[425] MTSU ACHIEVES HIGH RANKS FOR SERVICES TO ADULT LEARNERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE: April 20, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU ACHIEVES HIGH RANKS FOR SERVICES TO ADULT LEARNERS
Off-Campus Student Services, Director Awarded for Aiding Nontraditional Students

(MURFREESBORO) – Colleges and universities at the Association for Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education’s (ANTSHE) annual conference have bestowed their second-highest ranking on MTSU and designated the university’s director of Off-Campus Student Services a “National Treasure.”
In ANTSHE’s campus survey of members, associates and friends, MTSU received a Two Star rating for the services it provides to nontraditional students, the second-highest rating of the 47 uniquely identified institutions surveyed. Among the services graded are having a student organization, scholarship and services office. MTSU also received additional points for services offered above and beyond those graded, including peer mentoring services, a Website for off-campus housing and an annual adult learner conference.
Dr. Carol Ann Baily, director of Off-Campus Student Services at MTSU, was presented with the ANTSHE National Treasure Award. Baily, who was nominated by her peers, won the honor “based on her untiring efforts on behalf of the student on her campus and her continued advocacy through participation and mentoring of national programs for all nontraditional students,” according to an ANTSHE news release.
Baily is a founding member of ANTSHE and chaired the 2008 national ANTSHE conference at MTSU. She has served as chair of the Advising Adult Learners Commission of the National Academic Advising Association and contributed the chapter on advising adult learners to their publication on advising special populations.
In congratulating Baily at ANTSHE’s 12th annual conference last month at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash., ANTSHE President Jeffrey Bunnell said, “It was my honor to present Dr. Baily this award. I have known her for several years now and can think of no one who is more deserving of this honor.”
In a letter to MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, Bunnell wrote, “We congratulate Middle Tennessee State University on their achievements and superior ranking in support of nontraditional students and for allowing us the privilege and honor of recognizing an outstanding member of your university community.”
“ANTSHE is an international partnership of students, academic professionals, institutions, and organizations whose mission is to encourage and coordinate support, education and advocacy for the adult learner,” according to www.antshe.org.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color jpeg of Dr. Carol Ann Baily, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.