Enrollment on an increase
Enrollment at the university has been tallied for the spring 2015 semester, and according to those numbers, both students enrolled and credit hours being taken have ascended.
The total student headcount has risen 1.2 percent since spring 2014. Much of this growth is coming from students who are dual-enrolled, or students who are simultaneously taking high school and college classes.
Festival of the Arts
The 2015 Festival of the Arts is almost here, with the opening reception to take place in the University Center on Friday, Jan. 30.
This year’s festival offers will feature an event about the resort town of Idlewild, an Introductory Welding for Artists Workshop with Dave Murray, a Valentine’s Evening Concert by the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, and a performance of “The Complete Works of Williams Shakespeare (Abridged),” among many more events.
For a complete schedule of events, pick up a pamphlet from around the local businesses downtown or go to www.brfota.org/pdf/calendar.pdf.
Converting first floor of Cramer
This spring semester the first floor of Cramer Hall will be renovated to fit the offices of Housing and Residence Life so that they can relocate from Helen Ferris Hall before the end of the school year.
Additions to West Campus
The university received authorization from the Board of Trustees this past December for pre-construction services to design up to four additional buildings to become part of the West Campus Apartments. These will be added to Finch Court and will be located on the north side of this court near the West Campus Community Center. The current plan is to start this construction in 2015 and have them ready for students to occupy in August of next year.
Peer-mentor awareness month
To help promote National Mentor Awareness Month, Ferris’ SCHOLAR Peer Mentor Program will be hosting a series of events. The program helps first-year students by pairing them with a volunteer older student mentor.
On January 22 and 24, mentors will be honored during half time of the men’s and women’s basketball games. On, January 23, mentors will have their home state or country listed on the Peer Mentor Program webpage, to celebrate “Mentors Around the World. January 29 will be the Scholar Program Mentor Appreciation Reception, and on January 31, mentors and their mentees will participate in the “Mentor Bulldog Challenge.” This challenge will include finding all of the bulldog statues around the downtown area, taking a photo with it and then posting it to the Scholar Peer Mentor Program at Ferris State University Facebook page.