WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY

'Wright State University' is a public university in Ohio, U.S. The university uses Dayton as its postal address but the campus is actually completely within the city limits of Fairborn. Its current, and sixth, president is David Hopkins.

Contents

History

Board of Trustees

Campus and community

Major Accomplishments

Distinguished Alumni

Athletics

Players in Professional Sports

External links

History

Founded in 1964, Wright State University was originally the Dayton branch campus of both Miami University and The Ohio State University. At that time it comprised only a single building, Allyn Hall (named for Stanley Allyn, then-president of National Cash Register and one of the university's founders).
A 1965 an act of the Ohio General Assembly created the university. Several names were considered, including Dayton State University, Southwest Ohio State University, Shawnee University, Four Rivers University (after the four nearby rivers: the Great Miami, the Mad, the Stillwater, and Wolf Creek), and Mad River University. Wright State University was eventually chosen to honor the Wright Brothers, natives of Dayton. On October 1, 1967, the university met enrollment criteria set by state legislature, officially gaining independence.

Board of Trustees

Michael Adams
James Borchers, Student Trustee
Don Graber, Chair
Jamie King
John Kunesh
Bonnie Langdon
Vishal Soin
J. Thomas Young, Secretary

Campus and community

As of spring 2006 according to statistics published by the university, it had a total enrollment of 17,117 (including 910 at the branch Lake Campus, located in Celina, Ohio, near St. Marys). Wright State offers 155 degree programs, including 46 graduate and professional programs (including schools of medicine and professional psychology). Over 60% of Freshman usually live on campus. In many cases, 'commuters' are considered the students who live in apartments less than one mile from campus, because they do not live in campus housing. Wright State also has a close relationship with AMS & Associates whereby AMS owns and maintains, but Wright State provides staffing for a majority of the residence halls. The AMS owned housing includes the dormitory style housing of the Woods and the Honors Community, or the college apartment style housing of College Park and University Park. AMS also owns and Wright State operates the Village, a more traditional style apartment for older adults and those with families.
Wright State is a compact campus, with several academic buildings constructed following Allyn Hall. Key buildings on campus include the Founders' Quadrangle (quad) buildings, comprised of Allyn Hall (home to the College of Education and Human Services), Millett Hall (named for John Millett, former president of Miami University, and home of the College of Liberal Arts), Fawcett Hall (named after Novice Fawcett, president of Ohio State), and Oelman Hall (named after Robert Oelman, first president of the board of trustees, and the home of the College of Science and Mathematics). Allyn and Millett halls have recently undergone extensive rehabilitations.
Other buildings include Rike Hall (named after the founder of the Rike Kumler company, since merged into Federated Department Stores) (Raj Soin College of Business), University Hall (administrative offices and the College of Nursing and Health), the Creative Arts Center, the Mathematical and Microbiological Sciences Building (M&M), the Fritz and Dolores Russ Engineering Center (College of Engineering and Computer Science), and the Student Union (which was created by combining the former gymnasium and University Center). The main university Library is the Paul Laurence Dunbar library.

Across from the M&M building is an abstract sculpture titled "Turning Points", designed by David Black. This is whimsically called "BART" for "Big Ass Red Thing" by many students and other members of the WSU community. This sculpture is also referred to as BURT "Big Ugly Red Thing" (The more user friendly Acronym)
The entire campus is handicap accessible. In fact, it enjoys a national reputation for being an extremely welcoming and accommodating campus.
A distinctive feature of Wright State is that one can travel around the main campus both by sidewalks outside, and a tunnel network that connects almost all the buildings at the basement level. In fact, out of WSU's nineteen buildings, only two are inaccessible from the tunnels; namely, Hamilton Hall (a dormitory building) and the Frederick White Health Center.
The Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine may be accessed at http://www.med.wright.edu. The School of Medicine utilizes the main campus for pre-clinical training and many community hospitals for third and fourth year training opportunities. The medical training facilities are in the process of a complete renovation thanks to a very large donation from Oscar Boonshoft.

Major Accomplishments

Wright State captured national headlines in June 1983 when paraplegic Nanette (Nan) Davis Ferrall of St. Mary's, Ohio walked to receive her diploma, a B.S. in Education with the assistance of a computer-controlled electrical stimulation device. Nan had last walked at her high school graduation four years earlier and was injured in a car accident later that day. The device was created from the research of
Dr. Jerrold Petrofsky and his staff in the Biomedical Engineering department. The movie, ''First Steps'', dramatized these events and starred Judd Hirsch as Petrofsky and Amy Steel as Davis. Nan Davis appeared in a few scenes of the movie, and actual footage of her commencement walk were used in the movie. [1] [2]

Distinguished Alumni

★ 'David Albright ', Founder and President of Institute for Science and International Security, as well as form a former UN weapons inspector.

★ 'Todd Anderson ' (82 B.F.A./B.A.) was the storyboard artist for many Coen Brothers films including ''Fargo'' and ''The Big Lebowski''.

★ 'Jim Baldridge', Long-time television news anchor at WHIO-TV.

★ 'Joyce Beatty', Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives and John Kerry delegate in 2004 Democratic National Convention, received a Masters degree.

★ 'Jennifer Crusie' (MA Professional Writing and Women's Literature) is a bestselling romance novelist.

★ 'Nanette (Nan) Davis Ferrall' (B.S. Education, 1983) was the first paraplegic to walk and was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame for her work with paraplegics and quadriplegics. [3]

★ 'Logan Martinez', A well known Green Party politician/ activist.

★ 'Robert Pollard', Songwriter and founder of the musical group Guided By Voices. In 1978, he pitched the first no-hitter in Wright State baseball history.

★ 'Nicole Scherzinger' is a singer and actor best know as the lead singer for the pop group The Pussycat Dolls, and formerely Eden's Crush, who was an acting major, never graduated.

★ 'Anthony Shaffer' (B.A. Political Science and Environmental Studies, 1986) is a seasoned intelligence officer and Bronze Star Medal recipient associated with project Able Danger and uncovering the plotting of September 11, 2001 attacks.

★ 'Brad Sherwood' (BFA Acting) is an actor and comedian who has appeared in TV shows such as Whose Line Is It Anyway?, , The Tonight Show, and hosted The Dating Game from 1997-98. [4]

★ 'Col Bruce Vargo' (BA Philosophy) director of Guantanamo Bay Joint Detention Group. Army Col. Vargo also served in the Pentagon on Sep. 11th. He is a native of Huber Heights, Oh.

Athletics

For many years, Wright State's sports teams used a character called 'Rowdy Raider' as their mascot; a red-bearded Viking with a horned helmet, which emerged in 1986. In 1997, the Viking was retired and the Wolf was born. In 2007, Rowdy Raider received a new update for the mascot suit; a gray, scarier wolf replaced the more humorous brown wolf.
Wright State University has the Ervin J. Nutter Center, a multi-purpose arena located on campus. Opened in 1990, the Nutter Center is consistently considered to be one of the top arenas of its size. The venue is used for concerts and sporting events (including Wright State Raiders men's and women's basketball). It also serves as the home arena of the Dayton Bombers of the East Coast Hockey League.
Among the Raiders' most notable athletic achievements are the NCAA Division II men's basketball national championship in 1983, and taking a turn at March Madness in 1993, qualifying for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as champion of the Mid-Continent Conference; the Raiders qualified again in 2007 as winner of the Horizon League tournament. The men's and women's swimming and diving teams are also consistently strong. The men have won 6 of the last 13 conference championships.
The Wright State men's basketball team has seen the national spotlight several times since the program moved to Division I in 1987-88 and into the new Nutter Center in 1990. In 1993, the Raiders qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and since then Wright State is 4-0 all-time at home vs Top 25 competition. In 1995, Wright State defeated #25 Xavier, 71-70, their first ever home win over a Top 25 opponent. In the 1999-2000 season, Wright State beat #8 Michigan State at the Nutter Center, 53-49. On February 10th, 2007 Wright State welcomed their Horizon League rival and ninth-ranked Butler Bulldogs to Dayton. In an impressive showing that would lead the Raiders to be named ESPN.com's "Team of the Week", Wright State dominated No. 9 Butler, 77-65. [5] The Bulldogs returned to Dayton for the 2007 Horizon League tournament final, where Wright State again beat No. 17 Butler (by a score of 60-55) to earn a berth in its second-ever NCAA Tournament. [6]

Players in Professional Sports

★ 'Brian Anderson', former Mid-Continent Conference Pitcher and Player of the Year (1992) and finalist for the Golden Spikes Award (1993), was drafted by the [Angels] in the first round of the June free agent draft in June 1993 after completing his junior year. He made his major league debut in September 1993. [7]

★ 'Bill Edwards' played for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1993.[8]

★ 'Keith Gordon' was drafted in June 1990 by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the amateur draft. [9]

★ 'Carlos Pena' attended WSU and Northeastern University before being drafted by the Texas Rangers as the 10th pick of the 1998 amateur draft. [10] [11]

★ 'Vitaly Potapenko' currently plays for the NBA Sacramento Kings. He was selected 12th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1996. Potapenko was named the Horizon League's Newcomer of the Year for the '94-'95 season, and led the Horizon League in FG% in both '94-'95 and '95-'96 while garnering First Team All-League honors both years. Vitaly was born in Kiev, Ukraine. [12]

★ 'Bill Shea' is currently a backup quarterback and vice president of communications for the Port Huron Pirates professional indoor football team. The Pirates play in the Continental Indoor Football League. Shea was part of the inaugural Pirates squad that went 12-0 and won the league title. [13]

★ 'Joe Smith' is a Major League Baseball player who currently is a reliever for the New York Mets. He quickly ascended through the minor leagues and is now in his rookie season. "Smitty" keeps hitters off-balance with his unusual siderarm delivery. Teammates have also nicknamed him "Mighty" Joe Smith.

External links

★ Official Site

★ WWSU, Wright State's Radio Station

★ The Guardian Online- Wright State's Official Student Newspaper

★ ArtsGala Annual Wright State Arts Fair

★ Official athletics Site

★ RaiderRoundball.com - Unofficial site for Wright State Raider basketball

★ The Website for The Nutter Center

★ Google Maps