Proud - Youngstown State University

Tom Shipka
Professor and Chair Emeritus
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Had we lived in 1908, who among us would have correctly
predicted that the next hundred years would see the
Great Depression, two world wars, television, organ transplants,
computers, 9/11, cell phones, space travel, or Viagra?
It is inherently risky to predict the future but it is still fun to
try. So, in fear and trembling, I hazard this forecast about the
YSU of 2108:
• Due to rising ocean levels caused by global warming,
which brought an influx of millions of east coast residents
to Ohio, enrollment at YSU will top 50,000.
• Online instruction and other yet-to-be-invented technologies
will reduce the number of traditional on-campus
classes to a small fraction of the total.
Bruce Beeghly
President of Altronic Inc., Girard, Ohio
Member, Ohio Board of Regents
Former Chair, YSU Board of Trustees
As YSU enters its
second century of service
to the Mahoning Valley,
many changes, challenges
and opportunities lie
ahead. In its first century,
the university has had to
serve as the access point
to higher education for its
region offering certificate,
two-year and four-year
degrees and professional
graduate degrees. With the
establishment of a public
community college in the
• There will be no tenured
faculty at YSU, as tenure
will have passed from the
higher education scene as
part of cost containment
and program flexibility.
• Due to a steady decline
in state appropriations to
YSU as a percentage of
operating costs, YSU will
have gone from statesupported
to state-assisted
to state-located. With the
economic burden having
shifted to students and
their families, tuition and
fees will exceed $100,000 a year.
immediate future, YSU’s mission will change. Most or all of
the remedial and two-year degree programs will eventually
become the province of the community college.
At the same time, much opportunity awaits YSU in the
new environment. Freed from the task of bringing students
up to basic “college prep” status, the main YSU campus can
concentrate on college-level instruction to students prepared
for same, with program quality and faculty research receiving
more attention. The opportunity for more specialized undergraduate
and graduate level degrees will increase. Additional
PhD programs will be possible. In the past, these have not
always been welcomed from YSU in Columbus. But in the
era just ahead, YSU is being challenged to become the driver
of the region’s economy. The university will need to establish
its priorities and areas of specialization and excellence.
Those seeking advanced degrees are our best and brightest,
and the future YSU will help retain more of them here in
the Mahoning Valley by offering more such programs. This
is essential to a rebirth of the local region in the 21st century
knowledge economy.
Germaine F. Bennett
President, YSU Alumni Society
Retired Assistant Superintendent of Human
Resources, Youngstown City Schools
The growth of Youngstown State University will be
phenomenal. We will witness an expansion in all six colleges,
with all of them offering doctorates and innovative degrees to
meet the needs of the 22nd Century.
Travel to space may become an event anyone can experience,
and with that will come degree programs to fit our
availability to the universe. The college of STEM, especially,
will undergo a huge metamorphosis
in the departments that deal
with science and technology.
The helping professions
represented in the colleges of
Education, Liberal Arts and Social
Sciences, Health and Human
Services will adapt their colleges
to serve humanity with the use of
technology and, of course, human
contact. The Williamson College
of Business Administration
(continued on page 8)
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