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Durojaiye appointed Vice President for Miami Regionals

Dean of Regionals joins President’s Executive Cabinet

ande durojaiye headshot

Ande Durojaiye, dean of Miami University Regionals, has been appointed Vice President for the Regional Campuses (image by Jeff Sabo).

Ande Durojaiye, the new dean of Miami University Regionals, College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science (CLAAS), has been appointed Vice President for the Regional Campuses. As vice president, he’ll serve as a member of the President’s Executive Cabinet, effective Aug. 30.  He will also continue to represent CLAAS and the Regional campuses at all deans’ meetings.

“Miami Regionals is an integral part of our university and Southwest Ohio,” Miami University President Gregory Crawford said. “Ande’s unwavering commitment to creating pathways and giving students across the region access to Miami has been extraordinary and far-reaching. As vice president, he will bring a values perspective and work closely with colleagues across the university and within Miami Regionals to better integrate all of our campuses and provide opportunities to better serve our students and the community.”

Rooted in and built for the Southwest Ohio communities it serves, Miami Regionals offers 21 majors in bachelor degree programs, 12 associate degree programs, and curricular pathways for students to start at the Regionals and complete more than 100 other majors at Miami’s Oxford campus. Miami Regionals serves nearly 4,000 students at locations that include Hamilton, Middletown, and the Voice of America Learning Center (VOALC) in West Chester, and through a robust E-Campus program.

“"I am a firm believer that higher education is the number one contributor to upward social mobility,” Durojaiye said. “My vision for Miami Regionals is two-fold: to provide the region with greater access to high quality education and to be the entity that drives upward social mobility and economic prosperity in Southwest Ohio. This is more than just offering classes. It’s about offering access to opportunities for experiential learning, civic engagement, and career exploration and development.”

Fulfilling a social justice mission

Durojaiye said he is committed to building on the Regionals’ success in deeply engaging with the community to fulfill the social justice mission of an open-enrollment university while aligning with the needs of the state and region for workforce development.

“Miami Regionals seeks to remove the challenges and barriers to pursuing higher education, whether it’s cost, or schedule, or test scores,” Durojaiye said. “Because we are open access, we can provide access to individuals who often aren’t afforded these opportunities, and we can prioritize and support first-generation students, underrepresented students, and nontraditional learners.”

Miami University began offering classes in Hamilton and Middletown in 1946 in response to enrollment booms in both communities following World War II. As the programs and area populations grew, the communities of Hamilton and Middletown both approached Miami to establish permanent campuses. This led to the opening of the Middletown campus in 1966, followed by the Hamilton campus in 1968. Both campuses were funded through state and federal funds plus major public support. Miami Regionals established the E-Campus in 1999, which has been ranked in the top 20 nationally for best ROI by Online U. In 2009, Miami University opened the Voice of America Learning Center in West Chester on a 20-acre site received from the U.S. Department of Education.

Changing lives, improving region

In 2019, Miami Regionals launched the Work+ Program, which offers students the opportunity to earn a degree debt-free while working 24 hours a week. Work+ students are hired into entry level positions and make commitments to the company for one year at a time. Work+ employers provide an hourly wage and pay the tuition and general fees for each of their Work+ students. The employers get access to top talent and solve issues with turnover. 

“At Miami Regionals, we are changing lives, beyond our students and their families,” Durojaiye said. “Many of our Miami Regionals students stay in Southwest Ohio after graduation, so by creating more and richer opportunities for these learners, we can change the trajectory of an individual, a community, an industry, a region.” 

For example, Miami University Regionals’ new certificate program in Manufacturing Foundations is designed to prepare students for entry-level positions in the high-demand field of manufacturing. Miami Regionals E-Campus has added and aligned majors to its Commerce Bachelor's degree options, including Hospitality Management, Small Business Management, Digital Commerce, and Sales Management. 

About Durojaiye

Durojaiye has long been committed to building educational programs to meet regional needs. Before coming to Miami, he served as the interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), previously serving as vice provost for undergraduate academic affairs at NKU. There he provided oversight to undergraduate education and several offices, including accreditation and assessment, curriculum, academic advising, adult learners, testing, first-year programs, and the Center for Teaching and Learning.  

Durojaiye also held leadership roles at Michigan State University, Florida Atlantic University, and the U.S. Department of Education.  

Durojaiye succeeded Cathy Bishop-Clark, dean and associate provost at the Regionals, who returned to her faculty line in the department of computer and information technology.  

A native of Atlanta, Durojaiye earned a doctorate of education from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, and a juris doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is also a graduate of Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management.