YSU continues to benefit from Watsons’ generosity

The $1 million donation from Frank and Norma Watson of Canfield to Youngstown State University is just the latest in their long-standing financial commitment to the institution, in particular, and the Mahoning Valley, in general.

Their names are synonymous with caring – for the students of the urban institution of higher learning and the less- fortunate residents of the region.

It would be natural to think that YSU’s president, James P. Tressel, played a major role in the Watsons’ decision to commit the $1 million to support the development of a new Student Success Center on campus. After all, the president is married to their daughter, Ellen.

But, as Tressel himself noted earlier this month during the announcement of the donation, the Watsons have supported YSU for more than four decades. They also have been a driving force in the university’s growth and development.

There’s no denying, however, that Tressel’s emphasis on student success in his nearly two years as president made the center a logical beneficiary of the Watsons’ support.

“The Frank and Norma Watson Student Success Center will help thousands of students reach their educational goals and will serve as a lasting legacy to the Watsons’ lifelong devotion to YSU,” said Paul McFadden, president of the YSU Foundation, the designated philanthropic arm of the university.

Frank Watson’s comments at the announcement of the donation reveal his and his wife’s commitment to YSU.

“It has been our privilege to watch YSU evolve and grow into the respected institution of higher education that it is today. We are honored and blessed to be able to make this pledge and support one of the Valley’s greatest assets.”

In order for the asset to remain viable, enrollment must be increased, and that means going outside the five-county territory from which students traditionally have been recruited.

EXPANDING ENROLLMENT

In his address last month to the campus community titled “NextYSU: A New Look for a New Era,” President Tressel offered this overarching theme:

“We need to widen our enrollment footprint and our recruiting territory, and to do that, we need more and better student housing. With that, we also need amenities to attract students and to serve a larger resident population. We must also continue to provide the facilities that are needed to ensure that our students succeed and graduate on time.”

By “graduate on time” Tressel means, in general, four years for earning a bachelor’s degree, compared with the current six-year average.

That challenge is not confined to Youngstown State. Gov. John R. Kasich, who has made the reorganization of higher education in Ohio a priority, has railed against the amount of time it takes an average college undergraduate to earn a degree.

In addition to exacerbating the student-debt problem, a six-year graduation rate is depriving the state of potential applicants for the hundreds of private- sector jobs that are now unfilled.

Tressel, who was executive vice president of student success at the University of Akron before he came to Youngstown State, knows the value of providing students with the programs and assistance that will facilitate their academic progress.

Thus, under his concept of the center that the Watsons’ $1 million will help establish, services related to student retention and success will be provided from the third floor of Jones Hall. Eventually, the center would be expanded into Maag Library via a connector linking the two buildings. “The success of our students, matriculating from admission to graduation, is paramount to our future, and we believe this is yet another step to help make that happen,” Tressel told the university community last month.

Also in Jones Hall, the university is establishing a center to house its Division of Multicultural Affairs, which is charged with the day-to-day implementation of diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Putting the students first in everything at the university is a necessary goal, given the myriad challenges confronting higher education in the state and the nation.

The money that Frank and Norma Watson have committed is the latest in a series of gifts to YSU. They also have made significant donations for YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium, the Scholarship Loge program, the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center and the Watson and Tressel Training Site, an indoor training facility.

Frank Watson is a 1949 graduate of YSU, a member of the board of trustees from 1978 to 1987 and is one of the original members of the YSU Foundation board of trustees.