Ron Schumacher named interim Terra State president

FREMONT - As Terra State Community College moves ahead with its transition following President Jerome Webster's resignation, the college has named an interim president.

Ron Schumacher, who served as the college's senior vice president and executive director of the Terra College Foundation, will officially assume the role of interim president June 1.

In an interview Monday, Schumacher said he has been working with Webster on transition plans and would continue collaborating with the departing president over the next two weeks.

He said he had not yet finalized an agreement with the board about his position as interim president.

"It would probably be in the neighborhood of a year," Schumacher said, as he sat in his Terra College Foundation office and talked about discussions he'd had with college staff members.

He also shared some thoughts on Terra State's struggling student housing facility and a proposed plan to bring intercollegiate athletics to the college.

Webster resigned May 16 after weeks of speculation about his future at the college. He had served as Terra State's president since 2012.

Schumacher said he told faculty and staff members in recent days that Terra State's president needed to be evaluated in three main areas: budgets, enrollments/partnerships, and campus culture.

"If we make decisions based on what's best for students and what's best for the college, we're never going to make a wrong decision," Schumacher said.

The interim president said he and the board hold a list of about 50 items that they are going over as the college transitions from Webster to new leadership.

That includes the proposed return of intercollegiate athletics to Terra State.

Intercollegiate athletics disappeared from Terra State Community College in 2005, but Webster had made it a longtime priority to bring college sports back to the Fremont campus.

The college's board of trustees approved in October 2017 the borrowing of up to $1.7 million for a bundle of projects that included intercollegiate athletic startup costs, workforce training equipment, information technology upgrades, and website development.

Of the $1.7 million in projected borrowing, up to $690,000 would have gone toward intercollegiate athletics' startup costs.

The college had planned to add men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball and men's and women's soccer teams.

Schumacher said he thinks intercollegiate athletics will eventually have a place at the college.

But he plans to put sports on the back burner for now and "pump the brakes" on intercollegiate athletics as he and the board focus on more pressing issues.

In addition to resigning his position as Terra State president, Webster is also no longer a Terra Village Holdings board member, Schumacher said.

Webster was one of the founding board members for Terra Village Holdings, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company created to oversee the 225-unit Landings at Terra Village residence hall that is scheduled to open for the 2018 fall semester.

Schumacher said Monday that 71 students had applied to live in the residence hall as of Friday, with 18 signing leases.

The college announced May 9 it is offering out-of-state students the opportunity to attend Terra State for the price of in-state tuition, plus $1, if they live on campus. 

Terra State Marketing Manager Amanda Pochatko said tuition is based on the number of credit hours for which a student enrolls.

For example, one credit hour for the 2018-2019 school year for an in-state student is $162 and for an out-of-state student it is $341. 

Pochatko said the goal is to have an increase in students from neighboring states.

For fall of 2017, there were 14 students enrolled at Terra State from Michigan and Indiana, Pochatko said.

She said these students were in a few select programs including truck driving and some online courses, with all of them above the age of 28 and none direct from high school.

"By extending the offer of a tuition discount and making scholarships available for eligible students, Terra State is helping attract new people to our area which will hopefully positively impact our region economically in the near future," Pochatko said.

She said in an email Tuesday that four out-of-state student housing applications have been submitted.

Pochatko said residence assistants and other Landings at Terra Village staff are not factored into the overall number of applications received, payments received or agreements signed.

Schumacher said he told staff members that the residence hall was a reality and would not be going away.

"We have to get behind it," he said.

Schumacher previously served as senior director of facilities and support services for Mercy Health's Tiffin and Willard hospitals.  

He has held several positions at Tiffin University, including vice president for advancement and public affairs, vice president for enrollment management and director of admissions. 

Schumacher has a bachelor of arts in communication from Allegheny College, a master of business administration from Tiffin University and a doctorate of education from Bowling Green State University. 

As he assumes the position of interim president, Schumacher will be succeeded as Terra College Foundation director by Cory Stine.

Stine previously served as the foundation's director before being named the dean of Terra State's Business, Humanities and Industrial Technologies Division in October 2017.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter: @DanielCarson7