For a grouping of profiles of persons affiliated with Youngstown State University, see: Category:Youngstown State University.

Youngstown State University

By the early 1920s, the Ohio Board of Education granted the School of Law the power to confer the Bachelor of Science in Law degree, and in 1924 the School of Commerce and Finance the right to confer the bachelor’s degree in commercial science. The YMCA also offered courses to prepare teachers for certification, a program that evolved by 1927 into a separate school named Youngstown College and recognized by the State Department of Education. Throughout the 1920s, the schools of law and commercial science were called the Youngstown Institute of Technology, which began a move from downtown to the present location with the purchase of several mansions owned by the Wicks.

In 1931, the YMCA constructed its first building, the present-day Jones Hall, and appointed Howard Jones as the educational director. By the mid-1930s, the Board of Directors decided to incorporate with the official name of Youngstown College separate from the other “Y” educational efforts; they appointed Howard Jones as the first president, a position he held until 1966.

In 1944, the trustees of the Young Men’s Christian Association transferred control of the institution to the members of the Corporation of Youngstown College, and in 1955 the corporation was rechartered as The Youngstown University. The University joined the Ohio system of higher education in September 1967 as Youngstown State University.

Dana’s Musical Institute, founded in nearby Warren in 1869, became Dana's Musical Institute of Youngstown College in 1941. In 1946, the Engineering Department, organized several years before, became the William Rayen School of Engineering; two years later, the Business Administration Department became the School of Business Administration; and in 1981 the school name was changed to the Warren P. Williamson, Jr. School of Business Administration. In 1960, the Education Department became the School of Education.

The Graduate School and College of Applied Science and Technology were created in 1968, and, in 1974, the College of Fine and Performing Arts was established.

In 1972, Youngstown State University, with the University of Akron and Kent State University formed a consortium to sponsor the Northeastern Universities College of Medicine, which enrolled its first students in 1975.

In 1991 the engineering technology departments separated from CAST and joined the new College of Engineering and Technology; the remaining departments formed the new College of Health and Human Services.

In 2007, the Rayen College of Engineering and Technology incorporated the science and mathematics departments from the College of Arts and Sciences. This reorganization linked science, technology, engineering, and mathematics on one hand, and the humanities and social sciences on the other.

Youngstown State University now consists of the School of Graduate Studies and Research and six undergraduate colleges: the Williamson College of Business Administration; the Beeghly College of Education; the College of Fine and Performing Arts; the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services; the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences; and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Degrees offered range from the associate, bachelor’s, and master’s to a doctorate in educational leadership and the Doctor of Physical Therapy.

Beeghly School of Education

Education originally existed as a Department in the College of Arts and Sciences in the main campus building (now called Jones Hall) with George Wilcox as the first department head. When the School of Education was founded in 1960, it consisted of three departments -- General Education, Elementary Education, and Secondary Education. Joseph Franklin Swartz was the first Dean of the School and departmental offices located in the main campus building. Special Education was added as a fourth department in 1965. At about the same time, the School of Education was relocated to the Elm Street School building, a former elementary school in the Youngstown Public School System which was acquired by the University in 1965.

In 1968 the General Education Department was renamed Foundations of Education; in 1978 Guidance, Counseling, and Pupil Personnel Services split off from the Foundations Department to form a fifth department in the School of Education.

By the mid-1980s, the Department of Secondary Education had expanded to become the Department of Administration and Secondary Education. In the Fall of 1990, Educational Administration split off and became its own department . . . making a total of six departments in the School.

In the early 1990s, the building housing the college was officially named Fedor Hall. In 1995 the School of Education was renamed the College of Education and in January of 1997 the college was officially reorganized into three departments instead of six. The Departments of Seconday Education, Elementary Education, and Special Education were merged into one department - the Department of Teacher Education. The Department of Educational Administration and the Department of Foundations of Education were combined into the Department of Educational Administration, Research, and Foundations. The Department of Counseling merged with the University Counseling Center and the Reading & Study Skills Center.

In September of 1998, the College was renamed the Beeghly College of Education. All college departments moved from Fedor Hall into the newly constructed College of Education building, Beeghly Hall, seen below.

In spring of 2006 the Beeghly College of Education reorganized to make each of the three departments more equal in size. "The Department of Teacher Education was a mega department," Dean Philip Ginnetti said. "By breaking it down, we will be better serving our students in those programs." The three new departments were:

◾Department of Teacher Education ◾Department of Counseling and Special Education ◾Department of Educational Foundations, Research, Technology and Leadership All technology courses, the technology faculty, and master teacher secondary educational technology tract moved to Educational Foundations, Research, Technology and Leadership. All Special Education faculty, courses, and programs moved to the Department of Counseling and Special Education.

How the College Got it's Name

Bruce R. Beeghly Philanthropist YSU Board of Trustee Member YSU Honorary Doctorate 2005

The Beeghly family has been in the Mahoning Valley since 1918 and has made its mark on the business and philanthropic life locally and throughout the country. This is nowhere more evident than in teacher, counselor, and administrator education. The construction of Beeghly Hall, home of the Beeghly College of Education, represents a partnership of private support from the Beeghly family and state funding.

Bruce R. Beeghly, a former member of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees, is president of Altronic, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of electronic products sold worldwide. Mr. Beeghly has served, and continues to serve, K-16 education in numerous ways. He was elected to two terms on the Liberty Local Board of Education. He is a past trustee of the Youngstown State University Foundation and also served as a member of the Ohio Board of Regents Higher Education Funding Commission. He was appointed by Governor Taft to the Ohio Board of Regents in 2002. [Source: YSU Beeghly School of Education, http://web.ysu.edu/gen/coe/History_m37.html]

Source: [YSU History, http://web.ysu.edu/contentm/easy_pages/view.php?sid=25&page_id=28 Youngstown State University History]