News Announcement
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Cheryl L. Kight - Vice President, Marketing

Columbus, October 28, 2008

FIRST PLACE BANK HOSTS AREA KICK-OFF OF THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES’ 2008-09 ANNUAL CAMPAIGN

Albert P. Blank, President & COO, First Place Bank, Youngstown, and Chair of The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) 2008-09 Mahoning Valley area annual campaign, hosted the campaign meeting and kick-off on October 28 in the Windsor Room of the Tippecanoe Country Club.   Blank welcomed all of the area campaign volunteers and introduced Richard Giese, President of Mount Union College. 

Giese expressed appreciation for the volunteers’ efforts and stressed to them the positive impact that campaign funds have on both students and OFIC’s member institutions.  Mount Union College junior Alfred Wilson from Cleveland, Ohio spoke to the volunteers specifically about the impact that scholarships provided by OFIC have had on his own educational journey and future.  Wilson, an Accounting major with a minor in Finance, is the recipient of a Cardinal Health, Inc. scholarship through the OFIC Ohio Scholars Program.   This is the second year that he has received a scholarship through OFIC.

Mike Kehoe, Chair of the OFIC Board of Trustees and Vice President, AT&T Ohio, also attended the kick-off.  He thanked the Mahoning Valley representatives for their service and commitment to this campaign to help provide career choices and college access for students enrolled at OFIC member independent colleges and universities.  Kehoe emphasized the importance of independent higher education in Ohio to the Mahoning Valley region’s economic stability and to the state’s future in a changing global economy.  

Nearly 97,000 students enrolled at OFIC member colleges, which include Franciscan University of Steubenville, Malone University, Mount Union College, and Walsh University, will benefit from funds raised through OFIC’s campaign.   One hundred five students at these four local institutions have directly received scholarships through OFIC’s Ohio Scholars Program for the 2008-09 academic year.

OFIC is the primary corporate and foundation solicitation organization for 34 independent Ohio colleges and universities and operates one of the largest, most comprehensive and diverse scholarship management services in the state.  OFIC member colleges collectively enroll more than 97,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 58 years OFIC has worked to highlight the leadership, value and excellence of independent higher education and has provided unrestricted operating funds and scholarship commitments through funds raised in annual solicitations of businesses and foundations, thereby assuring continuation of excellence in private higher education. OFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of Ohio’s corporate leaders, as well as presidents of the 34 member colleges.

The member colleges are:  Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg College, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone University, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum College, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.