desire to look to the future and explore opportunities for increased STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning and stressed that it will be important to provide the area’s next generation of students with pathways to both four-year and two-year degree programs; they also noted that increasing local internship opportunities and fostering strong professional mentoring pipelines will be essential to keeping OHIO graduates in the region.
Dr. Nellis agreed and noted that successful career pathways often begin early in a child’s educational development; he said it will be important for OHIO to increase its relationships within local school systems to inform area students of the great career opportunities that are available nearby.
Dean Klein shared that 50 percent of the students on OHIO’s Eastern Campus are already being placed in professional internships within the local community – he said it’s a figure that, although encouraging, is ripe for improvement.
“Often times, higher education is simply viewed as one’s ticket away from their hometown,” Dean Klein said. “It’s important that we showcase the opportunities and lifelong value that can be realized by reinvesting in one’s local community, too.”