ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Ohio University Eastern campus is undergoing a significant transformation in a number of ways — by way of a multimillion-dollar renovation and through an ongoing organizational evolution, as well.

OUE Dean of Campus and Community Relations David Rohall said efforts to propel the regional campus in St. Clairsville into the future have been multifaceted, but the overarching goal is finding ways to better serve the area’s students and provide them access to a solid path toward a successful career.

Like has been the case at all institutions of higher learning, paving this path comes with many challenges, and Rohall has helped OUE forge its way forward through many of them. He has been at the helm through the unprecedented and game-changing post-pandemic period when all colleges were forced to adapt to — and in some cases adopt — new methods of teaching.

In the wake of overcoming such obstacles, Rohall has been recognized for his leadership and work to enhance the campus facilities, foster new academic opportunities and strengthen the relationship between the university and its regional community.

Rohall’s career in higher education included chapters spent teaching at the University of New Hampshire and at Western Illinois University. He also worked in an administrative position at Missouri State University, where he served as the department head of Sociology and Anthropology, before coming to OUE to work in his current role four years ago.

“I would say the last four years, we’ve done some major renovations on the campus, and we’ve changed sort of how we run the campus in a lot of different ways,” he said, citing the number of physical upgrades and organizational advancements that have taken place.

Currently, the entire first floor of Shannon Hall is closed for a complete renovation. This summer, the occupants of the second and third floors will be relocated to the first floor after its completion, and renovations will then take place on the upper floors.

“So we’re doing some major work,” Rohall said. “It’s a multimillion-dollar project updating this space.”

OUE is also working with the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center, which in recent years purchased the gymnasium facility on campus formerly known as the Health and Physical Education Center (originally known as the Ney Center), as well as the Science and Engineering Building. Rohall said the ESC is spearheading major upgrades in the gym and remains in partnership with OUE. Students still have access to the facility, which is also frequently used by the community.

Rohall noted that the ESC received a grant that will allow it to make new services available to students and to the community with a new physical health and dental clinic inside the facility next door.

“The long-term goal is to get more people on campus and using the space,” Rohall said. “The gym is going to be bringing people on campus who otherwise would not be on campus as much.”

Shannon Hall also boasts spaces that are open to the community. The art gallery in Shannon Hall is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday featuring work of regional artists, and the library is open to the general public as well. Rohall described the campus library as a “world-class” facility that has tapped resources from the Ohio University library in Athens.

“The university in the last four years has combined more effort with the main campus, so that allows us to have a lot of access to materials that we didn’t have access to five years ago,” he said. “The campus has always been open to the public, but now there’s going to be multiple ways to serve the public in a way that I don’t think were available to us five years ago.”

Among people OUE officials hope to bring to campus are, of course, future students. And one looming challenge is to navigate through what is projected to be a noticeable drop in the teen demographic. Birth rates have been going down, and the Midwest and Northeast parts of the country are bracing for the hardest hits in the next several years, Rohall indicated.

“I think we’ve done a good job with maintaining enrollment here, and we’re going to develop strategies for growth,” he said. “But you need to continue to work on those things. You can’t just assume there’s going to be a population out there. But growth in the economy will help with growth of population. And you’ve always got to make sure you have the programs that students want.”

Rohall said OUE works well with other institutions of higher learning in the area to provide a variety of educational options with minimal instances of overlapping programs. And they work collaboratively to meet the needs of the community — needs that are always changing.

For example, Intel is building a massive $20 billion computer chip factory on the east side of Columbus, and the impact of that investment will have a ripple effect in the region. Colleges must be ready to help provide a workforce that is educated, trained and ready to fill what is expected to be thousands of high-paying positions.

“We continue to look for programming that will meet the needs of the students and the kind of programming they’d like to see,” Rohall said, citing OUE’s new psychology program that opened last year. The sociology-criminology program is also fairly new at OUE, as is the general studies program.

OUE also offers its signature programs — such as its four-year nursing degree and its four-year education programming for future teachers. Those programs continue to grow, along with OUE’s business program, which has evolved to offer parallel options to those at the Athens campus.

Through a network of courses available to OUE students through all of the OU regional campuses, students are able to access a wide variety of course offerings through a variety of teaching options — from in-person classes to online courses to “synchronously” instructed classrooms.

Earlier this year, OUE announced that Rohall will be stepping down as dean and returning to a role in the faculty, effective May 15. Plans for campus leadership at OUE are expected to be announced in the coming months.

“It has been a privilege and honor to serve as the Dean of Campus and Community Relations at Ohio University Eastern,” Rohall said. “I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated faculty and staff who create an exceptional learning environment and to the community for their unwavering support throughout my tenure.”

Meanwhile, renovations to Shannon Hall are expected to continue through this summer, and there will also be updated signage on the outside and improvements to the parking areas.