Statue of Co-op Founder Herman Schneider Is Only the Third Ever Placed On Campus

The University of Cincinnati is the global birthplace of cooperative education – founded here 101 years ago and now practiced in 43 countries. (Co-op is where students alternate quarters and semesters in the college classroom with quarters or semesters of paid, professional work related directly to their major.)

On Oct. 10, UC paid special tribute to the man who invented what, in 1906, was considered the revolutionary concept of co-op. A bronze statue was unveiled on Herman Schneider Quad (formerly Baldwin Quad) to honor Herman Schneider, the one-time university president and dean of the College of Engineering, who invented and then nurtured the practice of co-op until it was widely adopted the world over.

Among the speakers at the unveiling was  UC President Nancy Zimpher who praised Schneider as well as the 27 untested UC engineering students who first implemented the co-op experiment by venturing into turn-of-the-century mills and mines to see what lessons they’d learn from the paid positions arranged for them. The past century, she said, co-op has benefited hundreds of thousands of students. In the 21st century, it will benefit hundreds of thousands more.

Current College of Engineering Dean Carlo Montemagno agreed stating, “Herman Schneider’s goal was to prepare students to work in a world where change is commonplace.”

The new statue – standing eight feet tall (statue and pedestal together) and weighing in at about 1,500 pounds (again statue and pedestal together) – is positioned in front of UC’s Baldwin Hall, where Schneider’s own office was located a century ago. The figure looks out over Herman Schneider Quad, a space dedicated last year during the centennial celebration of co-op. Rooted in front of Baldwin Hall, the Schneider statue feels at home, according to Kettil Cedercreutz, director of UC’s co-op program. But looking out over Schneider Quad, the statue is “looking far out to the future,” Cedercreutz added.

Schneider, UC and even the city of Cincinnati are so strongly associated with co-op that Webster’s unabridged dictionary once defined co-op as “The Cincinnati Plan.” Today, UC’s current co-op program is ranked among the nation’s Top Ten by U.S. News & World Report. It is the nation’s largest mandatory co-op program and the largest co-op program at any public institution in the U.S. UC’s co-op serves about 4,000 students who, throughout their student careers, work for employers in 36 states and 11 foreign countries. These UC students collectively earn more than $30 million annually.

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