Miami University’s recent Spring Commencement ceremony capped an eventful academic year 2023-2024 that saw the opening of two new academic buildings, as well as several other noteworthy happenings.

Building debuts

• The Clinical Health Sciences and Wellness facility officially opened in June 2023 and welcomed students in the fall semester. The 165,000 square foot building had its grand opening in September and houses the Physician Associate Studies program, Nursing, and the Speech Pathology and Audiology department, as well as the Speech and Hearing Clinic, the offices of Student Counseling Service and Student Wellness, and Health Services for students, faculty, and staff. 
• McVey Data Science, a new 92,000-square-foot facility, opened in January and includes the Department of Statistics, the Department of Emerging Technology in Business + Design, and the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, along with the Center for Analytics and Data Science and the Lilly Leadership Institute. Information Systems and Analytics also has a presence at McVey Data Science, which was dedicated in March.

Celebrations and Milestones

• A new learning space located in the heart of the Oxford campus dedicated to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma celebrates the relationship between the Tribe and the university. The miloniteeheekaani, or “the Myaamia classroom,” is located in MacMillan Hall and was a gift from the university to commemorate the unique bond between the two entities.
• Two new sculptures were dedicated this spring on the Oxford campus. Tom Smith ’50 donated Leonardo Drew’s “Number 381,” which is located between Young and Hillcrest Halls on Western campus. At the Farmer School of Business, a new bronze sculpture of Richard and Joyce Farmer was installed, commemorating the business school’s namesake.
• In October, Miami’s Project Dragonfly and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden marked 20 years of collaboration with the “Fiona Goes to College” event at the zoo. The celebration highlighted the monumental conservation efforts of the partnership. 

Student Spotlight

• Juniors Audrey Allen, Chanakya Pandya, and Cece Meinking – were named Goldwater Scholars for 2024. They were among the 438 students selected nationwide for the honor, which is the premier undergraduate award for students intending a research career in mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering.
• Junior Mollie Duffy became the first from the university to receive the Key Into Public Service Scholar award from the Phi Beta Kappa Society. The program honors a select group of liberal arts and sciences students who display an interest in careers in local, state, and federal government.
• More than 100 student leaders participated in Constructive Dialogues Perspective, a three-week pilot program on how to engage in productive discussions with people from different backgrounds. 
• Miami’s Undergraduate Research Forum celebrated its 30th anniversary. The forum provides Miami students the opportunity to publicly present research and findings from in-depth projects born from class projects, independent studies, and meaningful interactions with faculty mentors.

Around Miami

• Wil Haygood ’76 announced during the fall 2023 Freedom Summer of ’64 Award ceremony that Miami would receive the Wil Haygood Collection, containing thousands of items and documents from his storied career as a journalist and author.
• Miami University Regionals, the city of Hamilton, and the Hamilton Community Foundation announced the Hamilton Promise Scholarship in FebruaryThe program is designed to give free tuition for 2-year and 4-year degrees at Miami Regionals to Pell Grant-eligible students attending Hamilton High School, Stephen T. Badin High School, or Butler Tech from Hamilton City School District and residing in the city of Hamilton.
• Miami partnered with Butler Tech to establish a new advanced manufacturing education, training, research, and workforce hub in Hamilton. In April, the Butler County Board of Commissioners awarded $10 million to support the establishment of the hub.
• Miami’s Department of Nursing celebrated a major milestone with the first graduates of its online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. Seven MSN trained nurses comprised the first cohort. 
• Miami photographers and videographers captured the experience of the April 8 solar eclipse, a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Sustainability

• Miami President Gregory Crawford committed to carbon neutrality by 2040. During the May board of trustees meeting, President Crawford signed the “Miami 2040: Climate Action Plan for Miami University,” which outlines the goals and actions required to reach carbon neutrality on the Oxford campus.
• The North Geothermal Project  broke ground at the end of the academic year: 520 geothermal wells will be drilled under the Millet South Lawn, and the North Chiller Plant will be converted to geothermal, The project will be complete by summer 2026.
• BCRTA broke ground on the Chestnut Street Multimodal Station in January with Miami and the city of Oxford. The transportation hub project has been in the planning stages for more than 10 years. 

Recognition

• In the U.S. News & World Report 2024 Best Colleges rankings, Miami was No. 3 among national public universities for its excellence in undergraduate teaching.
• The John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Farmer School of Business earned its highest overall global ranking, coming in at No. 7 worldwide in the rankings from the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine. This is the 16th straight year the program has been ranked among the top 10 public schools.
• TIME magazine named Miami one of the 100 Best Colleges for Future Leaders. Miami was No. 14 among public schools, No. 35 overall, and the top-ranked institution from Ohio.
• Miami landed on a pair of Best Employer lists from Forbes, America’s Best Employers by State, and America’s Best Employers for Diversity.