News Announcement
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Columbus, November 2009 

AULTMAN HOSPITAL HOSTS AREA KICK-OFF OF THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES’ 2009-10 ANNUAL CAMPAIGN
Matt Hinderegger, National City Bank, Named 2008-09 OFIC Volunteer of the Year

Edward J. Roth III, President, Aultman Hospital in Canton, and Chair of The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) Stark/Tuscarawas area annual campaign for the third year, hosted the October 27 campaign meeting and kick-off on the campus of Malone University.   Roth welcomed all of the area campaign volunteers and introduced Ed Hartzell, Chair of the OFIC Board of Trustees.

Hartzell thanked the Stark/Tuscarawas area 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 Northeast Ohio region’s economic stability and to the state’s future in a changing global economy.   The campaign goal for the Stark/Tuscarawas area 2009-10 campaign has been set at $450,000.

Other OFIC area trustees attending the kick-off were William Belden, The Belden Brick Company; Steve Gregory, Gregory Industries, Inc.; and Randy Snow, Black, McCuskey, Souers & Arbaugh.

Frederick Finks, President, Ashland University, stressed to the volunteers the positive impact that campaign funds have on both students and OFIC’s member institutions.  Ashland senior Stephanie Hymes from Barberton, Ohio also addressed the volunteers and expressed gratitude that the scholarship provided by OFIC is making possible her own educational journey and future.  Hymes, an Early Childhood Education major, is the recipient of a GAR Foundation scholarship through the OFIC Ohio Scholars Program.  

All of the 98,000 students enrolled at OFIC member colleges, which include Malone University, Mount Union College, and Walsh University, will benefit from funds raised through OFIC’s campaign.   One hundred students from Stark, Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties have directly received scholarships through OFIC’s Ohio Scholars Program for the 2009-10 academic year, and there are presently 2,616 students who live in the Canton campaign area enrolled in one of OFIC’s 34 member institutions across the state. 

Jeff Wolf, OFIC president, recognized Matt Hinderegger, Vice President, Corporate Banking, National City Bank, Canton, and presented him with the OFIC 2008-2009 Volunteer of the Year award for the Stark/Tuscarawas area.  OFIC corporate volunteers, known as ambassadors, call on current and prospective donors to educate them about and encourage their support of OFIC’s mission to support independent higher education in Ohio.  Approximately 40 representatives of area corporations have volunteered their time to this year’s campaign.

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 98,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 60 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 University, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone University, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum University, 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.