{"id":28681,"date":"2025-10-08T15:44:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T19:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=28681"},"modified":"2025-10-22T09:27:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T13:27:32","slug":"marshall-university-celebrates-third-consecutive-year-of-enrollment-growth-board-of-governors-approves-funding-reallocations-and-launches-new-faculty-recognition-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/marshall-university-celebrates-third-consecutive-year-of-enrollment-growth-board-of-governors-approves-funding-reallocations-and-launches-new-faculty-recognition-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall University celebrates third consecutive year of enrollment growth; Board of Governors approves funding reallocations and launches new faculty recognition program\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marshall University President Brad D. Smith announced today that the university is on pace to record its third consecutive year of enrollment growth, continuing the institution\u2019s upward trajectory following more than a decade of declines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the official census numbers won\u2019t be confirmed until Oct. 15, our Fall 2025 enrollment currently reflects a third consecutive year of increases,\u201d Smith said in his report to the Marshall University Board of Governors. \u201cAs of today, total student enrollment is on pace to increase nearly 8% year-over-year \u2014 a 20% increase over the past three years \u2014 successfully reversing a more than decade plus decline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith noted that full-time, first-time freshmen enrollment has grown 5.4% year-over-year and is up 24% over the past three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we navigate the national demographic cliff with shrinking high school classes, our decision to implement a strategic enrollment management plan several years ago is paying off,\u201d Smith said. \u201cFor example, expanding our Metro tuition rates and catchment area to include a 150-mile radius into Ohio and Kentucky has produced Metro enrollment increases of 19% this year and more than 60% over the past three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Marshall\u2019s embrace of flexible learning models has also paid dividends with distance learner enrollment up as well.<\/p>\n

Smith praised the campus community for its shared commitment to student recruitment and success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no off-season \u2014 we\u2019re already working on next fall\u2019s enrollment with 75 high school and college fair events on the calendar and new approaches to inspire students to join the Herd,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to thank our campus community for their efforts to remain focused on growing enrollment and student success. This is the ‘power of we’ in action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith also noted that two key academic positions, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, as well as dean of the College of Liberal Arts, will be announced in the coming days.<\/p>\n

During the same meeting, the Board of Governors approved a resolution to reallocate funding under the state\u2019s deferred maintenance grant program. The state requires board approval for transfers between projects. The resolution includes financial reallocations from the Morrow Library project and the former Tri State MRI building HVAC replacement to a stormwater improvements project, among other similar initiatives. These adjustments will ensure the university continues to address its most urgent infrastructure needs efficiently.<\/p>\n

The Board also launched a new Faculty Recognition Program to celebrate exceptional academic and research achievement. The inaugural honorees are Dr. Ross Salary, associate professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences, and Dr. Kacy Lovelace, associate professor and Research and Student Success Librarian. Both were recognized for their outstanding contributions to scholarship and student engagement.<\/p>\n

Board members also heard the inaugural report from Athletics Director Gerald Harrison, who shared updates on the university\u2019s athletic programs and his vision for continued growth and excellence across all sports. Harrison noted that a comprehensive report detailing the impact of the Zach Bryan concert, held in August at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, will be presented at December’s board meeting.\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall University President Brad D. Smith announced today that the university is on pace to record its third consecutive year of enrollment growth, continuing the institution\u2019s upward trajectory following more than a decade of declines. \u201cWhile the official census numbers won\u2019t be confirmed until Oct. 15, our Fall 2025 enrollment currently reflects a third consecutive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28681"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28759,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28681\/revisions\/28759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}