It’s a great time to be a University of Memphis Tiger. The Tiger football team earned its first American Athletic Conference Championship by beating Cincinnati twice in row and played in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on Dec. 28. The Tiger basketball team under second-year coach Penny Hardaway saw an AP top 10 ranking.
The University of Memphis has reached new heights in its academic programs as well. For at least the past decade, accountability has been the clarion call for higher education in the United States: accountability to the state and federal funders, in terms of student retention and graduation; accountability to our students, in terms of excellent programs that prepare them for the job market; accountability to our university, in terms of effective teaching, student success and increased research productivity. The University of Memphis has
responded.
This year, for the first time, the University of Memphis was ranked as a top public university in the U.S. News and World Report. Retention and graduation rates are at all-times highs. The six-year graduation rate for university undergraduates reached 53 percent last year, up from 43 percent six years ago. Research productivity and grant funding have increased so much that the University is poised this year is to achieve the highest research classification, Tier 1.
The University has dramatically improved its campus. The latest addition is the sparkling pedestrian cable bridge spanning the railroad track so students no longer have to dodge passing trains. The South Campus, now rebranded the Park Avenue Campus, has been transformed by its imposing Community Health Building at its front door and more recently with new athletic buildings and fields that surprised even me attending a women’s soccer game there last month.
Along with the University at large, the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media has also achieved new milestones. First, our aggressive recruitment efforts the past few years have paid off. We now have more than 400 majors, more than at any time in our department’s history. Our latest department six-year graduation rate was 75 percent. Our amazing faculty have developed dynamic programs and courses that prepare our students so well for today’s media professions that they are winning excellent internships and full-time media jobs here in Memphis and throughout the nation.
We’ve also spruced up our Meeman Journalism Building with a complete redo of our lobby as well as added new instructional labs and equipment to support our growing enrollment.
Yes, it’s a great time to be Tiger. It’s a great time to be a student in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media. Please stop for a visit to see what’s new at University of Memphis. Wishing you all a happy new year.
David Arant is chair of the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media.