{"id":2081,"date":"2024-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/blogtest\/fall-2024-student-life\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:12:10","slug":"fall-2024-student-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/fall-2024-student-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall 2024 Student Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">College is about more than academics. It\u2019s about broadening horizons, exploring cultures, and gaining perspective.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Research tells us that the first six weeks of the semester are critically important in setting up the conditions for student success. Students need to connect academically in the classroom, but they also need to connect socially through out-of-classroom activities.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Our goal is to help all new students develop a sense of belonging and connection to the MTSU campus.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">During the 14 CUSTOMS freshman orientation sessions that took place this summer, staff from the Division of Student Affairs have highlighted our Connection Point program and the importance of attending at least four Connection Point events during a student\u2019s first semester on campus.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Connection Point is the connecting theme for a variety of welcome activities for our newest students. In addition to meeting new people and having a great time, students receive an event inspired button designed especially for each event.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Students download an electronic event pass and bring their mobile devices to each activity so Student Affairs can record their attendance. This allows staff to see how students are connecting with our community. Students who are not connecting are contacted by staff to determine how we can assist them to become more involved.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Connection Point activities began <\/span><strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Thursday, Aug. 22, with the Move-In Movie, Kung Fu Panda 4,<\/span><\/strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> under the stars on the Student Union Commons.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On <\/span><strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Friday, Aug. 23<\/span><\/strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>, the President\u2019s Party<\/strong> took place on the KUC Knoll. There were lots of fun activities and food for all to enjoy. The summer reading author, <\/span><strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Firoozeh Dumas<\/span><\/strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, signed copies of her book <\/span><em><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Laughing Without an Accent<\/span><\/em><span data-contrast=\"auto\">:<\/span><em><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Adventures of a Global Citizen.<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Saturday, Aug. 24, marked MTSU\u2019s 23rd University Convocation.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<br \/><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The annual event in Murphy Center featured our summer reading author.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">You can learn more about the Connection Point program and events at <\/span><strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><a title=\"mtsu.edu\/connection\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/campuslife\/connectionpoint\/#connectionpoint\">mtsu.edu\/connection<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Two more notes about Student Life:<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Family Weekend<\/span><\/strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> is scheduled for Sept. 13\u201314. MTSU football will host Western Kentucky University on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Additionally, we want to extend a special welcome to<\/span><strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Khalilah T. Doss<\/span><\/strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, who was named vice president of student affairs this summer, replacing Sarah Sudak. Doss comes to MTSU from a similar role at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, with previous service at McPherson College in Kansas and Lincoln University of Missouri.<\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>College is about more than academics. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about broadening horizons, exploring cultures, and gaining perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3086,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081\/revisions\/3086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}