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At the close of spring semester, students in 91���� Marion Associate Professor of Psychology, Dr. Nikole Patson's psychology 4554 language development, service-learning course came together with representatives from Let's Read 20, the Marion Public Library, and fellow students in Dr. Ben McCorkle's English 4569 digital and English studies course to officially launch a bilingual book walk literacy initiative at Marion's Tall Grass Trail for the people of the Marion community.

Julie Prince is the coordinator of disability services at 91���� at Marion. She said her interest in working with students with disabilities can be traced back to her mother who arranged for Prince's Scout troop to volunteer at a banquet for people with disabilities and encouraged her to become a helper.

A softball and baseball clinic for area youth was held the the River Valley complex in honor of the late Greg Swepston. The clinic was a fundraiser for the Greg Swepston Gymnasium Campaign. The campaign is working to raise $250,000 to renovate and rename the gymnasium at The Alber Student Center on campus

To her, it’s about the power of education — and creating opportunities for students. “I knew I wanted to go to college and my parents were very supportive of that,” said Nikole Patson. “But beyond that, I didn’t really think about what I would do.” Dr. Nikole Patson is an associate professor of psychology at 91���� at Marion. She said her research focuses on language comprehension. She conducts language research in her lab in Marion and in the language sciences lab at COSI. Today, Dr. Nikole Patson is an associate professor of psychology at OSU Marion.

91���� Marion Professor of History, Dr. Margaret Sumner leads a series of free public lectures in downtown Marion summer of 2023 focusing on the history of Black citizens in Marion.

Middle school students from five area schools came to the Marion campus to test their math prowess in the Annual Math Challenge, hosted by 91���� at Marion and Marion Technical College. The top math students from 145 competitors were awarded a total of $13,500 in scholarships to these colleges.

The late Greg Swepston loved sports, but his passion was baseball. A former head baseball coach at Marion Harding in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Swepston also worked for decades as a Major League Baseball scout and was a regular at the annual hall of fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y. It's only fitting that a youth baseball and softball clinic be held in his honor.

91���� Marion faculty, Senior Biology Lecturer, Melissa Petreaca; Senior English Lecturer, Peter Dully; and Assistant Professor of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Jonathan Calede were formally recognized with the 2023 Marion Campus Teaching Excellence Award during the campus's annual Academic Recognition Ceremony, Friday, April 21, in Morrill Hall Auditorium.

From health care justice to entrepreneurship, these grads are building a more vibrant tomorrow.