Brief Summary

Education originally existed as a Department in the College of Arts and Sciences in the main campus building (now called Jones Hall) with George Wilcox as the first department head. When the School of Education was founded in 1960, it consisted of three departments -- General Education, Elementary Education, and Secondary Education. Joseph Franklin Swartz was the first Dean of the School and departmental offices located in the main campus building. Special Education was added as a fourth department in 1965. At about the same time, the School of Education was relocated to the Elm Street School building, a former elementary school in the Youngstown Public School System which was acquired by the University in 1965.

In 1968 the General Education Department was renamed Foundations of Education; in 1978 Guidance, Counseling, and Pupil Personnel Services split off from the Foundations Department to form a fifth department in the School of Education.

By the mid-1980s, the Department of Secondary Education had expanded to become the Department of Administration and Secondary Education. In the Fall of 1990, Educational Administration split off and became its own department . . . making a total of six departments in the School.

In the early 1990s, the building housing the college was officially named Fedor Hall. In 1995 the School of Education was renamed the College of Education and in January of 1997 the college was officially reorganized into three departments instead of six. The Departments of Seconday Education, Elementary Education, and Special Education were merged into one department - the Department of Teacher Education. The Department of Educational Administration and the Department of Foundations of Education were combined into the Department of Educational Administration, Research, and Foundations. The Department of Counseling merged with the University Counseling Center and the Reading & Study Skills Center.

In September of 1998, the College was renamed the Beeghly College of Education. All college departments moved from Fedor Hall into the newly constructed College of Education building, Beeghly Hall, seen below.

In spring of 2006 the Beeghly College of Education reorganized to make each of the three departments more equal in size. "The Department of Teacher Education was a mega department," Dean Philip Ginnetti said. "By breaking it down, we will be better serving our students in those programs." The three new departments were:

• Department of Teacher Education
• Department of Counseling and Special Education
• Department of Educational Foundations, Research, Technology and Leadership

All technology courses, the technology faculty, and master teacher secondary educational technology tract moved to Educational Foundations, Research, Technology and Leadership. All Special Education faculty, courses, and programs moved to the Department of Counseling and Special Education.

How the College Got it's Name

Bruce R. Beeghly
Philanthropist
YSU Board of Trustee Member
YSU Honorary Doctorate 2005

The Beeghly family has been in the Mahoning Valley since 1918 and has made its mark on the business and philanthropic life locally and throughout the country. This is nowhere more evident than in teacher, counselor, and administrator education. The construction of Beeghly Hall, home of the Beeghly College of Education, represents a partnership of private support from the Beeghly family and state funding.

Bruce R. Beeghly, a former member of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees, is president of Altronic, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of electronic products sold worldwide. Mr. Beeghly has served, and continues to serve, K-16 education in numerous ways. He was elected to two terms on the Liberty Local Board of Education. He is a past trustee of the Youngstown State University Foundation and also served as a member of the Ohio Board of Regents Higher Education Funding Commission. He was appointed by Governor Taft to the Ohio Board of Regents in 2002.

Mr. Beeghly, as a member of the YSU Board of Trustees, demonstrated a keen, personal interest in the building from its planning stages to the end of construction. He continued to share his family's vision that YSU, with a new up-to-date teacher education facility, would become a focal point for educational development throughout the region.

The building was dedicated on October 15, 1998 and Mr. Beeghly spoke at the ceremony on behalf of all the Beeghly Family Donors. The complete donor list appears on a plaque located in the atrium entrance to the building and is reproduced to the right.