7/24/98
Contact: Lora Munsell, director of Precollege, (740)
593-1935
ATHENS, Ohio -- In what is shaping up to be Ohio University's largest Precollege orientation enrollment ever, members of the new freshman class and their parents are getting acquainted with the university and Athens during events this month and next.
Precollege allows incoming first-year students to spend a day and a half meeting other students and faculty, touring the campus, registering for their fall-quarter classes, and learning about campus activities and career planning. Transfer students attend for one day.
A new group of about 250 students arrives on campus each day throughout Precollege, which is conducted the weeks of July 20, July 27 and Aug. 10. With 3,323 freshmen and 360 transfer students participating, Lora Munsell, director of Precollege said this year's program is the largest Precollege ever.
"Precollege is really effective in building a community partnership with the university, parents and students," says Munsell. "It's primarily an academic program getting students and parents accustomed to the university."
After morning check-in, students learn the history of Ohio University from English professor Samuel Crowl and are welcomed as new Bobcats by President Robert Glidden. Students take math placement tests, faculty advisers assist them in planning which courses to choose and introduce them to their new majors, and student advisers show them how to schedule classes and negotiate the registration process. Each evening, social activities in large-group sessions allow the students to explore the Ping Student Recreation Center and watch skits performed by upperclass students that focus on issues of adjustment to campus.
While the students are busy, parents are offered a parallel, but less structured program.
They attend group sessions focusing on adjustment issues for them and their children, including campus safety, financial concerns and the changes they may notice when their student returns home from school. They also have the opportunity to meet with the dean or associate dean of their son or daughter's college and to take an evening walking tour of campus.
The residence halls of East Green become home for a night as parents reside in Washington Hall, female students in Jefferson Hall, and male students in Bush Hall. Students and parents alike get a taste of campus life in the Nelson dining hall.
On the second morning, parents attend a coffee hour at Nelson Hall, where they may talk with representatives of all student services offices as well as local banks and religious organizations. Students, meanwhile, are busy finalizing their fall schedules and posing for their student identification card photos.
The enrollment of freshmen this fall is expected to total 3,490, up from 3,309 in the freshman class last year. The increase of 181 freshmen this fall will raise the undergraduate student body by about 120 students, boosting enrollment on the Athens campus from 19,189 last fall to 19,309 this fall. About 200 students who are unable to attend the summer Precollege program will participate in an abbreviated day of registration and orientation before fall classes begin in September.