BGSU Firelands is a satellite college that is connected to Bowling Green State University. BGSU Firelands is located near the shores of Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio, about east of Bowling Green, Ohio. It is a separate college of the Bowling Green State University system. BGSU Firelands has been a regional campus of BGSU since 1968, when the first building at the Huron location was opened. Before that, classes were held in Sandusky High School until this building was completed. The campus practices open admissions. BGSU Firelands had over 2,100 students enrolled as of fall 2019, 40% of whom were dual-enrolled high school students.
Campus
Facilities
BGSU Firelands has four buildings: Foundation Hall, George Mylander Hall, the North Building and the newest addition completed in 2003, The Cedar Point Center. The Cedar Point Center hosts an array of cutting edge educational technology tools for teaching or conferencing onsite and/or from a distance, via satellite and broadband communications modes. The Allied Health construction project was constructed during the 2014-15 academic year and includes the addition of more laboratory spaces for the health field degree programs offered at BGSU Firelands. This addition opened in the spring of 2016. Some off-site classes are held in Sandusky, Norwalk, and Elyria.
BGSU Firelands is also the site of the McBride Arboretum, a natural spot that was carefully thought out, designed and implemented to showcase the plants, trees and grasses that are a part of the natural setting of the Firelands region. The latest addition to the Arboretum was donated by Deering family of Erie County and is an all-weather deck built along one of the many small bodies of water in the Arboretum, which is long, on which students and the public can enjoy nature. The Arboretum is managed for BGSU Firelands by Erie MetroParks.
Faculty scholarship
Beyond being a school where students are actively encouraged to become part of the learning process, over the years, the faculty of BGSU Firelands have made many valuable contributions to the arts and academia. BGSU Firelands has two faculty members who are Fulbright Scholars, Dr. Larry Smith, Professor Emeriti of English, and Dr. Cynthia Miglietti, Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance; Smith spent his Fulbright year teaching in Italy, and Miglietti spent her Fulbright year teaching in the Czech Republic. Dr. Smith has authored and published many numerous creative works of non-fiction, fiction and poetry. Smith has also been the Director of the Firelands Writing Center at BGSU Firelands, since its inception some twenty years ago, which receives support from the Ohio Arts Council and has published an annual publication of juried work entitled "The Heartland". The FWC encourages members of the Firelands community to become writers and lovers of the written word, and also hosts monthly poetry readings at a local coffeehouse in Sandusky, Ohio as venue for artists, poets and writers to showcase their work. Smith has in addition presented at many working class studies conferences over the years and is acknowledged nationally as an expert on the works of Kenneth Patchen. Smith is also the principal of Bottom Dog Publishers and the Bird Dog Press—two local publishing firms devoted to the promotion of Midwestern and working class literature, since his retirement from active teaching, he has expanded his publishing activities. Faculty, past and present, have made great contributions to their disciplines and used their expertise to enhance student learning at BGSU Firelands. Dr. Theodore Bach, assistant professor of philosophy and winner of the Distinguished Scholar award, was recently published in the Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun; Dr. Daniel Kelley, assistant professor of geology, has integrated teaching and research by beginning a study abroad program for Firelands students to do field work in Iceland; Dr. Stephanie Walls, assistant professor of political science, has recently published a book on the topic of individualism; Dr. Christopher Mruk, Professor of Psychology, who has published books and articles on self-esteem; and Dr. Joel Rudinger, Professor Emeritus of English and Popular Culture, did his doctoral work with Dr. Ray Browne in the first days of the Popular Culture Program at BGSU, taught creative writing at BGSU Firelands and has had published many works on folklore, children's literature, poetry and the Alaskan Culture, including his latest, "Sedna--Goddess of the Sea," a children's book based on the Alaskan/Canadian Inuit explanatory tale of Sedna, the human mother of all warm-blooded sea animals. He also earned a Masters of Arts degree with a creative thesis from the Univ. of Alaska and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the Writers Workshop at the Univ.of Iowa. Examples of past contributions include Julius Kosan, Professor Emeriti of Art, whose contributions to the world of art have made BGSU Firelands a better place; Drs. Frank and Jan Glann, Associate Professors of Theater, whose many theater productions at BGSU Firelands McBride Theater and the BGSU Huron Summer Playhouse, and in addition bringing in such notables as three time Pulitzer winning Playwright Edward Albee as Artist in Residence at BGSU Firelands, have made the BGSU Firelands, a special place for theater; Dr. Ronald Ruble, Associate Professor of Theater, whose work with the Caryl Crane Children's Theater at BGSU Firelands has created opportunities for children to experience theater at an early age.
