The University has just released the official Autumn 2021 enrollment counts. Our School has a record 1,001 total students on the Columbus campus. This includes 873 undergraduate and 128 graduate students. In our 53-year history, enrollments have cycled up and down, although steadily and consistently growing over the last 10 years. Until 2017, the School’s highest enrollment was in 1977, when we served 802 students (716 undergrads and 86 graduate students). But total enrollment dipped to 287 students in 1988, bounced back up to nearly 600 by 1995, but then dipped back closer to 300 by 2000. Since 2010, our enrollments have nearly doubled from just over 500 students to the 1001 we serve today. Interest in our program has been very strong among prospective students so far this year, so I anticipate we might still experience some growth in the future. Some of our growth is the result of growing society wide interest and concern for the environment, but some of it is due to the great work of our alumni and the positive word of mouth you share regarding our School. Thank you.
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Today I also want to bring to your attention the release of our latest impact statements that reflect work that was done in 2020. Each year we try to highlight different aspects of the School’s work, and this year’s themes included soil and carbon, forestry, water resources and experiential learning. We are also serving up impact statements for Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory on our website as we explore ways to build even stronger connections between our island laboratory and the School.
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Finally, I want to share with everyone that our Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) breakfast meetings have resumed, and we’ve started off with a great series of programs over the last couple months. It was so nice seeing recent alumni at this month’s breakfast (photo below of our speakers). As we continue to blend our strategies for managing COVID and our desire to return to some “normalcy,” I’m delighted to share that we are hosting the physical EPN’s at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on campus but also streaming the event to folks who want to participate virtually. Please considering joining us at our November 16th event, where we’ll revisit the Limits to Growth thesis. And if you aren’t a morning person or want to view these events at your own leisure, remember we make available previous EPN programs via YouTube.
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