The first week of classes at Vincennes University is in the books and officials are noting an improvement in enrollment system wide compared to last year.
Kristi Deetz, senior director of external relations, said VU’s main campus had more than 5,000 students start last week.
Better than 2,400 of those are returning students continuing on the main campus with an even larger incoming class new to the school.
“The beginning of the fall term marked the second year that the Vincennes campus welcomed a larger incoming class,” she said. “The 4-percent increase in new students places the total campus enrollment over 5,100.
“We had a busy opening week with activities and services designed to help our new students adjust to college life,” Deetz said.
Numbers are also up at the Aviation Technology Center in Indianapolis, but have dropped slightly, by 57 students, at the VU Jasper campus, she said.
The university’s official report citing registration numbers for the semester is due out in October.
Along with the new roommates, classes and friends, a new student appointee has joined the board of directors, with his first meeting coming on Wednesday in Jasper.
Mark “MJ” Michael was appointed mid-July to serve as a student trustee at the university for the 2014-15 academic year.
While he may be a rookie to the board, Michael, a senior homeland security major, is no stranger to university affairs. Last year he served as Student Government Association president and currently serves with ranking position on better than four other organizations at the university.
“I’ve always liked helping others and putting myself in a position to help those I care about, and those I care about are the future of this university and the future of Indiana, our student body,” he said. “I feel sometimes the students aren’t heard in a manner that can actually make a difference, so I view it as my job to help the students’ voices be a little louder.”
Michael said he’s hopeful his impact on the board will voice the student body with more clout, while trailing the effects of the university into the Vincennes and Knox County community.
“I didn’t think I could go much further in my influence past becoming the SGA president, but with the help of people like Cindy Beals and some of my friends, I was able to find the one thing that brings me up to the next level,” he said. “It’s incredibly, and I want to represent the students with their say, their influence and give them a voice.”
Michael said over the next year he’s hoping to bring back an effort to make the campus smoke-free.
Right now, he added, the school has designated “smoking areas” and regulations banning puffers from lighting up away from the shelters, but the rules are rarely enforced, leaving smokers to congregate outside of buildings and along heavily populated areas like the sidewalks and parking lots.