MURFREESBORO, Tenn. —
Prospective Middle Tennessee State
University students and their families will enjoy an enhanced campus tour experience — featuring live, acoustic music by current
students — following upgrades unveiled this week for the weekday campus
visits.
The upgrades — live music, a walk through MTSU history,
selfie spot, a new video in cinemascope and surround sound featuring current
students and True Blue Bag Campaign
— are just part of the heightened tour experience that includes hearing a
recording by the Band of Blue
performing the MTSU fight song.
Excluding holidays, MTSU conducts daily campus tours, at 10
a.m. and 1:30 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters and once a day during
the summer starting at the Student
Services and Admissions Center, 1860 Blue Raider Drive.
For more on the guided campus tours, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/schedule-a-visit/daily-campus-visits.php.
University President Sidney
A. McPhee knows prospective students feel welcome when the visit.
“In an effort to expand this sense of belonging, the
admissions department launched the True Blue Bag Campaign,” said McPhee, with
every visitor given a distinguishable blue bag upon tour check-in. Contents
include an MTSU Viewbook, Visitors Guide and information for parents. “With
these bags, our campus visitors will be very visible, not only in tour groups
but also as they explore campus on their own,” he added.
In anticipation of more visitors, MTSU officials put plans
in motion for the additional amenities on the first floor of the admissions
tour area. The second floor houses the MT
One Stop, which provides an array of services in the areas of financial
aid, course registration, tuition and billing and transcripts.
"This
revamped tour offers prospective students an opportunity to become immersed
into the environment and culture of MTSU,” said Nathan Haynes, associate director of marketing and technical
support for undergraduate recruitment.
“We have taken
advantage of the architectural and technological assets of the student services
facility and utilized them to their fullest extent to create an innovative and
unique experience that also includes a chance to see our on-campus
housing," Haynes added.
Linda Olsen,
director of undergraduate recruitment, said the campus tour is “one of the key
steps in the decision-making process for prospective students.”
“We have
dedicated many resources to assure our tour stands out as students explore
their university options,” Olsen added.
Rob Janson, strategic communications manager in the Office of Marketing and Communications,
suggested and developed the idea for acoustic music, featuring students from
the university’s popular Commercial Songwriting program within the
internationally recognized Department of
Recording Industry. Five MTSU songwriting students have been hired to
perform original songs — giving them exposure and experience — 45 minutes
before the tour begins.
“The revamped
MTSU tour experience is really designed to be just that, an experience,” Janson
said. “We've essentially taken what was fairly standard presentation and
infused it with MTSU-centric programming that quickly immerses prospective
students and their families in the True Blue culture.”
“We believe
the music is the first of its kind on a college campus,” added Janson,
referring to the first-floor stage in the visitor’s lobby area.
Students can
meet with their admissions counselor following the tour, Haynes said.
Donna Baker,
archivist with the Albert Gore Research
Center, developed the plan for the history walk through and contributed
Gore Center memorabilia. Copies of MTSU
Magazine and MTSU Visitors Guide
are available for guests.
For questions about events and tours, email tours@mtsu.edu
or call 615-898-5670.
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