UC Blue Ash College opened its fall 2026 semester with more than 5,000 students enrolled, up about 3% from last year and the fifth straight year of growth at the Blue Ash campus.

The milestone, announced by the university Monday, Aug. 24, comes alongside a wave of physical and technological upgrades aimed at keeping pace with rising demand at the 135-acre campus off Plainfield Road.

Vet Tech building gets $300,000 makeover

The most visible change greeting students is a renovated Veterinary Technology Building, funded largely by a $300,000 grant the L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation awarded in spring 2026. The renovation was nearly complete as classes began.

The project's centerpiece is a new student lounge with seating for up to 30 people, plus a sink, microwaves and cabinets. It also added a conference room, storage room, exam/intake room and an office suite with cubicles for faculty and staff. The priority, according to the university, was giving vet tech students more space to study or decompress between classes and labs.

Digital dissection table arrives

Students in science and healthcare programs now have access to an Anatomage table, a seven-foot-long interactive touchscreen that displays life-size 3D models of human bodies and several animals. Users can virtually dissect digital cadavers by peeling back layers of skin and muscle, rotate models in three dimensions, visualize a beating heart, trace blood flow and simulate conditions such as a heart attack.

The table's cost was not disclosed.

100,000-piece glass mosaic installed in Muntz Hall

Artist Guy Kemper's "Sol," a glass mosaic standing more than 25 feet high and 9 feet wide, now covers a three-story brick wall in the Muntz Hall Atrium. The piece contains more than 100,000 glass tiles in warm colors meant to represent growth.

Kemper's work was chosen from more than 100 submissions reviewed by the Ohio Arts Council. Partial funding came through Ohio's Percent for Art program, which sets aside up to 1% of state capital funding for artwork in new or renovated public buildings with appropriations exceeding $4 million.

Campus at a glance

UC Blue Ash offers more than 50 academic programs feeding into area healthcare, veterinary and technical fields and maintains a 16-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio. The college, a regional campus of the University of Cincinnati, provides both in-person and online options.

The Vet Tech renovation's student lounge, conference room and faculty offices were open to students as the fall semester launched Monday, Aug. 24.