 |
| This photo was taken for The Lane Report before the university began construction on a new athletic field and fieldhouse. |
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
Midway University is excited about new regional rankings, and dealing with the pains of growth that helped it get recognition.
After opening its doors to a record class of 274 new undergraduates this fall, the university learned that has made U.S. News and World Report’s list of Top 75 Regional Universities in the South, at No. 73. Among such schools, the university is ranked No. 3 in a category new to the rankings: social mobility, which reflects how it helps students with lower incomes.
The rankings are based on several factors, including student retention, graduation rates, class sizes and faculty resources. Social mobility rankings are measured by the graduation rate of students from households with less than $50,000 income who receive federal Pell grants. The private university’s annual tuition and fees are $24,850, according to U.S. News.
“We try to keep our education affordable,” while offering a personalized learning environment to all students, President John Marsden said. “It happens in the classroom with faculty, it’s happening with coaches, it’s happening with student affairs, but it also happens in ways you might not think about such as with the financial aid counselor or the business office staff who work close to families to help them navigate a very complicated process that is paying for one’s education.”
Student athlete Lynsey Doles, president of the Student Government Association, is a junior from Ripley, Tennessee. Doles is a scholarship student who said she was attracted by Midway’s personalized learning environment. “When I made the decision to come to Midway I was looking for something small where I was a name and not just a number,” she said. “Since then I have fallen in love with Midway University.”
The university decided to go co-ed to sustain itself, President John Marsden said, citing “tight budgets, decreased interest in single-sex education, and a national trend in declining enrollments."
Since going co-educational in 2016, the university has enjoyed record breaking enrollment every year, and is ahead of the timetable in its three-year strategic plan, which calls for 650 daytime students on campus by fall 2021.
With a daytime enrollment of 643, “We only have seven more students to go!” said Vice President of Marketing and Communications Ellen Gregory.
The spike in enrollment has been warmly welcomed by faculty, but the rapid growth has posed some new issues, such as accommodating incoming students.
Housing and dining are the pressing issues. Pinkerton Hall, the first building on campus, which dates to 1847, was renovated for housing just in time this summer to meet the growing demand.
“We did not anticipate such rapid growth,” said Marsden. “The university must be willing to act very quickly and adjust with the times. . . . We certainly don’t want any obstacles that will curtail our momentum moving forward.”
Gregory described this year as being a study in time flow, explaining “some things you have to think about internally are things like food service. How many people can you feed when you only have one dining hall?”
Logistics of class schedules, capacity, and smaller issues such as the proximity of waste containers to residence halls, are all operational obstacles the administration is looking to address.
The university is proud of its strong sense of community, and some students say they feel part of the larger community of Midway, the town.
“I do feel a sense of community,” said Logan Conn, a member of the golf team and a transfer student from the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky. “The school is surrounded by a variety of small shops and restaurants, and given the small class sizes I really get to know my professors in a much more intimate environment.”
The university is adding a baseball field and fieldhouse to serve the needs of its athletic teams. “We’re not building so that students will come – they are already here,” Marsden said. “We’re building so that students will stay.”
U.S. News and World Report’s rankings are available online and are to be printed in October in the Best Colleges 2020 guidebook. Find out more about Midway University at www.Midway.edu
No comments:
Post a Comment