Connected to Sinclair since 1965, former president Ned J. Sifferlen has helped Sinclair grow from a YMCA building to the campus it is now. In respect to everything he has done for Sinclair, they held a ceremony that honored him in naming Building 14 the Dr. Ned J. Sifferlen center.
Sifferlen started his career at Sinclair as a Business Technologies professor and moved up to the dean of Business Technologies in 1969. He was named the vice president for Administration in 1979, vice-president of Instruction from 1981-1991 and provost in 1991 where he served as acting president for four months. In 1997 he was named president of Sinclair and officially retired in 2003.
The ceremony was held on Oct. 15 and had a mix of Sifferlen’s family, former students, co-workers, and community leaders that shared their affection and gave insight to the type of person Sifferlen was.
“You get to know people and you care about them,” Sifferlen said. “You listen to them and try to guide them with what they can potentially do with their life. You always make sure they know you’re available and you support them.”
Sifferlen said he deeply appreciates everyone who came and felt honored to be recognized.
“We had a tremendous turnout tonight to share this great event with my family and me,” Sifferlen said. “It was very special.”
Former Ohio Governor Bob Taft spoke and said that Sifferlen was an inspirational leader who has worked hard to serve Sinclair.
“He was a great human being who loved Sinclair,” Taft said. “A very innovative person who helped the school get new technologies and find better ways to reaching students.”
The current President of Sinclair Steven Johnson said he has learned a lot from Sifferlen and views him as a mentor.
“I was the provost under Dr. Sifferlen and since that day he has become a very important mentor and guide to me,” Johnson said. “I have learned a lot from him and am thankful for that.”
According to Johnson, Sifferlen helped Sinclair with everything imaginable, from establishing Sinclair as a community college and deciding where the buildings should be, to raising millions of dollars for scholarships that have been given out to thousands of students.
“Dr. Sifferlen has continued to help out since he retired,” Johnson said. “He helped Sinclair with its campaign for issue 39 in 2008 and also with putting high school dropouts back into school, among other things.”
Sifferlen said he is pleased where Sinclair is now and excited about where it is heading.
“It’s one of the great institutions, there is all kinds of innovations taking place here with teaching and learning,” Sifferlen said. “I believe it can set pace for all community colleges, not only throughout the nation but the world, in terms of what greatness can be and how you can give a lot of people an opportunity for higher education.”
Not only known for his work with Sinclair, Sifferlen was also recognized for everything he did in the community as well.
“He served on so many different community initiatives,” said Taft. “Business, health, and human services initiatives, he was one of the leading citizens of the Dayton Community.”
A person who was known for helping others, Sifferlen tried his best to always accommodate anyone who was connected with Sinclair, President Johnson said.
“I started here when it was a small institution and one of the things that really drove me was the success of the students,” Sifferlen said. “Nothing was more important to me throughout my career than the students at the institution.”