Eastern Gateway to Close Warren Campus
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Enrollment and “other factors” contributed to the decision to close Eastern Gateway Community College’s campus in Warren, the dean of the Youngstown campus said Thursday.
Eastern Gateway, based in Steubenville, announced yesterday that it would “discontinue academic operations” at the end of the summer term. Eastern Gateway moved its Warren center from the former Atrium Building to the former Mickey’s Army Navy store in January 2015.
In a news release, the college, citing “logistical and enrollment concerns,” said it will focus on increasing enrollment at its Youngstown and Steubenville campuses.
“Enrollment did play a factor but there were other factors as well that contributed to the closing,” Arthur Daly, dean of the Youngstown Campus, said in an email responding to a request for comment.
“The other issue is we just couldn’t find the best fit for us to continue in Warren. We looked at several locations and nothing truly fit for us. We wanted to stay but just couldn’t,” Daly said.
“We are looking to expand at our Youngstown Campus as well as offer new programs,” he added. Eastern Gateway occupies all of the first floor at 101 E. Federal St., the former Plaza Place parking deck, and a student service center at 139 E. Boardman St. downtown.
“Closing the school is a difficult decision to make at this time,” Eastern Gateway President Jimmie Bruce said in the release. “We explored every possible scenario to maintain our presence in Warren but we just couldn’t achieve the right mix of operational effectiveness to continue.”
Students at the Warren campus will be able to continue at Youngstown or online, he said.
Warren offers programs in teacher education (early childhood, middle childhood and intervention specialist), health information management, medical coding specialist certificate, business management and patient home navigator. All of those programs are provided at Youngstown, Daly said.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
