News Announcement
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Cheryl L. Kight - Vice President, Marketing

Columbus, September 3, 2008

MILLER-VALENTINE GROUP HOSTS AREA KICK-OFF OF THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES’ 2008-09 ANNUAL CAMPAIGN

Michael Greitzer, Partner, Miller-Valentine Group of Dayton and Chair of The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) 2008-09 Dayton area annual campaign, hosted the campaign meeting and kick-off on September 3 at the Dayton Art Institute.   Greitzer welcomed all of the area campaign volunteers and introduced his Vice Chair, Bear Monita, Managing Partner at Lorenz Williams in Dayton, and Mike Kehoe, Chair of the OFIC Board of Trustees and Vice President, AT&T Ohio.

Kehoe thanked the Dayton 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 Dayton region’s economic stability and to the state’s future in a changing global economy.  

Dan DiBiasio, President, Wilmington College, stressed to the volunteers the positive impact that campaign funds have on both students and OFIC’s member institutions.  Wilmington senior Sara Noble spoke of the impact that scholarships provided by OFIC have had on her educational journey and her future.  Noble, an Education student with a second major in English, is a two-year recipient of OFIC Ohio Scholars Program scholarships through OFIC donors State Auto Insurance Companies and Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP.   
More than 97,000 students enrolled at OFIC member colleges, which include Cedarville University, Urbana University, Wittenberg University, University of Dayton and Wilmington College, will benefit from funds raised through OFIC’s campaign.   One hundred seventy-nine students at these five 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.