Owens to Welcome Thousands of Students for Fall Semester
PERRYSBURG TOWNSHIP, OH – Opening its doors for the first day of Fall Semester classes, Owens Community College will once again welcome thousands of students to the Toledo-area and Findlay-area campuses, as well as to the Arrowhead Park Learning Center in Maumee and the Learning Center at The Source in downtown Toledo in the coming weeks.
On Monday, Aug. 15, Owens students will be locating their classrooms, talking with academic advisors, purchasing books and registering for classes on the College’s Toledo-area and Findlay-area campuses to kick off the new fall term. The first day of classes for the Arrowhead Park Learning Center and the Learning Center at The Source is on Monday, Aug. 29.
Owens is once again expanding educational opportunities for area residents by announcing the creation of enhanced curriculum for the new academic year. For Fall Semester 2011, the College will offer a new associate’s degree in exercise science and a new certificate in dental assisting through the School of Health Sciences, as well as new associate’s degrees in interior design and music business technology and new certificates in popular music and urban agriculture and sustainability through the School of Arts and Sciences.
The College is also continuing to expand academic options for students with aspirations of pursuing bachelor’s degrees by establishing new transfer agreement partnerships with such four-year institutions as Lourdes College, Ohio Northern University, Tiffin University, Siena Heights University, Bluffton University and Walsh College, among others.
In addition to the many new transfer opportunities, Owens continues to increase its academic and support services by making available an array of higher education choices through the Weekend College and eOwens distance learning, as well as at The Source, Lucas County’s One-Stop Employment Center, in downtown Toledo and at the Arrowhead Park Learning Center in Maumee.
Carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and apples along with many other fruits and vegetables are also sprouting up for the first time on the Owens Toledo-area Campus as the academic institution expands its experiential learning opportunities for students, as well as faculty and staff in various academic departments and disciplines through the creation of a new Community Garden. Owens will also unveil several new or renovated instructional classrooms on the Toledo-area Campus for the start of the fall term. The experiential learning areas are all equipped with innovative multimedia capability and computing resources, including an array of software applications and programming languages, as well as network and high-speed Internet access.
Additionally, Owens women’s soccer will debut this fall as a Division II member of the NJCAA. The Express will primarily compete against other colleges and universities from Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, including Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Lorain County Community College, Schoolcraft College, Delta College and Mercyhurst North East, among others. Owens’ Soccer Complex serves as the home venue for the new intercollegiate athletic program and the first match in team history will occur on Sunday, Aug. 28 against Mercyhurst North East.
With the start of the 2011 fall season, the Express women’s soccer program becomes the eighth intercollegiate athletic program offered at Owens. The seven other sports include men’s baseball, women’s softball, men’s golf, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s soccer and women’s volleyball.
Owens will also welcome hundreds of students participating in the College Foundation’s Success Program, which includes Lake High School and all graduating high school students from public schools in Hancock County, to the Toledo-area and Findlay-area campuses for Fall Semester classes. Other Success Program partnering high schools include Whitmer High School and all high schools within the Toledo Public Schools district. The Success Program is designed to assist students, who receive only partial state and federal financial aid, attend college and bridges the gap between the grant aid a student receives and the cost of an Owens education.
Continuing to expand educational opportunities for students, Owens, this past spring, unveiled a newly expanded and renovated Owens Learning Center at The Source in downtown Toledo. The renovated educational facility now feature two new instructional classrooms and one open computer laboratory all with state-of-the-art technology and academic resources to enhance learning through hands-on instruction and exercises. Additionally, Owens recently opened the doors to a newly refurbished $1.1 million Welding Design Center, which features the latest in technological and academic resources specific to welding for several degree and certificate programs.
In 2010, Owens began the academic year by unveiling a newly renovated $2.9 million Heritage Hall building, which features the latest in academic resources. Heritage Hall (formerly known as the Penta Career Center Skill Center) serves as home to the College’s School of Business and the School of Nursing.
In addition to the recently completed Heritage Hall renovation project, the College unveiled a refurbished 29,045 square-foot Founders Hall at the former Penta Career Center in January 2010 as part of Owens’ ongoing campus expansion initiative. The $2.6 million Founders Hall building serves as the new home to the College’s departments of English, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Communications, Humanities and Languages, as well as the Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences.
Within the past two years, Owens broadened access to higher education opportunities for police, fire and emergency services personnel, as well as the military, by opening a $3.2 million Emergency Preparedness Training and Operations Center. In January 2010, Owens unveiled a new Arrowhead Park Learning Center in Maumee to open new doors to a college education in Western Lucas County.
In the Hancock County area, Owens opened a $4.2 million Findlay-area Campus Community Education and Wellness Center in 2007 to complement the $17.7 million Findlay-area Campus, which opened in 2005.
To accommodate the needs of students, the College, within the last eight years, also opened an $11 million Center for Fine and Performing Arts on the Toledo-area Campus. In 2007, Owens unveiled a $20.5 million Center for Emergency Preparedness. The Center is the only state-of-the-art facility of this magnitude within the Midwest.
Press Release Contact Name: Brad Meyer
Press Release Contact Email: [email protected]
Organization Name: Owens Community College