YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown State University expands its footprint south this fall with the opening of YSU Steubenville.
The new location has been in the works for years at the former Eastern Gateway Community College campus. That college stopped enrolling students for the spring 2024 semester and dissolved effective in September 2025. Its shutdown stemmed from financial and accreditation challenges mostly linked to its free college program.
“I don’t think anybody ever anticipated that it would take three years to go through the process of closing Eastern Gateway Community College down and getting ready to open the doors back up” as YSU Steubenville, says YSU President Bill Johnson.
It was slowed because of lawsuits against the former school and negotiations about ownership of the property.
“I was hoping that we would just be absolutely flooded with students registering for classes down there this fall,” Johnson says. “It’s slowly moving in that direction. We’ve had close to 200 applications. We’ve got well over 100 that have been admitted. We’ve got fewer than that, though, that have actually registered for classes.”
One reason might be that students are used to registering for classes on the same day classes start. That is possible at a community college but not at a four-year university.
“I want it to be better, and it will get better,” Johnson says. “We’re moving in the right direction with enrollment.”
Executive Director
The university hired an executive director of the Steubenville campus as part of its expansion.
Jennifer Board, a Carroll County native who lives in Jefferson County, called her appointment a full circle moment. After completing her graduate degree at Ohio State University, Board’s first job was at YSU. She commuted between YSU and her home in Jefferson County.
Board ran YSU’s bachelor of science to medical degree program, working with Northeast Ohio Medical Center. After she and her husband had children though, the commute, combined with daycare drop off and pick up, became too much.
“Then I came back to the area and worked in the local community college system,” Board explains.
She then moved to Wheeling University, formerly Wheeling Jesuit University, where she worked for the last 13 years as vice president of enrollment before her YSU appointment.
“So then this happened, so it’s a very full circle moment,” the executive director says. “Now I am still living in the same place that I was back with YSU, but I am seven miles from home.”
And she wanted to work in the community where she lives.
“I love higher ed, just in general,” Board says. “I love being able to have one small piece and touching that student’s journey to their degree, whatever that may be. But I just kind of felt a calling to get back in the community where I live, where my kids have been in school, where we go to church, where we shop, where we eat, all that kind of stuff. So I just feel very blessed.”
She believes as word spreads about YSU Steubenville, enrollment numbers will increase. Associate degree, certificate and credential programs are available at the campus and nursing and radiology have been the most popular programs among prospective students. Plans call for the campus to expand offerings, including bachelor and master’s degrees, as demand increases.
The university has conducted several events over the last several months at the Steubenville campus to get the word out about the new campus and what’s offered there. Those events included opportunities for prospective students to meet with representatives from various university departments including admissions and financial aid.
Board believes establishing and maintaining trust is about showing up and listening to stakeholders. She’s been meeting with groups including members of the chamber of commerce and school superintendents to introduce herself and communicate YSU’s plans.
One of her goals the first year is growth.
“My previous background was very focused on enrollment,” she says. “Well, what comes with enrollment is retention. So we want to make sure that all of these students coming in are having the best experience ever, because guess what? They all have friends. They all have family members. You not only want them to come back in January, but then you want to grow and build on
that.”
Through meeting and establishing partnerships with businesses and school districts, Board envisions creating internships and training aimed at workforce development.
“How can we address those needs in Jefferson County and how can we work with our area guidance counselors and superintendents to really listen and hear about what are the students looking for…?” she says.
Encouraging Start
Jennifer Adams, YSU provost and vice president of academic affairs, is encouraged by the response at the new campus.
The former Eastern Gateway had a substantial number of students who attended class in person.
“We know the potential exists, but our focus isn’t just on the enrollment growth,” she says. “We’re really hoping that we get the students to enter programs that align with their goals and get the support they need and ultimately get that credential.”
That’s where university officials want to ensure their focus remains.
As of early August, 68 students had registered for classes at the new campus – a number Adams believes marks a strong start.
“I think ultimately down the road we’d like to see a very thriving campus with a couple thousand students there face to face,” the provost says. “But realistically, I think the community has lost a little bit of faith in higher ed in that area from what they’ve experienced and I think having 68 students ready to go is pretty good.”
Like Board, Adams says university representatives must focus on providing those students with the best experience. Word of mouth is how more students will learn about and enroll at the new campus, she adds.
“They’re going to talk about the experience they had at YSU Steubenville,” Adams says. “They’re going to talk about the faculty involvement and the support they’ve received and I would expect those numbers to grow.”
Through starting the new campus and hosting events there, YSU officials have learned there’s no typical Steubenville student, she says.
“We’re hearing from recent high school grads,” Adams explains. “We’re hearing from adults returning to college, students who began a degree but didn’t finish, working professionals that are looking for new skills. And what’s been more surprising is a lot of retirees interested in continued learning.”
That also lends a greater appreciation for what the campus represents to the region, she says.
Main Campus
At the main YSU campus, new programs will debut this fall including the Ophthalmic Clinical Assistant Certificate at the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services.
“We are introducing a minor in artificial intelligence through our computer science,” Adams says. “We have a minor in petroleum and geoengineering resources. There’s a certificate that’s focused on unmanned aircraft and drone technology. And then out in the Steubenville location, we’re also developing an oil and gas field operations specialist certificate.”
Several other new programs are in the works including an associate of technical studies degree.
“That would create a really important pathway for students who have completed technical certificates, like the surgical technology or the ophthalmic assistant one,” she says. “Then they could apply the credentials that they got from those certificates toward an associate degree.”
Adams also lists a number of goals for her office and the academic affairs division this year.
“Our primary goal is to make academic affairs the place that helps students, faculty and staff solve problems,” she says. “For so long, the provost’s office has always seemed like it was a roadblock or not there to help. We want to make sure that our students and our faculty and our staff know that we’re there to help.”
Student success is the first priority.
“Of course, meeting our enrollment goals is important, but retention is going to be brought to the forefront of the conversation – yield and retention,” she explains.
With fewer students pursuing higher education, Adams believes it’s imperative to improve the yield. Once students enroll, it’s important to make sure all of the reasons they chose to YSU continue to be reinforced. YSU’s retention rate is about 76%.
The university is also working toward an R2 research university designation.
“We’ve heard from a lot of students that the biggest opportunities at YSU is you’ve got a semi-large school, but you have such amazing interactions with your faculty members, and that is strengthened with an R2 research status,” Adams says.
It’s a designation by the Carnegie Foundation that indicates high research spending and high research doctorate production.
Johnson says university professors conduct significant research in health care and particularly in additive and adaptive manufacturing.
“Our Youngstown Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center within our STEM College is getting a lot of attention,” he says. “Becoming an R2 university is part of our plan.”
The YSU president also stresses the importance of increasing enrollment.
“Another way that we’re going to be growing our enrollment is by expanding the number of online offerings we have,” he says. “We have a lot of our master’s and graduate programs already available online, but we’re increasing our online offerings in our undergraduate space as well.”
One group that will benefit from that is the country’s active duty and reserve military who are deployed all over the world. YSU also wants to partner with universities around the world, the president says.
“When our students graduate here, they need to be competitive,” he explains. “We want them to stay here in the valley – certainly, we want them to do that. But in today’s dynamic world where we’re all digitally connected, students have to be able to function in a global economy. We want to be able to do study abroad and to have students from around the world come to Youngstown State, share expertise with faculty” while YSU faculty go to universities in other countries and those professors come to YSU.
That will enable students and YSU to be competitive.
“Because if you can’t be competitive in a global economy, you’re not going to last very long,” Johnson says.
Pictured at top: Youngstown State University Steubenville opens this fall in one of the former Eastern Gateway Community College buildings.
