Recordpub.com - Seeking KSU's rhythm Education chancellor Eric Fingerhut spends night in dormitory

KSUFingerhut111308KEN_LS01 ERIC FINGERHUT

By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
The newest dorm-dweller at Kent State University is ... Eric Fingerhut.
On a trip Thursday to KSU's Kent campus that was to continue today, the chancellor of Ohio's Board of Regents planned to meet with administrators, learn about KSU's centers of excellence, have a pizza party with students and spend the night in the Centennial Court C residence hall.
"I value the chance to get an in-depth feel and rhythm of the campus," he told members of the media during a question-and-answer session Thursday.
Fingerhut is visiting at least one campus a month leading up to the new year, when state universities will be submitting to his office their goals and accountability measures under the University System of Ohio.
The chancellor said he values KSU's traditions and it's "focus on excellence, which really enhances what we're trying to do in the University System of Ohio."
Major issues facing Ohio's colleges and universities include affordability, especially with the recent troubles facing the nation's financial, student loan and housing markets, but Fingerhut said the current state of the nation is a great opportunity for higher education to show it's promise and worth.
"The economic downturn is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that higher education is the driver of economic stability," he said. "It is where the future economic prosperity of the state is being created. Now we can show our fellow citizens what we're really all about."
Community and technical colleges, including a new one to be built with existing educational institutions in the Mahoning Valley, are where the "dawn of the global knowledge economy" will take place, Fingerhut said. Rumors of the merger of KSU's Stark campus and Stark State College in North Canton are false, he said, and KSU's Trumbull campus wil contribute to a new Mahoning Valley community college, not be swallowed by it.
"You don't want to merge these institutions, but you want each to do what they do best at the greatest benefit to the state," Fingerhut said.
The university system also is mobilizing to open college doors to those who lost their jobs with DHL or in other sectors where private corporations are scaling back their workforce, he said, and increase the number of adult learners from the ranks of those age 25 and up who want to return to college.
The goals of Fingerhut and Gov. Ted Strickland's 10-year strategic plan for higher education " including 230,000 new Ohio college students by 2017 and making college more affordable to the average Ohioan " will not be scaled back, the chancellor said.
"Last year we had the lowest tuition increase of any state in the nation. By any measurement, we're making substantial progress," Fingerhut said. "Our first goal is to make college affordable enough."