Hiram dedicates new living-learning complex

Burton D. Morgan Foundation President Deborah Hoover joined officials from Hiram College Oct. 30 in dedicating the college’s first new residence hall in more than 40 years.

East Hall is unique, however, because it also houses The Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurship Center, the cornerstone of the college’s effort to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to Hiram.

“This residence hall is a symbol of what is happening on this campus,” Hoover said at the ribbon cutting. The Burton D. Morgan Foundation contributed $2 million toward the complex.

Some of the same students who attend entrepreneurial classes in the building also live there.

“We hope to integrate the in-class learning with the out-of-class experience,” Hiram President Tom Chema said.

Hiram is one of five colleges in Northeast Ohio to be part of a pilot program to introduce an entrepreneurial atmosphere to liberal arts campuses. The Northeast Ohio Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program is a five-year joint effort of the Morgan Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo.

Chema cited some of the changes the program has brought to the campus. Two-thirds of the Hiram faculty members have now attended workshops to help them integrate entrepreneurship into their classes, he said. The college has started a minor in entrepreneurship and has started to bring in entrepreneurs-in-residence.
This is “a living-learning community,” he said.