Master Plan Effort Led by Top Community Leaders
May 14, 2002
With a strategic plan approved by its Board of Trustees this month projecting for Ohio Dominican University to double the size of its main campus population by 2016, the 91-year-old college is developing a comprehensive master plan to accommodate the growth and improve its facilities.
A team of campus and community members, city planners, and Columbus business leaders is working with the national design firm that planned the Columbus Arena District to draw up ambitious plans for the physical space in and around Ohio Dominican for the next 15 years.
"We have a great team of talented, committed people to help us plan the physical needs of this campus well into the future," said Ohio Dominican President Dr. Jack Calareso.
The Ohio Dominican Master Planning Committee includes: Dimon McFerson, former Chairman and CEO of Nationwide Insurance; Steve McClary, director of the Columbus City Planning Division; Tom Fitzpatrick, Chairman of Elford Incorporated; Jim Gilmour, Senior Vice President and CFO of the Dispatch Printing Co.; Bob Schottenstein, president of M/I Schottenstein Homes, Inc; as well as other community leaders and Ohio Dominican faculty, students, and staff.
The committee is headed by Sasaki Associates, Inc., an international design firm headquartered outside Boston. Sasaki led the development of the urban plan for the successful Arena District, the neighborhood of entertainment, residential, and office venues surrounding Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus that is regarded as a national model for successful urban revitalization and development. Sasaki also has done urban planning and design for other major local projects, including the Capitol Square renovation, the OSU Schottenstein Center, the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), and others around Ohio.
Sasaki was in Columbus this week to share initial concepts with the Ohio Dominican community. The concepts include possible traffic calming on Sunbury Road, new residence halls, a performing arts expansion, new athletic facilities, a student center, and a library expansion.
Sasaki will share revised concepts with the community in early fall, and a final master plan will go to the Ohio Dominican Board of Trustees for approval in October.
The master plan is part of an ambitious expansion and improvement project for the institution announced in March by Dr. Calareso and the Ohio Dominican Board of Trustees.
The new vision for Ohio Dominican includes increased enrollment, expanded academic programs including graduate programs, execution of a master plan to renovate and expand facilities, expansion to off campus facilities, and a significant expansion of on-campus student extracurricular activities and improvements to residential life. Under the plan, Ohio Dominican will become a university in July.
Ohio Dominican expects to have more than 3,800 students on its main campus by 2016, more than double the current 1,672. These numbers do not include the off-campus population, which currently numbers about 600 on two off-campus sites, one at Tuttle Crossing in Dublin and another at Easton. The off-campus student population is expected to grow in the thousands during the same timeframe, as Ohio Dominican opens more off campus sites, including planned international locations.
"We are excited about the possibilities for this community as we work to build a physical space that reflects not only who we are but who we are becoming," Calareso said.
