NCSC Urban Center bringing higher ed to downtown Mansfield
BY LOU WHITMIRE • News Journal • December 17, 2010 MANSFIELD -- Jennifer Brown and Brandi France were among dozens of students who toured North Central State College's downtown, high-tech Urban Higher Education Center during its open house Thursday. Both are studying for their equivalency diplomas through the Mansfield City Schools' Community Adult Education program on West Fifth Street. Brown, 23, wants to major in accounting; France,24, criminal justice. The center, 134 N. Main St., features a computer lab for online instruction, a distance learning classroom and traditional high-tech classroom,counseling rooms and offices, a small business incubating center for students and a reception area. After nearly a year of planning, the center will open Jan. 3 for winter quarter classes. Bob Matney, director of information technology at the college, said students and instructors have numerous technological tools at the Urban Center. College President Donald Plotts said, "We believe our $1.2 million, 7,700-square-foot downtown center, funded primarily by donors, will be an inspirational catalyst in an area where per capita income is nearly 25 percent below the national average, and economic growth is among the lowest in Ohio. "Our purposes in establishing a higher education 'dream' center in downtown Mansfield include diversifying our student population, offering higher education in the under-served, inner-city minority or low-income population of the Mansfield downtown area, providing an educational opportunity to the downtownarea's 9,000 workers, and instilling an 'education gets you there' vision among those who would be first generation college students." Mansfield Mayor Don Culliver was among the guests who toured the site. "The transformation is wonderful," Culliver said. "Mansfield is going to be an education hub thanks to the college for bringing this downtown." Plotts said North Central is one of 15 colleges in the nation that has received a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant. "This will provide opportunities for people in this neighborhood to attend college, to take certification and licensing classes," Plotts said. "There are many jobs out there that can be had right now, but you must have the education and skills to get those jobs. That's where the Urban Center comes in." Plotts said the Urban Center also is working to nurture business growth and provide opportunities for noncredit classes for businesses. "Our classes around the noon hour have already filled up," he said. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 419-521-7223 Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 January 2011 14:42