BGSU Firelands

Infobox University
name = BGSU Firelands College
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established = 1968
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type = Public
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dean = Dr. James M. Smith
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faculty = 43
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students = 2000
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city = Huron
state = Ohio
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country = United States
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BGSU Firelands is a satellite college that is connected to Bowling Green State University. BGSU Firelands is located only a stone's throw from the shores of Lake Erie at Huron, Ohio, and about convert|60|mi|km east of Bowling Green, Ohio. It is a separate college of the Bowling Green State University system. BGSU Firelands has been a regional campus of BGSU since 1968, when the first building (now Foundation Hall) at the Huron location was opened. Before that, classes were held in Sandusky High School until this building was completed. BGSU Firelands is the fastest growing part of the BGSU system, having over 2,000 students in 2005 and 2006 enrolled for the wide array of associate, bachelors and graduate degree programs that are available at BGSU Firelands. BGSU Firelands that started with one building in 1968, now has four buildings, Foundation Hall, The West Building, the North Building and the newest addition completed in 2003, The Cedar Point Center. The Cedar Point Center hosts an array of cutting edge educational technology tools for teaching or conferencing onsite and or from a distance, via satellite and broadband communications modes.

There is a fifth building whose construction is being contemplated that will have more laboratory spaces for the health field degree programs offered at BGSU Firelands, that include: a Register Nurse degree program through a partnership with Lorain Community College, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program through a partnership with the Medical University of Ohio and a Radiologic Degree program that was developed at BGSU Firelands and is in its third yearFact|date=December 2007.

BGSU Firelands is also the site of the McBride Arboretum (named in honor of Dr. James McBride, the college's first Dean), a natural spot that was carefully thought out, designed and implemented to showcase the plants, trees and grasses that are a part of the natural setting of the Firelands Region. The latest addition to the Arboretum was donated by Deering family of Erie County and is an all-weather deck built along one of the many small bodies of water in the Arboretum, which is convert|60|ft|m long, on which students and the public can enjoy the wonder of nature. The Arboretum is managed for BGSU Firelands by Erie MetroParks.

Beyond being a school where students are actively encouraged to become part of the learning process, over the years, the faculty of BGSU Firelands have made many valuable contributions to the arts and academia. BGSU Firelands has two faculty members who are Fulbright Scholars, Dr. Benjamin N. Muego, Professor of Political Science and Asian Studies and Dr. Larry Smith, Professor Emeriti of English; Muego spent his Fulbright year teaching in the Philippines and Smith spent his Fulbright year teaching in Italy.

Muego is also a member of the faculty at the U. S. State Department Foreign Service Academy, and at the Department of Defense Schools at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH and at Hurlburt AFB in Florida. Muego has also developed the South East Asian Field Study Course at BGSU Firelands, which entails a 24 day trip to Vietnam. It is an up close and personal examination of Vietnam, starting a road trip on Highway One from Hanoi to beautiful Ha Long Bay in the North, then south on Highway One to the Imperial City of Hue, the Central Highlands around Da Lat, the tunnels of Cu Chi and the streets of Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

Dr. Smith has authored and published many numerous creative works of non-fiction, fiction and poetry. Smith has also been the Director of the Firelands Writing Center (FWC) at BGSU Firelands since its inception some twenty years ago, it receives support from the Ohio Arts Council and has published an annual publication of juried work entitled "The Heartland". The FWC encourages members of the Firelands community to become writers and lovers of the written word, and also hosts monthly poetry readings at a local coffeehouse in Sandusky, Ohio as venue for artists, poets and writers to showcase their work. Smith has in addition presented at many working class studies conferences over the years and is acknowledged nationally as an expert on the works of Kenneth Patchen. Smith is also the principal of Bottom Dog Publishers and the Bird Dog Press--two local publishing firms devoted to the promotion of Midwestern and working class literature, since his retirement from active teaching, he has expanded his publishing activities.

Other examples include Julius Kosan, Professor Emeriti of Art, whose contributions to the world of art have made BGSU Firelands a better place; Drs. Frank and Jan Glann, Associate Professors of Theater, whose many theater productions at BGSU Firelands McBride Theater and the BGSU Huron Summer Playhouse, and in addition bringing in such notables as three time Pulitizer winning Playwright Edward Albee as Artist in Residence at BGSU Firelands, have made the BGSU Firelands, a special place for theater; Dr. Ronald Ruble, Associate Professor of Theater, whose work with the Caryl Crane Children's Theater at BGSU Firelands has created opportunities for children to experience theater at an early age; Dr. Christopher Mruk, Professor of Psychology, who has published books and articles on self-esteem; and Dr. Joel Rudinger, Professor Emeritus of English and Popular Culture, did his doctoral work with Dr. Ray Brown in the first days of the Popular Culture Program at BGSU, still teaches creative writing at BGSU Firelands and has had published many works on folklore, children's literature, poetry and the Alaskan Culture, including his latest, "Sedna--Goddess of the Sea (Cambric Press, 2006)," a children's book based on the Alaskan/Canadian Inuit explanatory tale of Sedna, who is the human mother of all warm-blooded sea animals.

FacultyThirty-eight full-time faculty (61% with Ph. D or the highest degree awarded in their field). All full-time faculty in general studies and bachelor’s programs have a regional, national or international reputation in their field of study. All full-time faculty in technical and paraprofessional areas have at least a master’s degree and extensive employment-related experience.

StudentsApproximately 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students Majority from Erie, Huron and Ottawa counties 41% nontraditional (over age 25) 19 to 1 student to faculty ratio

Undergraduate Tuition Fall 2004 - Spring 2005$195 per credit hour $1,980 per semester for 11 or more hours

Financial Aid46% receive financial aid 59 scholarships; 124 awards totaling more than $120,000

External links

* [http://www.firelands.bgsu.edu/ BGSU Firelands Homepage]
* [http://www.bgsu.edu Official BGSU Homepage]