The University of Akron and Lorain County Community College worked together to open the Midpoint Campus Center in Brunswick, a learning center that will make it easier for more Ohioans to earn a degree.
To provide greater access and increasing participation in higher education by Ohioans, The University of Akron and Lorain County Community College have collaborated on a new learning center, the Midpoint Campus Center, which was dedicated Nov. 12.
Dignitaries attending the ceremony were:
- University of Akron President Luis M. Proenza;
- Lorain County Community College President Roy A. Church;
- Anne Hill, regional director of the Cleveland office of Gov. Ted Strickland;
- local officials, and
- Midpoint student speakers.
The center, which offers credit and continuing education classes from UA and LCCC, opened to students in January 2009. Centrally located in Brunswick at the intersection of Pearl (U.S. Route 42) and Boston Roads in the Highland Square Building, the Midpoint Campus Center is in the middle of an educationally underserved geographical sector where eastern Lorain County and the cities of Strongsville and Brunswick meet.
Center will help close attainment gap
Ohio's 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education is to raise the educational attainment within the state year by year, eventually helping 230,000 Ohioans attain postsecondary education in order to close the gap between Ohio and competitor states and nations. This will demand, according to Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut's vision in the strategic plan, that institutions of higher education fundamentally change the way they operate to become more responsive to the multiple ways students learn. UA and LCCC responded by collaborating in the shared Midpoint site for degrees, workforce development and certificates that are market-driven.
The Midpoint Campus Center is in an area identified as the "Innovation Corridor" by the two educational institutions in their development of an Innovation Alliance. The Innovation Alliance is a collaborative effort between LCCC and UA developed in 2007 to align strengths and resources of both institutions to accelerate educational efficiencies and spur economic development in the Innovation Corridor, which stretches from Lorain County to the city of Akron.
'Perfect example'
"To compete globally, higher education must work together in regional partnerships to support innovation and foster knowledge creation and thereby ensure an increasingly stronger and larger source of human capital," Proenza said. "The Midpoint Campus Center collaboration — through the Innovation Alliance with our colleagues at Lorain County Community College — has been held up by Chancellor Fingerhut as a perfect example of that type of collaboration."
Church agreed, adding that UA and LCCC have a longstanding tradition of educational and business collaborations.
"LCCC and The University of Akron have a rich history of partnering together to leverage resources to provide quality, cost-effective educational options," said Church. "The Midpoint Campus Center helps us meet the state's goals of engaging another 230,000 Ohioans in higher education by the year 2017 while being responsive to the unique needs of this area."
Midpoint is making associate's, bachelor's and master's degrees available to residents in northern Medina, eastern Lorain and southwestern Cuyahoga counties. Classes are available in traditional instructor-led classroom format and through Internet and Interactive Video Distance Learning options utilizing state-of-the-art communications technology.
For more details about the Midpoint Campus Center, contact the Midpoint Campus Center at (330) 225-0042 or visit www.midpointcampus.com for the latest information.
► About The University of Akron
The University of Akron is the public research university for Northern Ohio. The Princeton Review listed UA among the "Best in the Midwest" in its 2008 edition of Best Colleges: Region-by-Region. Serving nearly 28,000 students, the university offers approximately 300 associate, bachelor's, master's, doctoral and law degree programs and 100 certificate programs at sites in Summit, Wayne, Medina and Holmes counties. For more information, visit www.uakron.edu.
► About Lorain County Community College
Established in 1963, Lorain County Community College is the first community college in Ohio with a permanent campus. For 46 years LCCC has served the diverse needs of the greater Lorain County region by providing affordable access to higher education, and now represents Ohio's fastest growing college. Lorain County Community College offers a progressive, diverse educational environment serving more than 12,000 associate degree students per year and offering more than 80 academic programs. LCCC has emerged as an innovator in higher education through the success of its University Partnership - the only one of its kind at an Ohio community college - where more than 3,000 students are able to pursue bachelor's and master's degrees through eight of Ohio's leading universities on LCCC's campus. The combination of having the lowest tuition in the state and the ability for students to continue their education through the University Partnership are two major reasons LCCC's enrollment has grown by 84 percent since 2000.
Media contact: Laura M. Massie, 330-972-6476 or massie1@uakron.edu