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Heritage Park planned at YSU
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A commemorative park outside of Kilcawley Center at Youngstown State University will serve two purposes.
It marks the 50th anniversary of the YSU Foundation and recognizes recipients of the university’s prestigious Heritage Award.
YSU trustees earlier this month approved a resolution authorizing the foundation’s $100,000 gift to create the YSU Foundation Heritage Park.
“The Heritage Award is the most prestigious award given by the university,” said Carole Weimer, trustees chairwoman. “It will create a lasting recognition of those who have received the highest award.”
The award, started in 1981, recognizes former YSU faculty and staff who made significant contributions to the university during their time at YSU. Recipients are selected by a committee and recipients receive a plaque on a wall in YSU’s Maag Library.
“The president [Jim Tressel] and I put our heads together and we thought what better way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the foundation and recognize recipients of the Heritage Award,” said Paul McFadden, YSU Foundation president.
The park will include a wall, listing names of Heritage Award recipients and a monument memorializing the foundation’s anniversary, McFadden said.
More than 60 former YSU faculty and staff have received the award.
He added that he appreciates university trustees approving the $100,000 for the park.
The YSU Foundation, founded in 1966 by Howard Jones, longtime president of YSU’s precursors, Youngstown College and Youngstown University, will provide more than $8.1 million in scholarships to more than 3,300 YSU students this year.
The foundation’s assets have grown to $210 million, making it the largest public university foundation in Northeast Ohio.
“It’s a fitting place to put it,” Weimer said. “There’s lots of traffic that goes by there. It will be a new green space on campus and we hope that not only students, but people from campus and the community, can come to reflect on the good work those award recipients have done. It’s a fitting tribute to them.”