As classes commenced this fall, the University’s 2010 student body set new records in everything from enrollment to ethnic diversity to freshman retention.
The number of students milling around campus has risen by nearly 1,000 students each of the last two years. This fall’s numbers are no exception, showing the attendance of 23,389 students, which is a 4.5 percent increase from last year’s 22,386, according to official Oregon University System numbers released last Thursday. The University’s 3,978 newly admitted freshman, paired with 1,497 incoming transfer students, make up the largest newly admitted class of undergraduates at all seven OUS institutions, trumping the much larger Portland State University and Oregon State University.
University officials credited these surges to the rigor and attractiveness of the school’s academic programs, and expect next year’s enrollment to follow the spiking trend.
“We’re excited about the record enrollment and retention figures that demonstrate how the University of Oregon is attracting the best and brightest students,” Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Roger Thompson said. “All indicators point towards continued success with applications for next year up considerably this fall already.”
An addition to its recent expansion, this year’s student body also became more ethnically and culturally diverse. According to the OUS statistics, the number of freshman who identify as Hispanic increased 71.6 percent from last year, in tandem with a 39.6 percent jump in self-identified African-American students.
International students as a portion of the general student body increased a little more than 1 percent last year to 7.7 percent, representing more than 1,800 foreign guests. Additionally, the University welcomed 257 new Chinese students, which is the top country of origin for international students.
Charles Martinez, the University’s vice president for institutional equity and diversity, said this year’s growth in terms of student diversity is part of an overall pattern for the past five years.
“The growth this year is definitely part of a longer-term trend,” Martinez said. “I think what causes it is the shared sense within the UO community that the success of (racially and culturally) diverse students reflects on all of us.”
Martinez added the growth of minorities’ presence on campus is owed to community outreach efforts spearheaded by students groups, and to the admissions office, which has helped foster an inclusive, pluralistic campus atmosphere.
However, sustained record enrollment puts pressure on everything from housing to informational services. To Don Harris, vice provost and chief information officer of information services, this year’s student influx represented hundreds of new laptops and iPhones battling for bandwidth on the campus wireless network. In light of this year’s anticipated increase, information services upgraded server capacity to house new Blackboard, student e-mail and DuckWeb accounts and to expanded its network’s geographic reach.
“Information services anticipated the increased use of information technology resources … because the University of Oregon Academic Plan called for enrollment increases,” Harris said in an e-mail. “Several projects have accommodated this growth, including upgrades to servers and infrastructure supporting enterprise applications, increased coverage of our wireless network, and increased capacity for our campus network backbone and connection to the Internet.”
Harris said more students are using wireless devices on campus, creating greater IT demand and forcing the University to buttress its information processing capabilities so that students and employees can stay ahead of the technological curve.
“We have seen (an increase) in the number of devices connected to our campus wireless network,” Harris said. “Needless to say, we don’t see this trend changing anytime soon, and thus believe that the University must continue to build and expand our information technology capabilities in the days to come.”
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Fall 2010 sees a larger student body using technology on campus
Daily Emerald
November 15, 2010
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