Ohio Wesleyan University will establish a new engineering school, thanks to more than $17 million in alumni donations. The university calls it the most ambitious academic expansion in OWU’s 183-year history.
OWU President Matt Vandenberg announced the new Conrads School of Engineering at a Dec. 1 campus event. The school is named in recognition of OWU alumni George Conrads and Patricia “Patsy” Belt Conrads, who contributed $13 million to its formation.
Currently, Ohio Wesleyan does not offer its own engineering programs but rather pre-engineering programs.
OWU’s pre-engineering program is an interdisciplinary program in which students earn two degrees: an Ohio Wesleyan bachelor’s degree with a pre-engineering option in physics, pre-chemical engineering, pre-computer engineering or biomedical engineering, and an engineering degree from another university’s engineering school.
Ohio Wesleyan President Matt Vandenberg celebrates the announcement of OWU’s Conrads School of Engineering by taking a selfie with faculty members Hanliang Guo, Brad Trees, Scott Linder and Matt Vollrath sporting new OWU engineering T-shirts.
Ohio Wesleyan has transfer agreements with four schools — California Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Washington University in St. Louis — where students complete their studies after three years at OWU.
With Central Ohio’s growing manufacturing economy, Vandenberg said OWU is aligning its resources to meet immediate regional needs.
“Conrad’s School of Engineering does more than strengthen Ohio Wesleyan,” Vandenberg said in a statement. “It creates a stronger world. Our purpose is not self-improvement but the public good – an act of courage, kindness and innovation that reflects who we are. By aligning our resources with the pressing needs of our communities, we embody the true promise of the liberal arts: to educate, empower and serve.”
OWU will officially welcome its first mechanical engineering majors in the fall of 2027.
Jason Hall, CEO of Columbus Partnerships, said that many manufacturing companies coming to the area have asked those companies, “Can you show us engineers in the Columbus area?”
“That’s what’s happening here at Ohio Wesleyan,” Hall said. “As a liberal arts university looks at the future of this economy, we’re going to be part of shaping it. We’re going to be responsible for how the next generation of problem solvers is prepared.”
October 2, 2024; Delaware, Ohio, USA; Students wave to and from classes at Ohio Wesleyan University. Several Ohio universities announced record-setting enrollment figures this fall, thanks in particular to large freshman classes, according to institutional data. It’s a sign that some experts say bodes well for the confusing higher education landscape at a pace of change.
In building the Ohio Wesleyan School of Engineering, Vandenberg said university leaders worked with industry partners who needed well-rounded, liberal arts-trained engineers.
Vertiv — a Westerville-based company that makes cooling and power distribution systems for computer centers — will give OWU engineering students priority interview consideration for the company’s summer internships.
Ansys, part of the engineering firm Synopsys, will also provide structural finite analysis software and fluid simulation software to the school through the company’s educational program.
In addition to the Conrads’ gift, the School of Engineering is supported by a $2 million donation from Doug Dietrick Jr. and his wife, Gina Bosch, and a $2 million donation from alumni couple Gordon Smith and Helen Krider Smith.
George Conrads credits two of his OWU mathematics and physics professors—Robert Wilson and Howard Maxwell—for their mentorship during his time at the university. They led him to a career that included leadership positions at IBM Corporation, Bolton Beranek & Neumann, Akamai Technologies and Oracle Corporation.
“All this because two beloved Ohio Wesleyan professors cared so much,” Conrads said, “just as our professors do to this day.”
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and at Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared in the Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Wesleyan launches Conrad’s School of Engineering in expansion.
