MURFREESBORO — Chattanooga will be the first stop on the
statewide Middle Tennessee State University True Blue Tour to recruit
outstanding students from Hamilton and surrounding counties Wednesday, Sept.
17, at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
And while it will
be physically impossible to transport a 257,000-square-foot structure down
Interstate 24 by bus, the recently opened $147 million Science Building will be
at the forefront of President Sidney A. McPhee’s agenda when talking to
prospective students, their parents or guardians and alumni.
MTSU will hold
the True Blue Tour event for all high school and potential transfer students
and their families from 6 to 8 p.m. EDT in the convention center, 1 Carter
Plaza, in downtown Chattanooga. To register in advance, visit www.mtsu.edu/rsvp.
For a map and directions, visit http://tinyurl.com/mar46zj.
The event — where
deans and academic personnel from admissions and other academic departments
share the many available options and answer questions — also will feature
interactive displays including the 40-foot, $1.4 million Electronic Media
Communication mobile production truck and Concrete Industry Management’s mold
to make concrete coasters by hand.
The Science
Building, which officially will be dedicated in mid-October during Homecoming
Week, and major changes regarding future scholarship opportunities for students
will top McPhee’s remarks.
“The new Science
Building is critical to our continuing efforts to provide Tennessee with
graduates ready to succeed in today’s workforce,” McPhee wrote in his annual
president’s newsletter to the campus community in August. “The building is
already helping MTSU create more science graduates to fill high-tech jobs,
prepare more teachers for math and science in K-12 schools and enhance the
economy of our state and region. It immediately makes MTSU more competitive for
research projects, science scholarship and entrepreneurial efforts.”
MTSU hopes to boost recruitment of incoming freshmen and
transfer students with a recent change to scholarship eligibility requirements
intended to help more students ease the burden of rising tuition.
To attract more
incoming freshmen, MTSU is adjusting ACT requirements to offer scholarships to
more high school students eligible to take University Honors College classes
and who complete their MTSU applications and meet the Dec. 1 priority deadline
for applying.
For prospective
students who meet the application requirements and deadline, five major
scholarships will be guaranteed with annual scholarship amounts ranging from
$2,000 to $6,000. The required high school GPA remains 3.5.
McPhee again will
be emphasizing the MTSU Quest for Student Success Initiative, which has a goal
of reaching a minimum graduation rate of 62 percent by 2020. The university
recently hired a new vice provost for student success. MTSU is hiring 50 new
advisers who will be housed in individual colleges and have the latest software
to help shepherd students through their academic endeavors.
Chattanooga-area counselors and community college staff will
be served lunch and learn about the university’s more than 150 academic programs
earlier in the day.
MTSU will travel to Johnson City Sept. 22, Knoxville Sept.
23, Nashville Sept. 30, Memphis Oct. 22 and Jackson Oct. 23 for the remaining
True Blue Tour dates.
Fall Preview Days will be held Saturday, Sept. 27, and
Saturday, Nov. 1. True Blue Experience Days will be held Friday, Oct. 17, for
prospective students in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences; Friday, Jan.
23, 2015, for prospective students in the Colleges of Behavioral and Health Sciences
and Liberal Arts; and Friday, Jan. 30, for prospective students in the Colleges
of Mass Communication, Business and Education. To register, visit www.mtsu.edu/rsvp.
###
Media welcomed.
MTSU True Blue Tour at a glance
Who: MTSU deans,
academic personnel and President Sidney A. McPhee
What: True Blue
Tour, recruiting prospective students from Chattanooga, southeast Tennessee,
northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama
When: 6 to 8 p.m.
EDT Wednesday, Sept. 17 (Note: There will an 11:30 a.m. luncheon for area
counselors and community college staff.)
Where: Chattanooga
Convention Center, 1 Carter Plaza
Why: In an effort
to attract future students to the MTSU campus in Murfreesboro, university
officials travel by bus and automobile to “bring” the campus — 150 academic
programs and much more — to Chattanooga.
Etc.: All public,
private, homeschool and potential transfer students from southeast Tennessee
and northwest Georgia are welcome. …
Attendees will be treated to interactive displays including the
Electronic Media Communication’s 40-foot, $1.4 million mobile production lab —
aka “The Truck” — and Concrete Industry Management’s mold to make concrete
coasters by hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment