Rotary hosts presidents from Owens, UT, and BGSU

Three presidents from the local institutions of higher learning all agreed that collaboration between them is the wave of the future.

The University of Toledo interim President Matt Schroeder, Bowling Green State University President Rodney Rogers, and Owens Community College President Dione D. Somerville all sat for a panel discussion during the Rotary Club of Toledo’s Monday luncheon.

Kevin Mullan, president of the Rotary Club of Toledo, served as the emcee for the luncheon event.

All three speakers spoke about their readiness to work together on the Glass Center of Excellence, the state’s first recipient of funding from Ohio’s Innovation Hub program.

The hub, which is being paid for with a $31.3 million grant, will be headquartered at O-I Glass in Perrysburg and will develop new technologies for manufacturing glass.

“I speak with Matt on a regular basis,” Mr. Rogers said. “I know that may be surprising to hear. I also speak to Dione regularly as well. We each bring unique strengths to the hub. UT and BG both bring the research component that complement each other. Owens brings the work force component. In the end, the hub will be the center of research and will drive innovation.”

The consortium’s corporate partners include O-I, Owens Corning, Libbey Glass, Pilkington, and First Solar. The project aims to develop sustainable manufacturing processes that result in lighter, stronger glass.

“We all complement each other,” Mr. Rogers said. “We are three anchor institutions of higher education. Our institutions bring in around $6 billion a year in economic impact. I believe we will make a big impact here.”

Ms. Somerville agreed, saying the institutions all have to be strong.

“The consortium is a cohesive and comprehensive partnership,” Ms. Somerville said. “We also have express transfer agreements with UT and BGSU. We have already developed strong partnerships.”

Mr. Schroeder said he believed more collaboration was needed in the next few years between the three institutions in order for them to survive.

“What we are doing today is not enough,” Mr. Schroeder said. “In the next five or 10 years we have to collaborate more. There is not going to be a massive amount of state or federal money coming to our institutions. We have to make sure the programs each of us offer is what industry is telling us it needs.”

Beyond the consortium, all three presidents also discussed the value of a higher education and the current discussion of its merit in the national media.

“Do you need a degree? There are many paths to a meaningful life,” Mr. Rogers said. “College gives you more options and opportunities. I worry about the narrative in the national media that higher education is not needed.”

Mr. Schroeder said seeing the region going through a downturn was heartbreaking.

“We have a $2.8 billion per year impact on the region,” he said. “Ninety percent of our students come from within 200 miles. Retaining the talent that is studying here is very important. The young talent we bring in can have a huge impact on business.”

Ms. Sommerville said education is important to building lives and building the community.

“Higher education is proven to help you have a better outcome in life,” she said. “Our student body is overwhelmingly local so 95 percent of them stay in the community.”

Mr. Mullan said the panel discussion was informative and aligned with what the Rotary believes in.

“To have all three talk about their role in the community and about collaboration is a great thing,” Mr. Mullen said. “Collaboration is what Rotary does. To have all three presidents of the very important institutions in this region talk about collaboration reinforces the work we are doing.”