Ashland natives Bob and Jan Archer recently established the ‘Archer Challenge Grant’ where people all across Ohio are being challenged to help support Ashland University grounds and facilities.

The grant will match a dollar for every dollar given in support of the project with their goal being to raise $1 million with a potential for the campus to get up to $2 million in total.

Besides residing in Ashland, Archer is also a member of the AU Board of Trustees that looks at projects involving the campus.

Rick Ewing, the vice president of operations and planning at AU said that the potential to raise a lot of money for the university is what’s so exciting about this grant.

“What’s exciting about this particular grant is that other people can contribute as well,” he said. “The fact that we have the potential to raise $2 million for the university really means a lot.”Archer established this grant in order to help not only maintain the university but improve it as well, he said.

“This grant is to reinvest and take care of what we have,” Ewing said. “We’re kind of falling behind in taking care of everything so Bob took this as a challenge and he understands how important maintenance is to improving and maintaining the campus to help bring in students.”

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Steve Shrenkel

There are many projects around AU's campus that the grant will help to improve.

There are many different projects that maintenance and facilities want to tackle and complete in order to help improve the campus, even some issues that might not be exactly be visible to the community, he said.

“There’s a lot of different elements that we might use this money for like roofs, boilers and other underground things that you may not notice because you don’t see it,” Ewing said. “There’s also things people can see on campus that we want to improve like investing in our grounds, our parking and our sidewalks. Bob’s been very flexible with the intent of his gift.”

According to Ewing, this grant will help them stay on top of projects, he said.We want to try to get in front of things before they become issues,” Ewing said. “One of the things we talk a lot about is the state of our campus and making improvements to it.”

Ewing said that he is extremely grateful for what Archer has done to help maintain AU.

“We’re very grateful,” he said. “It’s hard to raise money for this kind of stuff and takes a special individual that has a special insight into what their doing. There may not be a lot of recognition for putting a roof on a building, but it’s really important when looking at the bigger picture.”