Student Enrollment Boosts Already in Progess Developments

During a time where people are focusing on the negative aspects the growth of student enrollment at Ole Miss will bring to preexisting organizations, both non-curricular and curricular, people often overlook the many ways in which the new expanded student body can help the school grow academically. 

With over 50 already existing minors, the University of Mississippi has been working on expanding the list of minors the school offers for quite some time now.  Just last fall, the University of Mississippi added two new minors- education and math education- through its School of Education.

Cinema Student Michael Swann prepares to film.

Many of the recently added minors are even flourishing faster than expected.  The recently added Cinema minor, that has only been around for three years, had a last official count of 57 students that have declared cinema as their minor.

When asked about this count, Alan Arrivée, the minor's director, commented that this was a "really healthy number for the official list."

 He then went on to say, "Not all students make it to declare.  In fact, you can declare days before graduating." 

This official count makes cinema one of the fastest growing stand-alone minors, and the university is even working on steps to allow the minor to progress into a major eventually.  When asked about how the growth of student enrollment has contributed to the growth of the minor, Arrivée had this to say.

Cinema Director Alan Arrivée is interviewed about the correlation of the growth of the minor and the growth of students.

To play off of one of Arrivée's strong points, a growth of student enrollment brings a growth in more interests with it.  This is not to say that the only thing stopping certain minors into becoming majors is strictly based on student interest.  There are a lot of factors that go into play, such as the university's resources and the availability of faculty. 

Kelsie Luke, a radiological science major at the University of Mississippi, had this to say about how she hopes the increasing student enrollment will help shape her medical-based major:

"Maybe the increase of student enrollment will help form our department... The two-plus-two program is nice, but I am sad that I am going to miss out on a lot of my college experience by having to leave my junior year."

Her advisor Kara Parham commented that she did not know if a demand from the new upcoming class would help this or even help with establishing a nursing major, but the department is expanding. 

Starting in the fall of 2014, the university is going to offer Accelerated BSN.  Parham commented that this was "a step in the right direction." Applications and information about Accelerated BSN can be found at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's website. 

The increase of student enrollment isn't just contributing to the plans of future projects, but it is also boosting current projects.