Division of Funerary and Interment Services

Division Chair: Wilmer S. Dahlgrave, Lic. F.D. · Wing E, Room E-101 · ext. 2710

The Division of Funerary and Interment Services prepares students for professional practice across the full range of funeral service, interment operations, and cemetery site work. Programs are administered from Wing E, which maintains a separate campus entrance. Division Chair Wilmer S. Dahlgrave, Lic. F.D., holds a current Ohio funeral director license and oversees all aspects of the division's instructional and compliance activities.

The division's primary credential is the Associate of Applied Science in Funeral Service Technology, a 64-credit-hour program spanning four semesters. It covers anatomy, restorative art, embalming chemistry, pathology, and Ohio funeral law. Completion of this degree satisfies the educational requirement for both Ohio funeral director and Ohio embalmer licensure under the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. Students are required to secure a concurrent apprenticeship under a licensed funeral director; the apprenticeship is the student's responsibility to arrange and is not coordinated by the College. Licensure is not conferred by the College.

At the technical certificate level, the division offers programs in Disinterment and Cemetery Relocation (20 credit hours) and Cemetery Grounds and Monument Services (16 credit hours). The disinterment program addresses authorized exhumation, remains relocation under ORC 517.23 and 517.24, chain of custody procedures, commingled remains protocol, and NAGPRA notification requirements. All field work is performed under permit and under the supervision of a licensed funeral director. Cemetery Grounds and Monument Services covers monument setting and resetting, foundation work, granite and marble cleaning, and grave excavation and closing in active interment areas.

Two additional programs — Crematory Operations and Field Monitoring for Cultural Resources — are pending programmatic accreditation review and are not currently enrolling students.

Instructional settings include the Wing E preparation laboratory, which is equipped for embalming, restorative art, and case preparation work. The division also maintains a monument-setting yard for hands-on foundation and stone work, and an affiliated cemetery practicum ground used for supervised field exercises in excavation, closing, and site care. Access to the preparation laboratory is limited to enrolled students and credentialed personnel.

Programs

Suspended and teach-out programs are not accepting applications. Enrolled students are taught out under the published teach-out plan, available from the Registrar. Programs approved by the Board of Trustees and pending accreditor action are listed separately at Proposed Programs.