Ask the Dean is a weekly column by MTU’s Dean of Students, Dr. Wallace Southerland III, where students can submit questions for him to answer. To submit a question, email lodesubmit@mtu.edu
Q: “What are some ways MTU can support students as the student body population increases, especially in regard to housing?”
Now this is a serious question. It is true that Michigan Tech’s strategic and master plans include increasing enrollment to 10,000 students by 2035. We are already at a little more than 7,000. I support this growth and it shows that Tech is in demand.
Tech is an exceptional technological flagship university, and we will be even more exceptional as we pursue our 2035 goals. The university community will learn more about our plans soon, but below are some thoughts about how MTU can support students as our population increases, especially in housing area. Here goes:
- Build a new housing facility to house more students on campus, including transfer students
- Show more love to first-year transfer students
- Offer more guidance to students living off-campus so they’re not taken advantage of
- Offer more campus cultural educational experiences that celebrate contributions of U.S. “minority” populations
- Focus even more on career readiness and professional development services – we want Huskies to get AND keep those great jobs
- Make prevention and resilience the centerpiece of health and well-being services
- Raise money to offer “finish line” scholarships to students who need that extra boost to get across the graduation finish line
- Raise money to offer more study away and abroad experiences to students so y’all can actually see the world you’re expected to improve
- Eliminate food insecurity among students – completely
And the 10th and most important thing we will do as more students come to Tech: tighten up our wrap-around support services and remove barriers that unnecessarily slow down progress toward degree or program completion. We can and will do a lot more, but this list is certainly a great place for us to start.
HuskyUP!
Dr. S.
Dean of Huskies
