At Ohio Wesleyan University, history seems to happen on the stage at University Hall’s Gray Chapel.

The chapel has been graced by change-makers like Congressman John Lewis, Olympian Wilma Rudolph, U.S. President Gerald Ford and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. When President Theodore Roosevelt visited Gray Chapel 124 years ago, the student newspaper reported that the excitement on campus was palpable.

Ohio Wesleyan President Matt vandenBerg tried to conjure that same excitement Friday morning during his inauguration ceremony at Gray Chapel, where he made some history of his own.

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VandenBerg announced a number of projects and initiatives, including the new Delaware County Promise, which will provide full-tuition scholarships to Ohio Wesleyan for qualifying students from Delaware County.

Beginning this fall, all high school students who live in or go to school in Delaware County, who have a 3.5 or higher grade-point average, and who’s family has an annual adjusted gross income of less than $100,000 will be able to attend Ohio Wesleyan tuition-free.

VandenBerg said the Delaware County Promise is a way to say thank you to the place that has supported OWU for more than 180 years.

He recounted how the Rev. Adam Poe visited every resident of Delaware asking for money to purchase the Mansion House, known today as Elliot Hall, to found a college for the community in 1840. Residents donated the money to Poe, and Ohio Wesleyan University was charted two years later.

OWU wouldn’t be here without the generosity of Delaware County, vandenBerg said, so it’s now only fitting to pay it forward.

Fighting “the regulars”

VandenBerg — described as a man of boldness, innovation and moxie by those who introduced him Friday morning — did not mince words in describing the challenges facing higher education today.

He noted how April 19 is a significant day in American history, “not just because of Taylor Swift’s new album release.” It was on that same day in 1775, he reminded, that Paul Revere carried the news that British troops were on their way.

But contrary to popular belief, vandenBerg said, Revere did not cry, “The British are coming.” Rather, he said, “The regulars are coming,” a name folks would’ve known then as their common enemy.

Higher education has plenty of its own “regulars” today, vandenBerg said, but these enemies aren’t necessarily human.

He described a general malaise about higher education, decades of mounting pressure, scarcity mindsets and feeling tossed back and forth between cutting programs to the bone or stretching and flexing to become all things to all people.

“To say there are difficult times in higher education is an understatement of epic proportions,” vandenBerg said. He said there is a pain that feels heightened for residential liberal arts colleges like OWU.

The problem begs the question, he said: “How should we engage the regulars of our time?”

“Our most precious asset”

VandenBerg said the answer lies with “investment in our most precious asset — our people.”

He promised faculty and staff that he will invest in better compensation and professional development, starting with a doubling of merit awards for faculty on top of cost-of-living adjustments beginning next academic year. The university will also launch a Center for Teaching, Learning and Innovation.

VandenBerg also teased a new $3-million student social hub called The MUB 3.0, a nod to OWU’s former student center housed in the Memorial Union Building. Construction is already underway on renovating the former Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house into the new student-centric space.

And he touted promising student retention rates that Ohio Wesleyan has not seen for decades.

The first-to-second-year retention rate hit 84% this academic year, up about nine percentage points in the last two years. First-generation students and Pell-eligible students are also seeing promising numbers, with retention up about 10% and 7% respectively.

The Delaware County Promise was the highlight of vandenBerg’s initiatives Friday, but he promised this was only the beginning.

“Today is a celebration of who we are and what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s not ‘mission accomplished.’ It’s ‘mission launched.’”

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120