Governor Mike DeWine has reappointed James C. Oda, of Piqua, and Dr. Thomas P. Milligan, of Sidney, to the Edison State Community College Board of Trustees. Both terms took effect on April 26, 2023, and will continue through January 17, 2029.
Oda graduated from Edison State and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Wright State University. He retired as director of the Piqua Public Library in 2022. Oda’s current community activities include serving as chairman of the Piqua Downtown Design Review Board, Piqua Planning Commission, Miami County Planning Commission, and Piqua Tourism Council; he serves on the boards of the Piqua Municipal Records Commission, Piqua Area Chamber of Commerce, Miami County Foundation, and the Piqua Foundation.
He has been a member of Edison State’s Board of Trustees since 2017 and was elected Chair in 2022. Oda has also worked as an adjunct faculty member teaching history at the College. He has worked in archaeological field studies and excavations in New Mexico for over 10 years and is the author of dozens of books and articles on local and state history, including the award-winning Encyclopedia of Piqua, Ohio.
A member of the Edison State Board of Trustees since 1999 and Chair from 2006 to 2008 and 2017 to 2019, Milligan’s stewardship on the Board includes testifying before the Ohio senate education committee on the importance of public and private alliances and their role in enhancing the quality of community college education throughout Ohio. He played a significant role in the creation of partnerships during The Campaign for Edison State Community College, which funded most of the cost to build the 35,000-square-foot Emerson Center at the Piqua Campus.
The founder and co-owner of Western Ohio Cut Stone in Sidney since 1995, Milligan is an equity partner in two other local businesses serving the construction and land development sectors. In 2009, he was chosen to receive the Excellence in Trusteeship Award sponsored by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC); in 2021, he received the OACC’s Trustee Leadership Award for the Central Region. Milligan also serves as the elected board president of the Reformed University (Corporacion Universitaria Reformada), a private protestant institution of higher learning based in Barranquilla, Colombia, in South America.
Edison State’s Board of Trustees is comprised of three representatives from each county in its primary service area—Darke, Miami, and Shelby.
Featured Photo (provided): President Chris Spradlin (left) oversees Dr. Thomas P. Milligan (middle) and James C. Oda (right) reading the oath of office at the April 26, 2023, Edison State Board of Trustees meeting.