(PRESS RELEASE / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
COLLEGE ANNIVERSARY … Defiance College president Richanne Mankey (right) and Barb Seddock, the college’s lead librarian, presented a program on Defiance College’s 175th anniversary to Archbold Rotarians on May 30. Rotarian and Defiance College alum Bob Aschliman is also pictured.
PRESS RELEASE – Defiance College, a private liberal arts college affiliated with the United Church of Christ since 1902, is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year.
Although it was chartered in 1850 by the state legislature as the Defiance Female Seminary, it spent most of its first 30 years raising funds to actually build its first building – Defiance Hall and then accepted its first students, according to Barb Sedlock, the college’s lead librarian and unofficial historian.
She recently joined Defiance College president Richanne Mankey to update Archbold Rotarians about the college’s journey since 1850 and its heyday in the 1950s and early 1960s when Kevin McCann, a speech writer for President Dwight Eisenhower, served as DC president and brought Eisenhower to Defiance twice.
Dr. Mankey, the college’s first female president, has led Defiance College since 2016. She explained that she has worked with college staff and the college board of trustees to develop a plan that has a goal of returning DC to a stronger position, including an undergraduate enrollment of about 1,000 students within the next two years.
Additionally, she said the college is working to strengthen its endowment and capital funds.
All of these actions will address concerns that the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) raised two years ago, Dr. Mankey told Rotarians. In fact, she said the college expects the HLC to lift its probation later this month.
Throughout this period, she emphasized that Defiance College has been fully accredited, including its degree programs in business, social work, nursing and education.
Dr. Mankey said the college has recently completed a $3.9 million fundraising campaign. Further, since 2015 Defiance College has increased the value of grants received from $230,000 (in 2015) to nearly $9 million (now).
The college has improved in other, non-financial metrics as well. The placement rate of DC graduates in 2015 was 74 percent, now it is 96 percent. And, in terms of faculty, 55 percent held a Ph.D. or its equivalent in 2015, now 81 percent of faculty have.
The college has also reduced its tuition to $25,800. However, Dr. Mankey noted that with financial aid offered through the college endowment fund and scholarships based on academic achievement, few students pay the full tuition amount.
And, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, a program called the 1850 Promise offers free tuition to students who meet certain requirements: a high school GPA of 3.0 or better, meet the financial need standards to qualify for the Ohio College Opportunity grant, and be a permanent resident of Defiance, Williams, Fulton, Henry, Paulding, Putnam or Van Wert counties.
Dr. Mankey added that the college also works with students with low high school grade point averages through a program called the Defiance Academy.
College staff work with the students on skills and in areas that the students need to learn. For those who are unable to do so, the college works with the OhioMeansJobs program to help the students get a job or pursue military options.
Dr. Mankey told Rotarians that the progress Defiance College has made in the last few years has been a combined effort of the college administration and staff.