Cincinnati State Middletown programs
Here are a list of the current associate degree and certificate programs that will be available at the Cincinnati State Middletown campus when it opens for the fall semester on Aug. 29:
Associate degrees
• Accounting Technology
• Business Management Technology
• Business Programming and Systems Analysis
• Computer Programming and Database Management
• Criminal Justice
• Health Information Management
• Health Information Technology
• Hospitality Management Technology
• Legal Assistant Technology
• Medical Administrative Assistant
• Pre-Business Administration
• Public Safety Technology
• Social Work
Certificates
• Accounting
• Advanced Surveying
• Human Services Certificate
• Medical Coding Specialist
• Paralegal Certificate
Cincinnati State Middletown scholarships
There are four scholarship programs available specifically for students at the Middletown campus:
• Perry Thatcher Scholarship. This is an endowed scholarship made possible by the family of the late Perry Thatcher, a former city councilman, businessman and philanthropist whose real estate holdings paved the way for school’s downtown Middletown campus.
• Success Partners Grants. Cincinnati State, along with Higher Education Partners, set aside up to $150,000 to establish a tuition grant program for the 2012-13 academic year for residents of Butler, Warren, Montgomery and Preble counties to close the financial gap left for students after they have applied for federal financial aid.
• Middletown Community Foundation Presidential Scholarship Fund. This is an endowed scholarship fund, established by the Middletown Community Foundation in connection with the inauguration of Cincinnati State President O’dell Owens in 2011.
• Miriam G. Knoll Charitable Foundation Scholarships. The Knoll Foundation will support two scholarships, one each for a male and female student from the Middletown area who demonstrates financial need.
Derris Payne is the type of person Cincinnati State Middletown is aimed at attracting when the downtown community college opens on Aug. 29.
The 30-year-old Trenton resident and appliance salesman at Lowe’s in Middletown left his studies in computer information systems at Sinclair’s Courseview Campus in Mason when he heard Cincinnati State Technical & Community College was coming to Middletown. He will resume his studies in computer information systems closer to home and work.
“It cut my (commute) time way down,” said Payne, who would drive an hour to and from Warren County in order to earn a college degree. “I’m just real excited to be a lot closer to home and pursue my associate degree.”
Payne is one of 169 students enrolled at Cincinnati State Middletown wanting to earn an associates degree or earn a certificate at a school that’s either closer to home or work.
The goal of Cincinnati State is to bring more than 200 students to the downtown Middletown campus this fall. They already have about 30 full-time and part-time faculty members that will teach from this building, and there may be more, said Middletown campus director Michael Chikeleze. As many as 16 full-time and part-time staff, which includes Chikeleze and his two assistant directors Judy Bober and Tom Hale.
“It’s bringing people to a location that hasn’t been open. We got revitalization from that stand point,” said Chikeleze, who worked in economic development when he lived in St. Louis. “As we grow, it will create opportunities.”
Those opportunities will be in economic development for existing businesses, he said, but also opportunities where new businesses can open.
Cincinnati State Middletown has generated a tremendous amount of excitement in downtown, according to city leaders and school officials.
It’s also created buzz around the state, according to Cincinnati State officials who called the contract with Boston-based Higher Education Partners “the first of its kind in the state of Ohio.” It took months for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to review the contract because school officials said it would be a template for similar projects around the state.
The public/private partnership between Cincinnati State, the city of Middletown and Higher Education Partners was consummated in April. The idea was formed by the late Perry Thatcher, a former city councilman, businessman and philanthropist who died in January 2010.
Cincinnati State and Higher Education Partners signed a 20-year deal, which has four five-year extensions, to bring the community college’s first branch campus to the corner of Central Avenue and North Main Street. A week later, the city signed off on its agreement to sell the former CG&E building at 1 N. Main St. for $202,000 and donate the former senior center to Higher Education Partners for the Cincinnati State Middletown campus.
“It’s been three years in the making,” said City Manager Judy Gilleland. “I know that once people are able to walk in the doors and get a feel for the facility, it will be more exciting and bring some new energy downtown.”
She said it’s “surreal” to think Cincinnati State Middletown is 10 days away from opening its doors.
The technical and community college become a destination for a downtown that has struggled until recently. Cincinnati State Middletown will join other downtown anchors — the Pendleton Art Center and BeauVerre on the Square — to form what’s being touted as an educational and arts hub.
Cincinnati State Middletown is the kind of destination downtown has needed too attract “the traffic we’ve been looking for,” said Downtown Middletown Inc. Director Patrick Kay.
“To be a successful downtown, you need to have the traffic,” he said. “But you can’t get the traffic unless you have the businesses. It’s kind of a Catch-22.”
Once Cincinnati State Middletown settles into its downtown corner, “There will be more things that will be going on,” Kay said.
Newly appointed Cincinnati State Middletown Director Michael Chikeleze said everything is on schedule for a smooth first day of classes on Aug. 29.
“It’s going to be an exciting day,” he said. “I can see what the future’s going to be here and it’s definitely going to be really interesting and fun.”
The “buzz” around downtown in anticipation of the campus’ opening day represents “hope” for many, Chikeleze said.
“We still have a number of applicants in the pipeline and steel feel confident we’ll hit the (enrollment) goal,” he said.
Cincinnati State Middletown will have more than 50 course sections from the school’s four academic divisions, as well as programs with the school’s Workforce Development Center.
The school will offer 13 associate degree and five certificate programs. Cincinnati State spokesman Robert White said those offerings have increased since they were announced earlier this year “to address what we perceived to be the demand. Some of this was based on surveys and feedback we got during the information sessions.”
Students will have options when they begin classes to either take them in downtown Middletown, exclusively online or a hybrid of the two options. Most of the students being admitted to Cincinnati State Middletown will enter either the pre-business administration or medical administrative assistant technology associate degree programs.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or michael.pitman@coxinc.com.
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