Sinclair360

From newbie to major player

Soon after it became a locally funded, public two-year college in 1966, Sinclair played a founding role in a new regional higher-education coalition. In the process, it transformed itself from a “junior partner,” among its more prominently known higher-education partners, to a “leading player.”

In January 1967, 10 presidents of institutions in the Dayton-Miami Valley area met to discuss collaborative efforts in education and research. The institutions involved became the nucleus of the Dayton-Miami Valley Consortium.

Today, the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE) is this same consortium, dedicated to advancing higher education in the region and advancing the region through higher education. The consortium has now grown to over 20 higher-education partners.

According to SOCHE Executive Director Sean Creighton, Sinclair was not just a founding member of the consortium; the college continues to be a key player in its success today. “As one of SOCHE’s bigger institutions, Sinclair has provided significant leadership to us for over the last 40 years and continues to do so today. Sinclair openly shares a wealth and depth of expertise with other members, all in the spirit of collaboration,” said Creighton.

Creighton’s point is driven home by the fact that SOCHE is headquartered on the sprawling Miami Valley Research Park (MVRP) campus, located in neighboring Montgomery and Greene counties. In fact, MVRP was founded by four higher-education partners – Sinclair, Central State University, Wright State University and University of Dayton – who to this very day govern its operations.

In the mid-1990s, those same four Dayton-area higher-education partners formed their own smaller partnership, the Miami Valley Higher Education Consortium. The presidents and provosts of those four partner schools still meet on a regular basis today, despite the fact that none of the eight current officeholders were among the original signers of that compact.

Sinclair: Driving economic development

Just last September, Lieutenant Governor and Ohio Department of Development Director Lee Fisher was on the Sinclair campus to tout his and Governor Ted Strickland’s then-new strategic plan for the Ohio Department of Development. He addressed an audience of about 125 area business, civic and government leaders during a two-hour meeting at the Sinclair Conference Center. During his remarks Lt. Gov. Fisher said that Goal 3 for the plan – Cultivate Top Talent – is the “game changer.” That, he went on to say, is where “Sinclair is on the supply side. Sinclair is probably the premier supplier” of talent.

Just one month later, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown brought a U.S. Senate hearing to Sinclair. The hearing by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions was titled “Midwest Jobs Picture: Strategies to Rebuild Communities.” In attendance were some 100 elected officials, business and labor leaders, governmental agency representatives and others.

Last winter, Sinclair hosted a Regional Summit on Higher Education, at the request of Senator Brown. Representatives of seven area colleges and universities, six area school districts and several regional business leaders participated in a discussion about how higher education can better support business and economic development.

The summit was one of just six staged across the state of Ohio. The results of those summits will be used in Senator Brown’s work exploring the important role that higher education plays in Ohio’s economy.

Sinclair and the USO

“It’s a major transformation for our state. I think it’s a model that’s going to be followed by the rest of the country.” That’s how Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut described the relatively new University System of Ohio (USO). “Higher education is really central to the future of our state. How much education an individual has is the single greatest indicator of how much they’re going to earn. The prosperity of the state depends on the overall education of our workforce as a whole,” stated Fingerhut.

Chancellor Fingerhut stated that the main goal of the plan is to raise the level of educational attainment of the state as a whole and to close the gap between Ohio’s rate and that of competing states in the nation. If other states and nations are moving more quickly than Ohio, the state is still going to fall behind in the competition for new jobs and businesses in the future.

“The time when we could have a bunch of independent institutions working separately, instead of collaborating together to achieve this goal is long past,” stated Fingerhut. “No single institution can do everything that the people in the state of Ohio need, but all of us collectively can.”

A history of collaboration

In his many talks around Ohio, Chancellor Fingerhut touts the cooperation that he has witnessed among higher-education institutions in southwest Ohio. “This is a region that has a history of collaborating among its institutions. Sinclair Community College works very closely with Wright State University, University of Dayton, Central State University and many other institutions, as well. All have worked closely with the business community,” he stated.

By Gary Honnert

Gary Honnert is marketing communications manager of Workforce Development & Corporate Services. He has more than 35 years’ experience in broadcasting, public relations and nonprofit community relations.