Contact:
Elizabeth Blevins, Director, Office of Communications
Office: (740) 351-3810; FAX: (740) 351-3179; Cell: (740) 464-4854
940 Second Street – Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
E-mail: eblevins@shawnee.edu 
Web site: www.shawnee.edu

            Preliminary enrollment numbers for the fall 2009 semester have been released in a 15th Day Enrollment Report at Shawnee State University, indicating another record year for the university.
            The number of students has increased from 3,976 in fall 2008 semester to 4,300 in fall 2009 semester – an 8.1 percent increase. Last year was also a record-breaking year for SSU.
            “This growth has helped us continue to add and maintain student services, and programming, in spite of the economic challenges faced by SSU and our families,” Dr. Rita Rice Morris, SSU president, said. “It’s the result of campus-wide efforts to continually improve quality and enhance student experiences — and then to let potential students throughout the state know about all that SSU has to offer.”
            According to the report, the number of first-time freshmen enrolled at SSU fall semester was up 18.2 percent with 741 new freshmen at SSU. Transfer student enrollment was up 20.3 percent with a full-time undergraduate student enrollment increase of 9.0 percent.
            “We’re seeing more students coming in,” Morris said. “Just as important as recruitment, is our effort to retain these students through graduation. We are working on initiatives on campus to help students adjust to college life and build ties to SSU, and we appreciate the ongoing efforts in the community to make students feel welcomed and to help them consider Portsmouth their ‘home.””
            In the report, undergraduate students come from throughout the country with 24 states and the District of Columbia represented. In the tri-state area, undergraduates represent 85 of Ohio’s 88 counties, 14 Kentucky counties and six West Virginia counties.
            International undergraduate students are from 12 different countries and a 13th country is represented by a graduate student enrolled at SSU.