AU graduate courses help longtime educator have a varied career, including his new director of administrative services job

Even though Geoff Halsey said he’s about five years away from retirement, the longtime educator plans to earn a doctorate degree before he retires.

That’s because he said he loves learning and being in school settings.

Some of the best of the many graduate courses the 52-year-old said he has taken throughout his education career were through Ashland University, where he earned his building principal license, as well as a master’s equivalency in educational administration.

After taking nine AU courses, Halsey became the principal in 2013 at Battan Intermediate School in Port Clinton, Ohio, before being named in early June as the director of administrative services for Benton-Carroll-Salem School District, which is near the Port Clinton City Schools’ district.

“Ashland is by far one of the top universities when it comes to teacher education,” said Halsey, who took classes at AU from 2005 to 2011. “Their flexibility and working with the teaching professional are second to none.”

In addition to allowing him to take courses both at the main campus in Ashland and a satellite campus at Lorain Community College while still working, AU also didn’t require him to take similar graduate courses he had already taken at Bowling Green, which he appreciated, Halsey said.

“The faculty at Ashland worked in the field or were retired educators,” Halsey added. “That experience was great because it was more teaching application than theory.”

Applying what he has learned through his many college courses has led to a varied career in education for Halsey, who, in addition to becoming a principal after attending AU, became a director of technology for Danbury Local Schools in Ottawa County after getting a master’s degree in classroom technology from Bowling Green and became an English language arts teacher in both Ohio and Indiana after earning a bachelor’s degree in education from Bowling Green.

“To be successful in education I think you need a comprehensive experience,” Halsey said. “At this point in my career, I’m ready for something different.

“I see it as an opportunity to use my experience and learn from the people (at Benton-Carroll-Salem Schools),” Halsey added about his latest career change in education.

Halsey said Ashland University will always hold a special place in his heart among all his experiences in education. It is also where his former football coach at Galion High School, Lee Owens, coached from 2004 to 2022.

Halsey, who has lived on Catawba Island in Ottawa County for 30 years, said one day he ran into Owens, who has a boat at Gem Beach on Catawba, at a local store, and Owens talked to him like he knew him forever even though Halsey was a freshman who dressed for the varsity team but didn’t play during Owens’ last season at Galion – 1985, which ended in a state title.

That interaction with his old high school coach, who Halsey has seen at other times over the years like at Galion Homecoming events and golfing in his hometown but doesn’t regularly stay in contact with, kind of represents how Ashland University treats its students – with a personal touch.

“It’s personalized learning; it’s an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything,” Halsey said about AU. “The education at Ashland is top notch. It’s one of the best schools in the area.”