Archers are "Eagles for Life" with library bearing their name

05/07/2021  ASHLAND, Ohio – In mid-December,  Bob Archer called Ashland University President Carlos Campo and Vice President for Institutional Advancement Margaret Pomfret with some very pointed questions about the Campaign for Every Individual.   

One week later, on Dec. 28,  he met them on campus.  

Pomfret recalled Archer, a long-time Ashland resident and member of the University’s Board of Trustees, “had envelopes containing checks, there were so many envelopes … for scholarships, for campus beautification, for the women’s basketball team, and more – and he’s handing out checks.”  

“It was like Christmas again at Ashland University,” she said.

Thursday evening, the university honored Bob and Jan Archer for their exceptional philanthropy as the ribbon was cut on what will now be forever known as the Robert M. and Janet L. Archer Library.

It is the tallest building in Ashland County and Jan Archer recalled a time when the Chamber of Commerce considered a marketing program with the tagline: “The tallest building in Ashland County is the library.”

“I had the fortune of growing up here in Ashland,” said Mayor Matt Miller. “I grew up with the legends of the past, these giants who once walked here.” The Archers, “are living legends; you’re among us. We have no idea how widespread and powerful the Archer Effect will have on this community in the years to come.”

Still, Campo said, “there’s no building that can contain Bob and Jan Archer.” Having already made a $10 million donation – the single largest gift in  university history – the couple gave an additional $2.6 million just days ago.

“You are,” Campo told the couple, “the highest and best reflection of what it means to be an Eagle.” And though each holds degrees from other Ohio universities, the Tuscarawas County natives have gone above and beyond in becoming “Eagles for Life,” complete with their own cast-iron eagle just outside the library’s front doors. All of Ashland University’s eagles have names; it will be up to the Archers to name theirs, Pomfret said. 

The Archer Library will be undergoing some changes to make it a place not only for books and materials but also a place where students can be rapidly connected to services ranging from academic advising to the registrar’s office to financial aid and the literacy center. An active learning classroom on the first floor is complete and everything is designed to make the library “a place where students will receive individual attention,” Campo said, in keeping with the University’s “Accent on the Individual.”

Bob Archer said the decision to support Ashland University and its community came from a desire to give back to a place that’s given him and his adopted hometown so much. And, on a lighter note, he said he and his wife plan to leave very little behind when they die. Their money, he said, “is going to the City of Ashland and Ashland University, not to the federal government.”

Faculty Senate President Dr. Dan McDonald noted that the funding provided by the Archers means that students who never dreamed they’d be able to study at AU will now have that chance. And there’s no better building to bear their name: “The faculty see it as the heart of what we do. It is the center of campus and the academic endeavor,” he said. “Learning is the most consequential thing we provide here.”

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) offers each of its student constituencies The Ashland Promise, including “teaching students how to think, not what to think”. Committed to affordability, the University now offers incoming residential freshman the Tuition Relief Scholarship, as well as a variety of new forms of financial assistance for both new and continuing students. ###