At one time, OVU offered bachelor's degrees in more than 30 different subject areas, but scaled back its academic options as enrollment numbers and financial stability dropped significantly.
[1][2] Seniors were allowed to finish their degrees without the loss of any credit hours in the spring semester of 2022 at several other institutions of higher education related to Churches of Christ through "teach out" agreements.
The former seminary contained a chapel, gymnasium, classrooms, cafeteria, conference and resource rooms, dormitory housing for over 200 residents, and a dilapidated indoor pool.
The school renovated the Stotts Administration Center and constructed two new dormitories (Smith and Rampy) on North Campus with a connecting lobby in 2003, consolidating much of the resident student population into one location.
The women's dorm on South Campus was sold, and Fox Dining Hall was turned into a wrestling facility and student activity center.
In addition, electrical and telephone issues persisted on campus for many months, contributing to the continuation of excessive delays in transcript requests and enrollment verifications for former students.
[10] In early July 2022, all real estate assets were listed for sale,[11] and the following summer it was announced that the former campus would be acquired by West Virginia University at Parkersburg.
[13] This news was followed several days later by a representative of the school announcing via social media that academic records of former students had been either erased or removed from the remaining technology available on campus.
Following favorable legal proceedings in late 2022, transcripts became available and were sporadically and inconsistently distributed to former students through the law office of Martin Sheehan in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Given the Christian structure of the college, many policies were in place to manage student actions and behaviors, including restrictions on alcohol consumption, sexual relations outside of marriage, and tobacco/drug use.
[15] Clubs competed in intramural activities, service projects and Expressions, a musical concert and drama competition held annually in the spring.
OVU stressed a Christian world view in its educational programming, and all students were required to complete an instructional Bible component each semester.
OVU held an annual lectureship series on campus, attracting leaders within the Church of Christ denomination to discuss biblical topics.
Energy was briefly a major focus at OVU, in part as an outgrowth of the growing oil and gas industry in West Virginia and southeastern Ohio.
OVU was also affiliated with the ACE Educational Foundation, which led efforts to construct a 90-100 megawatt clean coal gasification plant in Vienna, West Virginia by 2020.
In June 2020, the Higher Learning Commission placed the university on probation for failure to comply with the accreditation standard related to adequate finances.
The university was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), competing in the River States Conference (RSC), with competition beginning in the fall of 2021.
OVU's transition to NCAA Division II began when the school initially left the NAIA in the late 1990s, joining the now-defunct West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) in 1999.
The 2020–21 season began with a 1–1 draw with eventual 2020 NCAA Division I national champion Marshall University on February 13, 2021, in Huntington, West Virginia.
OVU women's soccer can be found in the NCAA Division II record book again in 2004 for allowing the most goals (31) and the most points (74) in a single game versus Wheeling Jesuit.
In 2017, the team coached by Luis Rincon tied an NCAA Division II mark by having the largest win-loss turnaround in consecutive years (2016: 1–15–1, 2017: 16–1–3).
The OVU women's volleyball team reached the G-MAC championship game in 2014 and was defeated in the final by reigning champion Cedarville University.