Greetings and welcome to our Centennial Homepage,
Over the course of 2019, we will be celebrating our 100th year as an institution and I could not be more honored to serve as NEO’s 15th president during this momentous year. Beginning as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has always focused on being a national leader is higher education. When I came to NEO following the devastating flood from 2007, we had an opportunity to renew our college and our commitment to providing exceptional education, athletics, co-curricular experiences, and leadership development.
In the last decade, we have completed over $60 million in new construction and facilities improvements like Milligan Hall and a massive fiber-optic system overhaul. We’ve also seen scholarship and Development Foundation support explode from a few hundred thousand dollars to nearly $7 million in assets producing almost $150,000 in scholarships each year. Over the next ten years, we want to continue that trend and are aiming to produce a new $1,000,000 endowment in scholarships to support students and stabilize tuition.
Celebrating 100 years is a wonderful achievement, but that means some of our buildings are 60, 80, and nearly 100 years old too. Over the next decade, we plan to renovate Copen Hall, Shipley Hall, Ables Hall, the D. Dayle Creech Library/Administration Building, and the Fine Arts Auditorium to prepare for the next century of students. The classrooms on campus will not only be brought up to date, but future-proofed with new technology, safety and security features, and cutting edge teaching tools.
We’re going to continue our commitment to producing well-qualified graduates by emphasizing work-ready programs like process technology, nursing, computer science, and agriculture. We’ll continue to build partnerships with local and national businesses to ensure our students have hands-on training with the equipment, tools, and methods they will be using in the workplace.
We will hold true to our roots, tip our hat to the past, and use that momentum to propel us past every two-year institution in the nation and continue our vision to become a national leader in rural, residential community college education by developing nationally competitive programs in academics, intercollegiate athletics, co-curricular activities, student development and campus facilities.
I encourage you to get involved this centennial year and show your support for NEO. On this site, you will find opportunities to see our upcoming events and opportunities to support NEO. If we all row together, we will continue to move NEO forward and prepare for the next century of higher education.
Once a Norsemen, always a Norsemen.
