State of the Otterbein Community
February 24, 2009
I want to thank city council for providing me the opportunity to present an update on Otterbein College as part of the state of the community program. Brent DeVore asked me to represent the college in his place since he is travelling out of the state for the first part of this week. For those who don't know me, I'm Bob Gatti, Vice President for Student Affairs and I've had the pleasure of working with President DeVore for all of his 25 years. I started at Otterbein in 1978 and have seen many positive changes over the years.
Our president, C. Brent DeVore, will retire in July, 2009 after 25 years of exemplary leadership as president of Otterbein College. The college is spending this year celebrating the accomplishments of his long and successful tenure with many events including a Gala Celebration in May and a campus-wide picnic in June, to name a few. The new suites residence hall has been named in his honor, C. Brent DeVore Hall.
Our president-elect, Kathy Krendl, is the current Provost and Associate Vice President at Ohio University and is looking forward to partnering with Westerville and the surrounding communities.
The great work our students are doing as they continue to serve the communities of Westerville and greater Columbus is receiving national attention.
Otterbein was nationally recognized this year for our vision of service, the youth service models we have developed across the curriculum, and the commitment we have made to our local and global neighbors. This month Otterbein was named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll Award with Distinction and was designated as a "community-engaged university" by the Carnegie Foundation. In the Columbus Metro area last year over 2000 students contributed nearly 45,000 hours of volunteer community service. Our students have served throughout Westerville City Schools, including a new peer mentoring program for ESL students at Westerville North, the Creative Literacy Alliance at Genoa Middle School, and an innovative enrichment after-school program at Whittier Elementary. On January's MLK day, we worked with Westerville to provide a "Day On" of service, where our students and local Westerville youth were invited to "Walk the Walk" engaging in service activities. We are proud to share this national recognition for service with our Westerville partners.
Otterbein has leveraged $514,000 in grants and contracts this year to expand the culture of service on our campus and across the state, including a generous grant from Chase Bank to support a creative literacy project at Westerville's Genoa Middle School and a grant from the Carter Foundation to restore Otterbein Lake. Our network of student volunteers have refurbished playgrounds, homes, wetlands, and tributaries, mentored and tutored over 1000 youth, stocked local food pantries, and provided meals and homes for our neighbors living in poverty. We continue to grow a tradition of service at Otterbein, unparalleled by our peers.
Several of our athletic teams had exceptional seasons including our football team which, for the first time in Otterbein's history, went to the NCAA Division III play-offs, under the leadership of Coach Joe Loth. Our Women's Soccer team, under Brandon Koons' leadership, advanced to the Sweet 16 playoffs and ended the season ranked 7th in the nation.
Looking at enrollment, we enrolled the largest group of new students (770) in the history of the college. I would add that the Westerville high schools continue to be among our leading feeder schools.
Our overall goal is to increase full time undergraduate enrollment by 2% annually over the next several years, with extra emphasis on increasing enrollment in the non traditional areas including part-time, distance learning and Graduate programs.
The Office of Academic Affairs will undergo a re-organization which will include two schools, a School of Arts and Sciences and a School of Professional Studies. The College Senate and the Board of Trustees voted to convert to a semester system and steps are being taken for the transition to occur by 2011.
With regard to facilities, our $20 million Science project is underway and work is almost complete on the renovation of and addition to our current science building.
Work is underway on the new Equine Science center on Spring Road. In addition to providing a first class facility for our students, this project will provide a riding program for the general public, economic benefits to the community through shows and competitions and will allow us to partner with the schools on curricular issues.
Sustainability is another important component of our strategic plan and a standing committee is working on ways to make Otterbein a more environmentally friendly campus. We are participating for the first time in a nationwide competition called Recyclemania which promotes recycling on college campuses. We are also partnering with Sustainable Westerville on environmental issues.
With the complete support and approval of the Westerville Police Department, our Security Department will transition to a police authority by Fall of 2010. We plan to work closely with the WPD for coverage and training.
During the coming year we look forward to finding opportunities for both formal and informal conversations about the future of the college and the greater Westerville community.
Thanks again to members of City Council for this opportunity to update you on Westerville's college.
