Ohio Northern University

History

Henry Solomon Lehr founded the "Northwestern Ohio Normal School" in August 1871. When the college's curriculum grew to include pharmacy, engineering, law and business programs, its name was changed to "Ohio Normal University" in 1885 and, eventually, in 1903, to Ohio Northern University. In 1899, it became affiliated with the United Methodist Church to reduce debt.

Before the Great Depression, more than one thousand students were typically enrolled at Ohio Northern every year. Both the Great Depression and the following World War II plunged the school into low enrollment, and the possibility of closure was considered. During World War II, enrollment reached a low of 156 students. Thanks to the G.I. Bill, Ohio Northern was able to bring enrollment back up to nine hundred students by 1946.

Throughout the 1960s, a number of ONU students and faculty/staff participated in the American Civil Rights Movement. ONU hosted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 11, 1968, four days before his 39th birthday and just three months before his assassination. During his visit at ONU, King famously spoke regarding the myth that many immigrant and/or ethnic groups successfully pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, whereas African Americans were incapable of doing so. ONU honored King and his speech on campus with the unveiling of a statue in his likeness on April 17, 2018.

Growth continued under DeBow Freed through the 1980s and 1990s with additions to the Taggart Law Library, Presser Hall, Dukes Memorial, Wilson Art Building, Biggs Engineering, Heterick Memorial Library, and Meyer Hall of Science, and the construction of the Freed Center for the Performing Arts and a new president's on-campus home. Under Kendall Baker, campus additions include Dicke Hall, an expansion of the Robertson-Evans Pharmacy building, the Dial-Roberson Stadium and the Mathile Center for the Natural Sciences. In 2008, Ohio Northern University built and opened The Inn at Ohio Northern University. A new engineering building was opened in October 2019.

To honor professor Forrest Clingerman's legacy Ohio Northern University created an Honors course “Clingerman on Environmental Studies,” offered in fall 2025.

Organization and administration

Melissa J. Baumann is Ohio Northern University's 12th president, and first female to serve in the role.

Academics

ONU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The institution comprises five colleges:

Getty College of Arts and Sciences

James F. Dicke College of Business Administration

T.J. Smull College of Engineering

Rudolph H. Raabe College of Pharmacy

Claude W. Pettit College of Law

Founded in 1885, the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law was named in honor of Claude W. Pettit, a judge and former dean of the college. ONU Law has been fully accredited by the American Bar Association since 1948 and a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1965.

In the 2025 U.S. News & World Report college rankings, Ohio Northern University was ranked second out of 165 regional master's universities in the Midwest. In 2024, Washington Monthly ranked Ohio Northern University 9th among 223 colleges that award almost exclusively bachelor's degrees in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

Campus

Hill Memorial

Hill Memorial Building is a historic building on campus. The building was finished in 1879 and is the second structure built on the grounds. Initially, Hill held administrative offices and classrooms, though many University departments would enter and leave the building throughout its history. The building is currently the oldest on campus and one of the oldest standing structures in Ada. In July 2024, the administration of Ohio Northern announced the closure of Hill Building citing age and a need of extensive repairs.

Athletics

ONU students participate in intercollegiate, intramural, and sports clubs in a variety of sports. The ONU Polar Bears compete in the NCAA Division III Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). The men's volleyball team participates in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association in the Great Midwest Men's Volleyball Conference. The school mascot is a polar bear named Klondike.

The ONU varsity football team defeated Mount Union College in 2005 to snap the Purple Raiders 110-game regular season winning streak. The ONU women's volleyball team had an NCAA All-Divisions record 36 consecutive winning seasons.

National honors

1993 Men's Basketball NCAA Division III Champions

1989 Women's Volleyball NCAA Division III Runners-up

2012 Men's Soccer NCAA Division III Runners-up

2001 Men's Basketball NCAA Division III Final Four

2008 Women's Volleyball NCAA Division III Final Four

2007 Men's Volleyball NIRSA Division II National Champions

Notable alumni

Anthony Alaimo, jurist

Frank T. Bow, jurist and politician who was honored by naming the Frank T. Bow Federal Building in Canton, Ohio.

James Cloyd Bowman, a children's book author who received a Newbery Honor in 1938 for Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time.

Benjamin Brafman, a prominent criminal defense attorney based in New York.

William J. Brown, former Ohio Attorney General (1971–1983).

Anthony J. Celebrezze, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the 49th Mayor of Cleveland, and a Sixth Circuit Appellate Judge

George Washington Crile, founder of the Cleveland Clinic and inventor of the system for blood transfusion

Robert R. Cupp, former Ohio Supreme Court Justice and former Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives

Mike DeWine, Governor of Ohio

Simeon Davison Fess, a Republican politician a former president of Antioch College

Amanda Everlove, two time Paralympian

George Getty, American lawyer, father of industrialist J. Paul Getty and patriarch of the Getty family

John W. Grabiel, Arkansas Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1922 and 1924; Ohio native, attorney in Fayetteville, Arkansas, until his death in 1928