“The core of the community college mission is accessibility. I started my career attempting to further that mission, especially with part-time, nontraditional evening students. Today, Joyce and I want to continue that work by providing financial access for nontraditional students.”
MARIETTA, OHIO— Dr. Ed Holzapfel is a vital part of the history of Washington State College of Ohio (WSCO). When he retired in 2000 from his position as Vice President of Administrative Services, he had invested more than a quarter-century of his career improving higher education in the Mid-Ohio Valley and supporting students’ pursuit of their academic dreams. Now more than 20 years after his retirement, he and wife Joyce Holzapfel recently established a scholarship with the WSCO Foundation that will provide opportunities to adult learners, the campus population that distinguished his career.
Holzapfel was hired in the spring of 1973 to manage marketing and advertising, less than two years after Washington Technical College was chartered. He was later promoted to Director of Continuing Education and charged with growing the college’s evening programs. “I started out working with adult part-time students and that was really a rewarding part of my career. Back then, some of them were older than I was,” Holzapfel laughed. His efforts were rewarded when the enrollment of part-time, evening was more than double the full-time, day students.
That growth sparked new opportunities. By the late 80s it was apparent that the institution had not only outgrown its facilities located on Rt. 676, it had also outgrown its technical college charter. Holzapfel assisted then-president Dr. Carson Miller, working with the WSCO Board of Trustees, to expand the mission of the college. From their vision, the Ohio Board of Regents approved the charter for Washington State College of Ohio and the expansion to its current home on Colegate Drive.
“The core of the community college mission is accessibility. I started my career attempting to further that mission, especially with part-time, nontraditional evening students. Today, Joyce and I want to continue that work by providing financial access for nontraditional students.”
Holzapfel and his wife endowed The Nontraditional Student Scholarship Fund, which will annually provide a degree-seeking adult learner with a $500 scholarship.
WSCO President Dr. Vicky Wood praised the support from the Holzapfel’s. “Adult learners will always be an important part of Washington State’s student population. This scholarship is a valuable means of fortifying Dr. Holzapfel’s efforts of supporting and expanding opportunities for our nontraditional students.”
