PERU — Call it the Peru State College Renaissance.

Less than a decade has passed since sluggish growth at the Southeast Nebraska college prompted the Legislature to consider closing it or moving it to another city.

But those years have seen a major turnaround at Peru State, which this fall celebrated its 140th birthday with on-campus festivities and a personal congratulations from Gov. Dave Heineman.

Enrollment is surging. Online education has exploded. Multiple campus renovations are under way. Private donations are up.

High morale these days? No need to even ask.

“We were a school that was limited in scope, limited in mission. … People were saying, ‘You need a big thing to happen.’ They wanted to increase the relevance of the college,” said Todd Drew, vice president for academic and student affairs.

“One of the first things we did was to reinvigorate the campus. It was that reinvigoration that got people excited about Peru State College again.”

Indeed, there is plenty of good news coming from the cozy campus tucked into a town of about 900.

Last May, a record 472 students graduated from Peru State, a nearly 140 percent increase since 1996. And this fall, preliminary enrollment figures show more than 2,000 students are enrolled at Peru State, a 10 percent increase over fall 2006. About 200 to 300 more students are expected to sign up this month.

Two multimillion dollar renovation projects also are in the works, including a $6.2 million upgrade to the school’s athletics center. The college’s endowment has ballooned from $5.2 million when Johnson arrived to $10.5 million now.

It’s fair to say no one’s talking about closing Peru State anymore.

And, well, that’s why Drew likes to call the past 10 years “the Renaissance.”

“We literally had a plan of attack,” he said. “Now it’s a friendly competitive rivalry (with other colleges). They say, ‘OK, you proved it. You can stop now.’”

Of course, times weren’t always so rosy at Peru State.

Stalled productivity plagued the college a decade ago, and by fall 1997 rumors had begun to circulate that the State College Board of Trustees was considering moving the college.

Early the next year, the board confirmed the rumors, voting unanimously to move Peru State to nearby Nebraska City, thinking the college could have a chance to make a fresh start.

Soon after, the Legislature approved a study to determine whether a move would be a cost-friendly option for the college.

That wasn’t all: A top administrator, David Ainsworth, admitted he’d suggested a white faculty member dress in blackface to satisfy diversity requirements for school accreditation.

Ainsworth stepped down in May 1998, followed by then-President Robert Burns, who was under fire from faculty for not rebuking Ainsworth sooner.

In a word, recalled longtime math and science professor Daryl Long, that year was “turmoil” on campus.

But Peru State was to get a second chance: The Legislature concluded that moving the college would have been too costly, and lawmakers decided instead to pump millions of dollars into campus renovations with the understanding the college would work quickly to boost growth.

New President Ben Johnson took the helm in 1999, an import from Thomas University in Thomasville, Ga.

From the start, he took his directive seriously.

“We had a unity of purpose: We want to grow and we want to grow with purpose,” said Drew, who was also new to the college that year.

Along with physical improvements, the college needed higher enrollment tallies — and fast.

Its solution? Online education.

Implemented in 2001, Peru State’s online programs have proved critical to its survival, attracting some 50 students in their first year and thousands now. A whopping 85 percent of Peru State students take at least one course online, and 1,000 students are online-only, meaning they might never set foot on campus en route to a PSC degree.

Online programs have been successful because they reach a previously untapped market, Drew said: older students with family and job obligations, single parents who can’t come to campus, low-income students who can’t afford to travel long distances.

They also allow for growth at a college that can’t squeeze many more students into its on-campus housing. About 900 students live on campus now.

And online programs are big moneymakers for Peru State: A resident undergraduate pays $110 per credit hour, plus fees, for on-campus courses but $157 per credit hour for online courses. Non-resident undergraduates pay $220 per credit hour, plus fees, for on-campus courses and $157 per credit hour for online courses.

As of a few years ago, online programs funded about 30 percent of on-campus initiatives, Johnson said.

He and other campus leaders readily acknowledge their college was saved largely by online education.

But other factors have played a part in the college’s growth, too, Johnson said.

Renovations and new technology have aided student recruitment, he said. Peru State also was ranked No. 4 on a list of “best buys” among colleges that offer an online graduate degree in education. The list was compiled by GetEducated.com, a Web-based counseling center for those seeking online degrees.

The University of Nebraska’s Kearney and Lincoln campuses ranked Nos. 5 and 9, respectively, on that list.

Now Johnson’s busy focusing on the future.

He’d like to see enrollment grow even more in coming years, perhaps by about 200 students a year.

He’d like to see Peru State become the state’s public honors college, featuring the best and brightest from Southeast Nebraska and elsewhere.

He’d like to see Condoleezza Rice come to campus to host a seminar on international relations, Stephen King to host a workshop on fiction writing.

Peru State, the Ivy League of Nebraska? Condi visiting campus?

Johnson chuckled.

“Why not?”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.