{"id":37254,"date":"2015-06-22T11:16:16","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T15:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=37254"},"modified":"2015-06-23T11:24:44","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T15:24:44","slug":"lake-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2015\/06\/22\/lake-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake effect"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bonnie<\/a>

As dean of Wright State’s Lake Campus, Bonnie Mathies oversaw surging enrollments, a nearly doubling of bachelor-degree programs, construction of the first residence halls and the purchase of nearly 40 acres for expansion. Mathies will retire at the end of June. (Photos by Will Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n

Her first office at Wright State University\u2019s Lake Campus was a picnic table on the rocky shore of Grand Lake St. Marys. She popped open her laptop computer, spread out her papers and held office hours as fish splashed and speedboats purred by.<\/p>\n

Today \u2014 eight years later \u2014 Bonnie Mathies prepares to retire as dean after overseeing a campus that experienced surging enrollments, a nearly doubling of bachelor-degree programs, construction of the first residence halls and the purchase of nearly 40 acres for expansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile you\u2019re in charge of the academic piece, you\u2019re also in charge of everything else,\u201d said Mathies, whose final day is June 30.<\/p>\n

When she arrived at the Lake Campus<\/a> in 2007 as associate dean, Mathies brought with her a world of experience teaching at Wright State\u2019s Dayton Campus as well as at inner city schools in Cleveland and Toledo.<\/p>\n

There are many memories. She once delivered a student\u2019s baby on the playground. She also accidentally flattened the dean who would hire her at Wright State.<\/p>\n

Mathies quickly won the hearts of the Lake Campus community, which found her to be interested, engaged and willing to contribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community looks at this as their campus,\u201d she said. \u201cThey take great pride in it and see it as an asset. That\u2019s the thing that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 8, Celina Mayor Jeffrey Hazel and the City Council issued a proclamation thanking Mathies for her contributions to the campus and the community.<\/p>\n

Since Mathies arrived, enrollment has jumped from 845 to 1,147. But the size of the campus still makes it easy for interdisciplinary collaboration.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy English teacher sits next to my physics teacher who sits next to my graphics teacher. We\u2019re not sitting in silos,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s small enough that everybody knows everybody; everybody knows the students. You have a chance to impact in a much more direct fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

This fall the campus will boast 10 bachelor-degree programs, including ones in engineering, business and nursing. That\u2019s up from seven when Mathies arrived. There are currently more than 150 students in the engineering program and more than 100 involved in various aspects of business programs.<\/p>\n

Also flourishing under Mathies\u2019 tenure are the agriculture and food science programs as well as a police academy that graduates an average of 15 students a year. A corrections academy and EMT program may be on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Mathies says one of her proudest achievements is further developing the quality and diversity of the faculty on a campus that draws students with a strong work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are hard-working kids,\u201d said Mathies. \u201cMany of them get up early in the morning, do their farm chores, come to school, work a job. Many of them have families.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only fitting that Mathies would finish her career near water. Her childhood home was Point Place, a Toledo neighborhood that nudges Lake Erie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up on water, big water, watching the lake freighters coming in,\u201d she said. \u201cI think I knew how to sail before I could walk. I\u2019ve always wanted to be around water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Grand<\/a>

Lake Campus offers 10 bachelor-degree programs, including ones in engineering, business, nursing, education, agriculture and food science, an MBA program and a police academy.<\/p><\/div>\n

Her father was a power engineer at Toledo Edison, and Mathies enrolled at the University of Toledo in 1960 with an engineering career in mind. But she quickly decided to become a high school biology teacher instead.<\/p>\n

After getting her bachelor\u2019s degree, she took a job with Oberlin, Ohio, city schools. She later returned to Toledo, where she taught English, history and biology in the public schools until 1974.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of my time teaching in public schools was in urban education,\u201d she said. \u201cYou need to be willing to accept surprises because kids who you would think would be the biggest losers in the world turn out to be the biggest winners. Some of the best teachers I\u2019ve ever known and worked with were at those urban schools and they were saints. How they cared for those kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mathies taught at the Jefferson Center for Vocational Rehabilitation, where she was the curriculum director\/designer for such courses as warehousing, food service and dry cleaning. The client\/students \u2014 ages 16 through the mid-30s \u2014 included ones recently released from jail and a mental hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding ways to motivate reluctant and challenged learners prompted me to pursue a degree in instructional technology,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mathies was part of a revolution in which technology was finding its way into schools. She used portable video equipment to film summer programs at community centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI delivered a baby on the playground of one of my students,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was on a picnic bench, and all I really did was catch the baby. Everybody was fine \u2014 except me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Mathies got her Ph.D. in instructional technology at the University of Toledo in 1974, she went to Chicago to market herself for a job at an event hosted by various universities. Roger Iddings, dean of Wright State\u2019s College of Education and Human Services<\/a>, was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was rushing out of the elevator and ran right into him,\u201d Mathies recalled. \u201cHe\u2019s literally laying on the floor looking up at me saying, \u2018And what is it that you do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What Mathies was soon doing was working at Wright State\u2019s College of Education and Human Services in instructional technology. She would go on to be an assistant professor, an associate professor, a full professor, a department chair and an associate dean.<\/p>\n

\"Bonnie<\/a>

Retiring Lake Campus Dean Bonnie Mathies walking with her husband, Bill, on campus.<\/p><\/div>\n

When she retired in 2007, it lasted only a few weeks. She quickly accepted an offer to become associate dean of the Lake Campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of curriculum things that needed to be done,\u201d she said. \u201cOne thing led to another, and the opportunity came to do the dean piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lake Campus was originally part of Ohio Northern University and is actually two years older than Wright State\u2019s Dayton Campus.<\/p>\n

And the Lake Campus is still growing. Its new acreage may be used for an advanced manufacturing center, a water quality institute and a collegiate-class baseball field.<\/p>\n

But Mathies is ready to hand the baton off to a new leader, incoming Dean Jay Albayyari.<\/p>\n

A voracious reader, Mathies is toying with the idea of writing a memoir of sorts after she retires.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have stories from my days teaching in inner city schools,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d love to write those up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bonnie K. Mathies Scholarship has been established to recognize Mathies’ legacy of leadership and giving to Wright State. Gifts in support of the scholarship fund from individual donors (which are tax deductible) may be made by cash, bequests in wills, marketable securities, beneficiary of living trusts, retirement plan assets or life insurance. Cash gifts should be made payable by check to the Western Ohio Educational Foundation (WOEF), and mailed to: Attn. Julie M. Miller, 7600 Lake Campus Drive, 106 Dwyer Hall, Celina, OH\u00a0 45822-1918.<\/em><\/p>\n

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As dean of Wright State’s Lake Campus, Bonnie Mathies oversaw surging enrollments, a nearly doubling of bachelor-degree programs and the purchase of nearly 40 acres for expansion. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":37256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2038,2104,2023,744,725,731,715,2024],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-campus-growth","category-teacher-education","category-faculty","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-lake-campus","category-news","category-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37254"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37265,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37254\/revisions\/37265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}