The first of a five-part series highlighting Edison State Community College as it celebrated 40 years of service, focuses on Edison State's history. This piece was written on behalf of the College's Board of Trustees.
Celebrating forty years of service, Edison State Community College was chartered to meet a demand for high-quality, affordable college education, focused on serving the residents of Darke, Miami, and Shelby counties. As has often been the case, our region was visionary in its timing, as Edison State was chartered in 1973 as the first state general and technical college in Ohio under provisions of the Ohio Revised Code. The College was chartered without special local taxation as a two-year, public, coeducational, state-supported institution of higher learning with privileges of offering studies in the arts and sciences, technical education, and adult continuing education.
Several events were essential to the establishment of the College. On January 12, 1973, the Ohio Board of Regents authorized the development of a general and technical college in the Darke, Miami, and Shelby county area. On May 18 of that year, the Regents also granted authority to operate as an approved state-supported institution with the issuance of a charter in the original College name, Edison State General and Technical College. Prior to those occurrences, the Ohio Legislature had appropriated four million dollars for constructing and equipping facilities for the permanent campus.
A 130-acre site east of Piqua was donated for the campus in December of 1973 from the Hartzell-Norris Trust, and Edison State's Board of Trustees selected Freytag and Freytag of Sidney as architects for the first campus building. Following the governor's appointment of the nine-member Board of Trustees, action was taken to assure the offering of college courses in the fall of 1973, while the permanent campus was being designed and constructed.
Agreements were signed with the Piqua Board of Education for the temporary use of facilities at Spring Street Elementary School and the Central High School and with Wright State University for providing instruction in the lower-division general studies courses. Under these arrangements, 309 students enrolled in 30 different courses during the first term of the 1973-1974 academic year.
Edison State moved into its now familiar campus off Looney Road in 1976 and work was immediately started on a 1.5 million dollar expansion, which had been appropriated in 1975. On November 4, 1977 by legislative enactment, the College became Edison State Community College. Another appropriation of $250,000 for use in constructing athletic fields was awarded during the same year.
By the Fall Quarter of 1978, the College was the fastest growing two-year college in Ohio with 1,727 students enrolled and over 150 personnel employed. In addition to increasing its own facilities, the College transferred 20 acres of land to the Piqua Board of Education for construction of a new high school, further contributing to the modern educational complex that exists today, consisting of Edison State Community College, Piqua Jr. & Sr. High Schools, and the Upper Valley Career Center.
Within six years of its establishment, the College had enrolled a total of 2,300 credit and non-credit students. The addition of several programs increased the areas of technical study to 19. In keeping with the College's commitment to provide better education opportunities to the community it serves, a permanent Darke County Campus in Greenville was opened in the spring of 1980 and continues to operate, though it has been renovated to ensure that technology and other services are comparable to those on the Piqua campus. The most recent addition to the Piqua campus was when the Emerson Regional Center of Excellence was dedicated on May 3, 2007. The Center is LEED certified and now hosts classes, functions, and an area dedicated to the College's namesake, Thomas Alva Edison.
Edison State currently serves more than 4,000 unduplicated students per year, who choose from over 30 technical fields of study, baccalaureate transfer programs, developmental course work, and Business and Industry offerings that provide on-site training, career preparation, and personal enrichment. With so much to offer and with ongoing processes that assure consistent quality, Edison State continues to have a sustained, significant impact in the region. Since the doors opened in 1973, Edison State has served more than 71,000 students, boasts 9,796 graduates and is excited to be awarding its 10,000th credential during this 40th anniversary year.
In Part Two, the focus shifts to Edison State's mission over the past forty years, including access, opportunity and the College's brand promise of "a personal experience, a rewarding education".