DAYTON (April 6, 2004) — Nationally known Dayton philanthropist Oscar Boonshoft partnered with Kettering College of Medical Arts this spring to bring faith-based, service-oriented allied health education to “the next level,” in Greater Dayton, when he shared $4 million with the institution. Boonshoft, 86, is a retired engineer and commodities trader, whom The Journal of Philanthropy recently recognized as one of America’s top financial supporters of education.

“Education [of this type] is particularly important today, “ he said at the time of the gift, “with the increase in the population, together with the added longevity, more and more people will require medical attention—add to that the impact of the aging “baby boomer” generation,” he continued in interviews in the Dayton Daily News and The Dayton Business Journal. Boonshoft is regionally known for providing funding for programs for students from grade school through college and beyond.

Boonshoft's gift is only one of several that have helped put Kettering College on the Ohio map: Virginia Kettering also provided a foundational $1 million gift at the beginning of the campaign; the gift soon leveraged another $1.2 million in gifts and pledges from the boards of directors of the college and the Kettering Medical Center Foundation. The college was originally established with funds given by Mrs. Kettering and an investment from leadership at the Charles F. Kettering Memorial Hospital, thus formally changing the identity of the parent institution to Kettering Medical Center.

This new facility will include an 11,000 sq-foot Learning Resources Center that will adjoin the Kettering Medical Center medical library, three advanced science teaching laboratories, six technologically current classrooms, a student chapel large enough for small services, a nursing skills laboratory, and a student life center. Additionally, we will renovate our original, thirty-year old building, which presently houses faculty and administrative offices, a residence for our dean, dormitory rooms, a public lobby, a small kitchen, a small conference room, our current nursing skills lab, and an amphitheatre classroom. The college is replacing much of this with the new building; the remaining, student life centered areas—dormitory rooms, bath facilities, a dormitory lobby and chaplain’s office are part of this project.

Groundbreaking for this building will be in July 2004; the building should be complete by the end of 2005. Renovations on our original building will start at that time and extend for a year beyond that. We are attaching a building and funding schedule to this proposal; this attachment also includes general sources of funds thus far—Kettering Fund trustees are undoubtedly aware of significant gifs from local philanthropists through association or published articles.

We believe that our accreditations and history adequately indicate that we are well positioned and adequately prepared to educate men and women for both competence and character in the workplace—competence and character of the highest order.

As of this spring, college leadership has received over $10 million in gifts and pledges toward a $14.1 million brick-and-mortar project, which now includes extensive renovations to the original, thirty-year old building. “This additional phase of the project is necessary to provide students new and renovated dormitory rooms—college is not only formal education, it’s developing a family who will be always part of a graduate’s life,” says Charles Scriven, college president since the 2000 school year.

Under the leadership of Scriven and his dean of academic affairs, Norman Wendth, the number of doctoral level degrees has increased over 250%, and will soon increase again as much when professors complete degrees they are currently pursuing. “Developing a highly educated professoriate comes first, and we have advanced tremendously on that front,” says Wendth.

Education is central to the mission and vision of Kettering Medical Center, an institution who has supported the college’s development of innovative programs for nurses and for allied health professionals. This year, the physician assistant program at Kettering College is making a master’s completion degree available to their alumni; the new facility whose formal ground-breaking is scheduled in July, will also make it possible for students to take a BS in human biology in preparation for medical school, both in the allopathic and osteopathic traditions. Kettering Medical Center Network, the parent institution to the college includes two osteopathic hospitals: Grandview Hospital in Dayton, and Southview Hospital about ten miles south of the city.

The college’s new facilities will be housed in a five-story structure that will also include research and office space for the Wallace Kettering Neuroscience Institute, whose work includes special projects in schizophrenia. Kettering Medical Center Network leadership now plan to continue fundraising through substantial completion of this more comprehensive project, expecting to raise $17.1 million through phases of the campaign that will continue through next year.

“This expansion will accrue to the overall benefit of the entire greater Dayton community,” said John Jervis, Merrill Lynch Vice President and co-chair of the capital campaign, “And the campaign has done much to get the word out about the unique role Kettering College plays in our community. We believe Mr. Boonshoft’s gift will encourage others in the private sector to help us reach our goal—I know already that it is already doing that,” he announced.

The local press has kept track of enrollment growth at Kettering College, which has exceeded 30% in the last three years. Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) and Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) have both visited campus and the temporary trailers that have to serve as classrooms to over one hundred students, expressing interest in the project and recognizing the need their communities have for the health care professionals the college provides. Even leadership at other hospitals in the area have written letters of endorsement for the project. “I know that Kettering College has enjoyed a long tradition of producing excellent nurses, not only for the Kettering Medical Center Network, but also for all health care facilities,” wrote the president of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.

Kettering College of Medical Arts has been an integral part of the several types the communities it serves. In 1996, then college president Peter Bath helped found the American Health Science Education Consortium; this year, the college is providing leadership in advancing Ohio State legislation to enhance the profession of physician assistants.