Late Rally Falls Short for Mount Union in Football Championship Game

Football

NCAA Division III Tournament

Championship Game, Dec. 16 at Salem, Va.

Wisconsin-Whitewater 13, Mount Union 10

Mount Union Heads to 7th Consecutive NCAA Division III Championship Game

Football
NCAA Division III Championship
Semifinal, Dec. 10: Mount Union 28, Wesley (Del.) 21

National Championship Game at Salem, Va.
Dec. 16, 7 p.m. EST
Mount Union vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater

— rpb

Football Results, Schedule

NCAA Division III Championship

Quarterfinal, Dec. 3: Mount Union 20, Wabash (Ind.) 8

Semifinal, Dec. 10: Wesley (N.J.) at Mount Union, 12 noon EST

Ohio Wesleyan Wins NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship

On Saturday night in San Antonio, Texas, Ohio Wesleyan's men's soccer team won its second NCAA Division III title by edging Calvin (Mich.) 2-1 in the championship game.

This victory represents the second NCAA championship won by an AICUO member institution this academic year; the Wittenberg volleyball team won its tournament, also in Division III, last month.

Ohio Wesleyan had defeated Montclair State (N.J.) 3-0 in the semifinal round on Friday. The final victory also set an NCAA record for Ohio Wesleyan's coach, Jay Martin, as it was his 608th, making him the all-time wins leader among soccer coaches.

The championship came after team vans were robbed of equipment and personal items, including computers with school work, shortly after their arrival in San Antonio. This near disaster attracted national attention but the team overcame this obstacle as well as its opponents to claim the title.

Other Soccer News: Rio Grande Falls in NAIA Quarterfinal

After defeating Madonna (Mich.) 4-1 and Belhaven (Miss.) 1-0, Rio Grande lost its quarterfinal game in the NAIA tournament 3-1 to William Carey (Miss.), Dec. 1 at Orange Beach, Ala.

—rpb

Ohio Wesleyan Men’s Soccer Reaches NCAA Division III Semifinal

After third- and fourth-round victories over fellow AICUO member Ohio Northern and Hope (Mich.), Ohio Wesleyan’s men’s soccer team continues this weekend to the NCAA Division III semifinals in San Antonio, Texas.

On Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST, Ohio Wesleyan will play Montclair State (N.J.) in the national semifinal round. The winner of this game faces the winner of the Calvin (Mich.)-Oneonta State (N.Y.) semifinal in the championship game Saturday at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Friday's game represents the ninth time that OWU has reached the semifinals; Ohio Wesleyan won the 1998 national championship and finished as runner-up in 1990 and 1992.

— rpb

Football Playoff Results, Schedule

NCAA Division III Championship

Second round, Nov. 26: Mount Union 30, Centre (Ky.) 10

Third round, Dec. 3: Wabash (Ind.) at Mount Union, 12 noon EST

—rpb

Wittenberg Claims NCAA Division III Volleyball Crown

Without losing a single set, Wittenberg won all three of its matches in the NCAA Division III volleyball finals to become AICUO’s first national championship team of the academic year.

On Friday, November 18, in St. Louis, Wittenberg defeated California Lutheran, then triumphed the next night in the semifinal against Eastern (Pa.). In the final on Sunday, Wittenberg took the title by beating Christopher Newport (Va.).

The last national championship won by an AICUO member institution was the Division III baseball championship, won this past spring by Marietta.

—Bob Burke

Wittenberg Volleyball, Ohio Wesleyan and Ohio Northern Men's Soccer Play Tonight In NCAA Division III Third Round

Men’s NCAA Division III soccer reaches third round play this weekend, with two AICUO members facing off tonight for a spot in the national quarterfinals.

Ohio Wesleyan hosts Ohio Northern in a third round game beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m., following another third round game between Hope (Mich.) and Luther (Iowa). The winners play in the national quarterfinal on Saturday at 6 p.m. for a spot in the finals next weekend in San Antonio, Texas. Ticket information is

To reach this round, Ohio Northern defeated first Rose-Hulman (Ind.) 2-1, then fellow AICUO member Case Western Reserve 2-0. CWRU had won its first-round game against DePauw (Ind.), 3-0. Ohio Wesleyan was given a first-round bye, then defeated Washington (Mo.) 1-0 in round two.

The other AICUO member to reach the tournament, Baldwin-Wallace, lost its first-round game 2-1 to Oneonta State (N.Y.).

In the women’s NCAA Division III tournament, all AICUO member institutions were eliminated before reaching the third round of play. Capital defeated Alma (Mich.) 1-0 in the first round, but lost its next game to Wheaton (Ill.) 3-0. Case Western Reserve defeated Lebanon Valley 3-0 before losing to SUNY-Cortland 1-0. Following a scoreless regulation and overtime, Ohio Wesleyan lost its first round game on penalty kicks to Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

In NCAA Division III volleyball, Wittenberg plays tonight in St. Louis in a national quarterfinal game against California Lutheran. The Tigers defeated Rose-Hulman (Ind.), AICUO member Heidelberg, and Calvin (Mich.) to reach the final weekend of tournament play.

Beyond Heidelberg, which won its first-round match over Geneva (Wis.) before losing to Wittenberg, other AICUO members in the volleyball tournament included Mount Union, which defeated Lebanon Valley (Pa.) before falling to Juniata (Pa.); Hiram, which defeated Stevenson (Pa.) before being eliminated by Eastern (Pa.); and Otterbein, which dropped its first round match to Hope.

NCAA Division III football playoffs commence Saturday, and the only AICUO member in the field, Mount Union, begins its trek toward its 11th national championship by hosting Benedictine (Ill.) at noon EST.

We'll have details next week on NAIA and other postseason tournaments, along with results of this weekend's NCAA games.

Sign On! Help Save Federal Student Aid.

Today, I blog to ask for your support in speaking out to legislators on the importance of federal student aid to our nation’s students. The “Save Student Aid” campaign by the Student Aid Alliance has launched multiple efforts across all sectors of higher education to inform members of both political parties on the role federal student aid plays in our economy at this challenging time.

Over the past two weeks, more than 58,000 members of our campus communities, along with other concerned citizens, have signed the Alliance’s Statement of Support. The vast majority of these sign-ons have come from private, non-profit colleges. Here are some of the statistics as of last week:

· There are 73 colleges that have been identified with more than 100 signers

· Loyola Chicago is in first place with 3,320 signatures

· Loyola Marymount is in second place with 1,859 signatures

· Towson University, the only four-year public in the top 20, is in third place with 1,823.

If you haven’t yet engaged your friends and colleagues in the “Save Student Aid” effort, please do so today.

As idea starters, NAICU has gathered a sampling of what other institutions have been doing. The Super Committee is working against a November 23 deadline for its budget recommendations, so there is a limited window of opportunity for us to influence the debate. To receive updates, follow the Student Aid Alliance's campaign on Twitter.

A New Presidency, But Not a New President

As much as possible, someone from the AICUO office attends the inauguration of all new presidents of our member colleges and universities. In many cases it’s our first chance to say hello and lay the groundwork for a future meeting to introduce the association and our work in detail.

But at the most recent inauguration this past month, there was no need to introduce ourselves. Dr. Daniel DiBiasio, the new president at Ohio Northern University knows our work in intimate detail, as he is the immediate past chair of the AICUO Executive Committee from his just-completed tenure as president of Wilmington College.

Bob Burke took part in the academic procession on the Ada campus as AICUO’s representative. He expressed our satisfaction that Dr. DiBiasio will continue to work with us, as he remains on the association’s executive committee after serving as chair from 2008 to 2010. It was also time for friendly conversation with two of Dr. DiBiasio’s predecessors: Dr. Kendall Baker, AICUO’s chair from 2006 to 2008, and Dr. DeBow Freed, for whom ONU’s performing arts center is named and who served as AICUO Secretary from 1981 to 1983.

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Held for Franklin University

Franklin University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday to celebrate the official opening of the newest building on campus . The new building houses the University's College of Arts, Sciences & Technology. Faculty and administrative staff now occupy 34 office spaces, 14 workstations, and multiple huddle and conference spaces.

The addition of the building on Grant Ave. to the University's Main Campus allows Franklin to provide additional professional office environment for its growing number of full-time faculty members.

The purchase and renovation of the building is the latest milestone in Franklin University's strategic growth plan, which sets out to strengthen its resources and offerings by expanding educational opportunities to students across the country and globe.

Pictured are Board of Trustees Chair, Gary James; Franklin County Commissioner, Paula Brooks; Franklin President, David Decker; and College of Arts, Sciences & Technology Dean, Dr. Keith Groff.

I would like to extend a special thank-you to Jane Sieberth, Assistant Chair of the Computer Science Department, for introducing me to multiple Franklin employees and the personal tour of this great new building.

In addition, I would also like to congratulate Jane and Dr. Christopher Washington, Provost, on Franklin's recent awarding of the "C.E.O. Best of Business Award for Best Online Degree Program." Franklin's dedication to the on-line world of educating students should make Columbus and Ohio proud.

What's Happening to High School Graduations?

Today’s Graph of the Week shows the most recent in the annual series of projections by the U.S. Department of Education on the number of public high school graduations each year in Ohio. The message couldn’t be more clear: the source of Ohio resident traditional-age college students is getting smaller each year.

We’ve received several questions today wondering why this is, and an answer comes from the decennial U.S. Census, whose 2010 figures are now easily available at the American FactFinder website. In the period 2000-2010, Ohio’s total population grew, but at a rate of 1.6 percent, much slower than the U.S. total increase of 9.7 percent.

Table 1: Ohio Population by Age Groups, 2000 and 2010
Source: US Census Bureau, American Factfinder
	2000	2010	Change
Total population	11,353,140	11,536,504	183,364	1.6%
Under 5 years	754,930	720,856	-34,074	-4.5%
5 to 9 years	816,346	747,889	-68,457	-8.4%
10 to 14 years	827,811	774,699	-53,112	-6.4%
15 to 19 years	816,868	823,682	6,814	0.8%

In the detail of this population change, shown in Table 1, you can see that Ohio’s population of school-age children actually dropped over those ten years, except for the oldest group that includes the most recent high school graduates. We can’t say from the data precisely why that drop occurred, but it makes clear why high school graduations down the road will be going down — there aren’t as many second-graders around to graduate ten years from now.

—Bob Burke

Two AICUO Presidents Are "Most Powerful and Influential Women"

The presidents of two AICUO member institutions were recognized today as among "2011 Ohio Most Powerful and Influential Women" at the fourth annual Ohio Diversity and Leadership Conference, held in Columbus. Presidents Barbara Gellman-Danley of the University of Rio Grande and Kathy Krendl of Otterbein University were among 15 honorees.

Photo by Robert P. Burke

AICUO President Champion of National Golf Tournament

We love to report on our members’ sports achievements — there have been two NCAA national team championships won this year by AICUO campuses — but we don’t often get to blow our own horns like this.

Now we know that calling this week’s National Association of Independent College State Executive golf outing at the Hershey Links Golf Course a “national golf tournament” is a bit of a stretch, but our President Todd Jones is surely champion of it. He shot a 2-under-par 70 to win the individual trophy in a 20-person field, and his team, playing in a “shamble” format in which players take the team’s two best balls off the tee and follow individually to the hole, won in the net competition. Todd even managed to dodge a wayward drive from former Boston Celtic and Detroit Piston star M.L. Carr.

C. Todd Jones Addresses Mt. Carmel Graduates

In early May, I had the opportunity to offer my first commencement address. The invitation was extended last fall by Mount Carmel College of Nursing, one of the state's largest nursing colleges and the only institution that I can see from the window of my office in the Huntington Center.

To say that I was honored understates my appreciation for the opportunity. That feeling deepened, however, when I learned this spring that the Board of Trustees had voted to grant me an honorary Doctor of Laws degree as part of the ceremony. The award was made in recognition of my work on behalf of education generally and nonprofit colleges in particular throughout my career.

On May 7, I joined the faculty and trustees of Mt. Carmel in congratulating 162 new baccalaureate degree recipients and thirteen master degree recipients. The ceremony was a family affair, with dozens of small children supporting their moms and dads as who earned degrees, as well as the hundreds of parents and siblings of traditional-age students.

In my address, I talked about how, unlike my work as a lawyer and others like farming, acting, building, or fighting, nursing is a young profession and one that is rapidly evolving. What was once a subsidiary role to doctors now has independence far greater than most long-tenured nurses in the audience might have imagined when they entered the profession. I then noted that the profession again will evolve over their careers, and will likely be very different when they themselves retire decades from now.

I encouraged the graduates to give back through service; to continually seek to learn more in all facets of their lives; to never assume that their path is set or that their options are limited; to take on new challenges; and to lead or support those who do.

The speech also presented a unique opportunity to me as well: one of the graduating nurses was a young woman of my long acquaintance. In closing the address, I offered my personal congratulations to Laura Eckl, one of the new bachelor's degree recipients.

After my address, I was presented with my honorary degree and its accompanying academic regalia, pictured at right.

The day will always be special to me, both as an opportunity to congratulate the new graduates, but also as the day I was blessed to receive an honorary doctorate. My personal thanks to the Board of Trustees, the faculty of Mt. Carmel College of Nursing, and especially to Mt. Carmel President Dr. Ann Schiele, whose support for me as association president is unending, and who encouraged her board to offer me the chance to speak and to be individually honored.

—C. Todd Jones

Post-Budget

Substitute House Bill 153, the state operating budget, has been passed out of both chambers and signed by the Governor. This budget, as compared to the previous two, was friendly to independent college students. The Ohio College Opportunity Grant survived without any noticeable trim — aid to independent college students was cut by more than 50 percent over the last four years.

The current amount for the OCOG aid package will be $1,872, up from $1,848 last year. This amount is an across-the-board amount for all eligible students and will be the same no matter the estimated family contribution of the college student.

Many other programs important to independent colleges and their students received slight cuts of 5 - 10 percent. For a full, detailed look at the budget as it travelled from chamber to chamber and into conference committee, click here. The full bill, more than 4,000 pages, can be found here.

Malone Senior Wins David Toms Award From National Golf Coaches Assn.

Malone senior Justin Lower, from Canal Fulton, Ohio, capped off a stellar four-year Malone career by earning the prestigious David Toms Award, presented annually by the Golf Coaches Association of America to one men's collegiate golfer (among all levels) who has overcome adversity to achieve collegiate excellence.

Three Malone Golfers Are NAIA All-Americans

At the NAIA men’s golf tournament, held May 24-27 at Silvis, Ill., three members of Malone’s squad earned All-American honors for 2011.

Lower, last year’s medalist, finished in third place, which qualified him for the All-America first team. Two underclassmen from Massillon, junior Richie Schembechler and sophomore Tyler Light, earned spots on the second team.

Malone finished third overall in the tournament, six strokes behind national champion Oklahoma Christian; Lower also finished six strokes behind this year’s medalist, Oscar Stark of the championship team.

NCAA Division II, III Tournaments

The Baldwin-Wallace women’s golf team ended up 15th in the rain-shortened NCAA Division III tournament, May 10-12 at Howley-in-the-Hills, Fla. Neither AICUO member that qualified for the men’s Division III tournament — Mount Union and Wittenberg — made the cut for the final two rounds, May 10-11 at Greensboro, N.C. In Division II, Ashland’s women tied for ninth place in the 12-team field, May 13-16 at Allendale, Mich.; junior Erin Misheff of Fisher Lake, Ohio, finished tied for sixth in the individual rankings.

— Bob Burke

Marietta Baseball Wins NCAA Division III Title

Marietta's baseball team captured its fifth NCAA Division III baseball championship, by defeating Chapman (Calif.) 18-5 in the second game of the final day of the tournament, Tuesday at Appleton, Wis.

Chapman fended off elimination by defeating the Pioneers 15-4, giving the teams one loss apiece in the double-elimination playoff. The second game then became the de facto national championship game, and the Pioneers took charge early, forging a 9-1 lead after three innings.

Marietta is the all-time leader in NCAA Division III baseball championships, as this year's champs join winners in 1981, 1983, 1986 and 2006.

This represents the second NCAA team championship won by an AICUO member this year. In March, Denison upset perennial winner Kenyon, both association members, to capture the Division III men's swimming and diving championship.

The Pioneers came out of the winner's bracket in the double-elimination tournament, beating Salisbury (Md.) 8-0 on Friday and Chapman 9-4 on Saturday. On Sunday, a 5-1 win by the Pioneers sent Buena Vista (Iowa) to an elimination game, and on Monday, Marietta eliminated Keystone (Pa.) 11-2. By defeating Buena Vista on Sunday, Chapman became the last team besides Marietta in the tourney.

--Bob Burke