President Corey Cockerill marveled at “The Remarkable Wilmington College” as it stands on the precipice of a new academic year. She addressed a gathering of faculty, staff and coaches at the Opening Year Meeting on Tuesday (Aug. 18), the annual kickoff to the Fall Semester for employees. Classes start on Aug. 24.
The College is enjoying the highest student retention rate in its 156-year history. Last year’s student satisfaction survey found that more than 86 percent of respondents explicitly enjoyed their WC experience, and the College earned high national rankings for employee satisfaction from Top Workplaces. Also, recent college ranking organizations named the institution a College of Distinction and placed WC’s online accounting program among the top five in Ohio and its Academic Farm in the top three in the nation.
Cockerill noted that these days the concept of algorithms — a precise recipe leading to a desired output — is prevalent when finding success in entities like social media and website engagement. She posed the question: What algorithm led to these successes at WC? “We can study all the variables and crunch all the numbers, trying to understand, duplicate or even predict success,” Cockerill said. “We can look at enrollment, retention, rankings, fundraising, student outcomes and all the other measures we use to understand how we’re doing. But the answer won’t be found in the statistics.
PHOTO: Head Men's Soccer Coach Cory Bucur and Assistant Coach Omar Najjar welcome back several of the team's veteran players on Monday morning when members of the volleyball, men's and women's cross country, and men's and women's soccer teams moved back to campus. The football team arrived last week and new students will make their debut on campus on Thursday morning.
“We know what’s working at Wilmington College — we know our special sauce,” she said. “It’s the people!”
And with that, she launched into showing nearly 100 images of faculty, staff and coaches engaged with students, in their work environment and having fun on campus — all against the audible backdrop of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Skies” — the band’s feel-good ode to “a beautiful new day, and the day we’ve waited for.”
That ELO classic is one of 83 songs submitted by WC employees when the president asked them to share a song that reflects their feelings about the upcoming school year. The playlist, “Wilmington College Vibes 2026-27,” is featured on Spotify and includes such tunes as “Believer” by Imagine Dragons, “Beautiful Day” by U2, “Ripple” by The Grateful Dead and “Better Together” by Jack Johnson.
TOP PHOTO: Faculty and staff members mix and mingle and learn about each other's summers at the Opening Year Meeting for WC employees held at The Ivory Grande in Hillsboro. Featured are Angela Mitchell, Sonja Wilkin and Anna Adrian from the Academic Affairs area. The new wedding and event venue is owned by WC alumna Tricia Howland.