Ohio University-Southern

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Ohio University-Southern Founded in 1956, Ohio University Southern's mission is to educate, empower, and inspire. Ohio South

Ohio University Southern offers you the unique ability to complete your education from a globally recognized research institution without incurring the expense of relocating. Complete an associate’s, bachelor’s, or even master’s degree, and join the over 200,000 Bobcat alumni who have discovered the promise of an education from Ohio University.

Matt Jeffers became a nurse just as the pandemic began. While working in intensive care through COVID-19, he was diagnos...
10/13/2026

Matt Jeffers became a nurse just as the pandemic began. While working in intensive care through COVID-19, he was diagnosed with stage 3C colon cancer and became a patient himself.

Now four and a half years in remission, the 2019 Ohio University Southern nursing graduate has written about those years in his memoir, “Heartbeats of Hope: A Nurse’s Journey Through COVID, Cancer, and Chaos.” He’s donating half of the proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“Nursing is a job that we do. A lot of it is a calling, but it’s not who we are as people,” Matt said.

Thank you for sharing your story, Matt. 💚 Read more: https://www.ohio.edu/news/2026/10/new-perspective-nursing-southern-ohio-graduate-becoming-nurse-start-pandemic-battling

10/12/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Festival of the Hills on Saturday! The weather had other plans, but you came out anyway, and we're so grateful.

The art show and quilt display in Riffe Rotunda had visitors all day, and the food trucks kept everyone fed while the parking lot smelled like kettle corn. Several cars rolled in for the cruise-in before the rain came through, and the kids didn't let a little rain stop them from painting pumpkins and knocking down pins at pumpkin bowling.

Thank you to our vendors, community partners, and musicians for sticking it out with us, and to the faculty, staff, and students who made the day happen. A special thanks to OHIO Southern Electronic Media for this video capturing the festival before the rain rolled in.

Thank you for helping us bring Festival of the Hills back for OHIO Southern's 70th year, rain and all.

Thank you to everyone who joined us Friday for Resilient Appalachia, the Ohio University Southern Mental Health Mini-Con...
10/12/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us Friday for Resilient Appalachia, the Ohio University Southern Mental Health Mini-Conference! 💚

Austin Raines, director of career services at Shawnee State University, opened with a session on workplace stress and burnout. Next, Hannah Diehl and Michael Hickman of Integrated Services for Behavioral Health talked about how social media affects young people’s sleep, self-esteem, and anxiety, and how the adults in their lives can talk with them about it. Jennifer Lloyd, assistant director of RecoveryOhio, then demonstrated RecoveryRachel, which connects people with licensed and certified treatment providers across Ohio.

The morning wrapped up with a panel where our presenters answered questions from the audience. Thank you to our presenters for sharing what they know, and to everyone who spent their Friday morning learning with us.

We're open! Festival of the Hills is underway at Ohio University Southern, and people are already stopping by to visit o...
10/10/2026

We're open! Festival of the Hills is underway at Ohio University Southern, and people are already stopping by to visit our vendors and community partners. Out in the parking lot, the smell of kettle corn has taken over, and the first cars are already cruising in.

FAT BOY Q, SoLoaded, Culp's Kettle Corn, and Fizzy Chicks are serving all day, and there's a dining tent with tables if you'd like to sit down and eat.

Here's what's coming up:
11 a.m. Lady D
Around noon: Apple eating contest
1 p.m. String Therapy
2:45 p.m. Art show awards
3 p.m. Sasha Colette & The Magnolias

The cruise-in runs until 3, and pumpkin bowling, pumpkin painting, yard games, and the art show and quilts in Riffe Rotunda are open all day. Thank you to everyone who was here early setting up, and to everyone who's come out to join us. The festival runs until 5 p.m., and it's free and open to everyone.

ohio.edu/festival-hills

Tomorrow is the big day!Festival of the Hills is Saturday, Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ohio University Southern, ...
10/09/2026

Tomorrow is the big day!

Festival of the Hills is Saturday, Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ohio University Southern, and it’s free and open to everyone. We’re marking 70 years of OHIO Southern with the people who’ve been part of this place all along, and we can’t wait to see you here.

Here’s how the day shapes up:

10 a.m.: Doors open
11 a.m.: Lady D opens the music, and the cruise-in begins
Around noon: Apple eating contest
1 p.m.: String Therapy
2:45 p.m.: Inspire Art Show awards
3 p.m.: Sasha Colette & The Magnolias
5 p.m.: That’s a wrap

All day, you’ll find more than two dozen local vendors and community partners, food trucks including FAT BOY Q, SoLoaded LLC., Culp’s Kettle Corn, Fizzy Chicks and Arctic Roll House and a dining tent with tables and chairs so you can sit down and eat. Kids can try pumpkin bowling, paint a pumpkin to take home, and play yard games. Inside the Riffe Rotunda, the Inspire Art Show hangs alongside quilts from the Material Hugs Quilting Guild, who’ll be taking nominations for Quilts of Valor.

A few things to know before you come: follow the signs for parking, and if you’re bringing a car to the cruise-in, there’s no entry fee and no pre-registration. Alumni, stop by the Alumni Association table to say hello. And if the weather turns, we’ll move indoors, so come either way.

Thank you to America 250 Lawrence County Ohio, our vendors and community partners, Third and Center and Acorn & Oak Photography, the Material Hugs Quilting Guild, our musicians, and the faculty, staff, and students who’ve spent this week hauling hay bales and cutting bowling pins to get ready.

See you tomorrow!

ohio.edu/festival-hills

Tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 9, the Community Mental Health Awareness Conference returns to Bowman Auditorium from 8:30 a.m. t...
10/08/2026

Tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 9, the Community Mental Health Awareness Conference returns to Bowman Auditorium from 8:30 a.m. to 1:10 p.m., with this year’s theme, Resilient Appalachia. Dr. Austin Raines will talk about workplace stress and burnout, Hannah Diehl and Michael Hickman of Integrated Services for Behavioral Health will cover social media and youth mental health, and Jennifer Lloyd of RecoveryOhio will lead a presentation and demonstration. The morning wraps up with a presenter panel and audience Q&A.

Registration is free for students, and continuing education and professional development options in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia are listed on the conference page: ohio.edu/southern-conference

Some of the people who were at the very first Festival of the Hills are coming back.Margaret Reid, a former librarian at...
10/07/2026

Some of the people who were at the very first Festival of the Hills are coming back.

Margaret Reid, a former librarian at OHIO Southern, was one of the beekeepers at the original festival. She's been keeping bees for more than 45 years. When she and her husband, Bill, moved to Lawrence County from Virginia in 1981, they gave up their cattle but brought their bees. She's been named Beekeeper of the Year by the Ohio State Beekeepers Association, and the beekeeping classes the Reids started helped launch the Ohio River Bee Society.

This Saturday, Reid's Apiary & 'Bee-tique' returns with honey, beekeeping gear and books, and beeswax candle-making. Kids and adults can make a candle of their own for a small fee.

Festival of the Hills is Saturday, Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ohio University Southern. Admission is free.

ohio.edu/festival-hills

You don't have to wait until something goes wrong to talk to an advisor.That's the first thing Julie Buckler wants stude...
10/07/2026

You don't have to wait until something goes wrong to talk to an advisor.

That's the first thing Julie Buckler wants students to know. She joined Ohio University Southern in September as a success advisor in the Office of Student Services, where she works with students who are having trouble in a class, feeling overwhelmed, thinking about leaving, or just not sure who to ask.

"They don't have to have everything figured out or wait until they're struggling," she said. "We may not have every answer, but we can help them find the right person, resource, or next step."

Her own path took some turns. She worked in dental offices, including as an office manager, and later as a paralegal and a substitute teacher before moving into student support as a success coach at Shawnee State University, where she earned her associate and bachelor's degrees. Now she's working on her Master of Social Work through Ohio University.

She grew up in rural Appalachia, and that shapes how she works with students here. "I want students to know that where they come from doesn't limit where they can go," she said.

She's been married to her high school sweetheart for 23 years, and their daughter is in college now. She crochets and loves a good thrift store, and if you want to get her talking, ask about Elvis.

Stop by Student Services and say hello.

VESi offers online continuing education courses to fit your educational needs. Take courses when and where you want afte...
10/06/2026

VESi offers online continuing education courses to fit your educational needs. Take courses when and where you want after settling back in this fall!

Learn More: virtualeduc.com/ohio

Look familiar?This is the Verne Riffe Center under construction in June 1995.The photo comes from the Lloyd E. Moore Pho...
10/05/2026

Look familiar?

This is the Verne Riffe Center under construction in June 1995.

The photo comes from the Lloyd E. Moore Photograph Collection at Ohio University Libraries. Moore practiced law in Ironton from 1959 to 1996 and spent those decades photographing Lawrence County and the people in it. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and a selection was published by Ohio University Press as "Face to Face: The Photography of Lloyd Moore." He died in 2010, but he left behind more than fifty years of this county on film.

Ohio University Southern turns 70 this year. We'll share more from the archives as we go, and we'd love to see yours. If you have photos from your time on this campus, post them in the comments.

Photo: Lloyd E. Moore Photograph Collection, Documentary Photography Archive, Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections, Ohio University Libraries

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1804 Liberty Avenue
Ironton, OH
45638

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

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