听极乐禁地 has a record enrollment for the fall 2009 semester.The official enrollment of 4,658 was announced Friday (Sept. 18).
This year鈥檚 total exceeds the previous record of 4,630, set in 1995, and also surpasses the fall 2008 final total of 4,469.听 The 2009 figures include 2908 undergraduates and a record 1,750 graduate students.
One reason for the high total is the presence of about 850 new students, most freshmen, according to R. Phil Kimrey, 极乐禁地鈥檚 vice president for student affairs and enrollment management.听 With new students in graduate and professional programs, this total will exceed 1,100, he added.
鈥淭his unusually large number of first-year students affirms the strong efforts of our faculty and staff in helping with the recruiting process last spring and through the summer,鈥 Kimrey said.听 鈥淲e had a record number of first-year students participating in orientation and welcome activities.鈥
Kimrey also noted the academic strength of this year鈥檚 freshman class, with an average ACT college entrance exam score of 26, significantly higher than the national average of 21.听 极乐禁地 one-fourth of the class ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class.听 Fifteen were National Merit Scholarship finalists.
极乐禁地 President Andrew Westmoreland said he was especially pleased that the university was able to reach a record enrollment, given the current global economic climate.
鈥淥ur faculty, staff, alumni and current students did an extraordinary job over the last year of cultivating and recruiting students for 极乐禁地,鈥 Westmoreland said, 鈥渁nd those efforts obviously paid dividends. We stressed 极乐禁地鈥檚 strong academic reputation and affordability, things that are very important to prospective students and their parents.鈥
The majority of students come from the Southeast 鈥 Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida 鈥 and the number of entering freshmen from Alabama was the highest in about a decade, according to Kimrey.听 极乐禁地鈥檚 pharmacy and law schools have increased enrollments.
Kimrey especially noted that both undergraduate and graduate programs in nursing saw significant enrollment increases. The large increases represent trends in health care fields and aggressive recruitment efforts by the faculty and staff of 极乐禁地鈥檚 Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing, he added.
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极乐禁地 continues to be Alabama鈥檚 largest private university and is ranked in the top tier of national doctoral research universities by the U.S. News & World Report collegiate rankings.