News Announcement
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Cheryl L. Kight - Vice President, Marketing

Columbus, September 22, 2008

VORYS, SATER, SEYMOUR & PEASE HOSTS AREA KICK-OFF OF THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES’ 2008-09 ANNUAL CAMPAIGN

Thomas Crookes, Partner, Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease, Akron, and Chair of The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) 2008-09 Akron area annual campaign, hosted the campaign meeting and kick-off on September 16 at the Portage Country Club.   Crookes welcomed all of the area campaign volunteers and introduced Mike Kehoe, Chair of the OFIC Board of Trustees and Vice President, AT&T Ohio.

Kehoe thanked the Akron 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.   He emphasized the importance of independent higher education in Ohio to the Akron region’s economic stability and to the state’s future in a changing global economy.  

Hiram College senior Rachel Inks from Windsor, Ohio spoke to the volunteers about the positive impact that campaign funds have on both students and OFIC’s member institutions, specifically of the impact that scholarships provided by OFIC have had on her own educational journey and future.  Inks, a music major, is the recipient of a Philip S. Willis Endowed Scholarship through the OFIC Ohio Scholars Program.   

More than 97,000 students enrolled at OFIC member colleges, which include Hiram College, Malone College, Mount Union College, and Walsh University, will benefit from funds raised through OFIC’s campaign.   Ninety-eight 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 College, 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.