{"id":12267,"date":"2011-08-19T04:00:49","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T09:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=12267"},"modified":"2011-08-20T03:36:11","modified_gmt":"2011-08-20T08:36:11","slug":"ohio-state-president-gee-pays-visit-to-van-wert-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2011\/08\/19\/ohio-state-president-gee-pays-visit-to-van-wert-county\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU President Gee pays visit to county"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Ohio State President Gordon Gee speaks in the Grand Lobby of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center during a trip to Van Wert County on Thursday. (photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ohio State University Extension office in Van Wert County held an open house Thursday afternoon in the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio that included displays explaining the various services provided by the Extension Service.<\/p>\n

The OSU Extension event also included a visit by Ohio State President Gordon Gee, who brought his trademark bow-tie and ebullient humor to the community. Gee\u2019s local stop was part of a six-county trip that included a tour of local agribusiness icon Universal Lettering, which maintains an eight-decades-long tradition of making the official jackets for the national FFA organization.<\/p>\n

Gee ended up the tour at the NPAC, where he met a number of Extension workers and supporters and also spoke briefly to OSU Extension staff and those who came out for the open house.<\/p>\n

The OSU president spoke of Ohio State\u2019s Land Grant heritage \u2013 the reason for the creation of the Extension Service in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Land Grant heritage is very important,\u201d Gee said, noting that \u201ceach area of the state is served brilliantly by our Extension Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
A number of people came out for Thursday's Ohio State Extension Service open house at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He also thanked local residents for their support of a levy passed in 2010 that provides financial support for the county Extension Service office. \u201cRemarkable in a time of economic turmoil that you would show such support for our Extension Program,\u201d the OSU president told the group.<\/p>\n

Gee also noted that the levy would be up for renewal in 2015 and said he hoped the Extension Service would continue to earn local residents\u2019 support to allow for renewal of the levy.<\/p>\n

Following his speech, the OSU president said he had spent the last two days in northwest Ohio, which had given him the opportunity to see various aspects of the local communities, including farms and manufacturing operations.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Local 4-H club member Madison Pugh, a sixth-grader in the Spencerville Local Schools, shows off a robot she displayed at the Ohio State Fair. Her display was part of an open house for the OSU Extension Service's Van Wert County office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to see the university in action,\u201d Gee said of touring local farms and factories. \u201cThey\u2019re important to Ohio and so they\u2019re important to Ohio State.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ohio State president also said the trips are a way for him to see what impact his university has on communities in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to see what I do from the ground up, rather than the ivory tower down,\u201d Gee said of the trips.<\/p>\n

Gee appeared impressed with at least two of the sights he saw in Van Wert County: the NPAC and his trip to Universal Lettering.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I\u2019d like to have this facility on my campus,\u201d the OSU president said with awe while looking around the Grand Lobby of the performing arts center.<\/p>\n

His response to his Universal Lettering tour could be summed up in one word: \u201cFabulous,\u201d Gee said, adding, \u201cWhen you think about those iconic jackets they developed \u2026 just wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The Ohio State University Extension office in Van Wert County held an open house Thursday afternoon in the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio that included displays explaining the various services provided by the Extension Service. The OSU Extension event also included a visit by Ohio State President Gordon Gee, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 12:22:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}