Autumn musings on a Summer day
A walk across our campus in early August is a literal definition of the calm before the storm.
Now, we have bright sunshine, warm and humid air, and the stillness of a campus that awaits the return of all of its students. In seemingly no time, we will have bustling activity, Autumn breezes and the excitement that a new Fall semester on a university campus brings.
This Summer prelude has me dwelling on the wonderful ‘storms’ of Autumn to come here at The Woods – our incoming class of new students, the first-ever season of Owls football, new classes, opportunities and excitement – and I couldn’t help but focus on how fortunate we are here at WWU. Certainly when it comes to the national higher education landscape, where private colleges and universities are struggling to maintain or grow enrollment.
Here at The Woods, we will always be innovating and offering programs and opportunities that are truly distinctive. Whether it’s our niche academic programs like Equestrian, ASL or Cybersecurity. Or our long-established but yet growing strength in online education. Or our propensity to add new opportunities, such as our recent, first-ever Ph.D. degree program. Not to mention our explosion in new athletic offerings, highlighted now by football but also including flag football, lacrosse, and wrestling. Plus the high character of our students, and intimate learning environment where the professors know their students personally, and genuinely care about their wellbeing. The list goes on.
This why William Woods is prepared to welcome, for the second straight year, its largest incoming class of new students in school history. It’s why we continue to buck the troubling enrollment trends in national higher education, especially amongst smaller institutions like ours.
In fact, according to a recent report from the Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education, only two of the 25 independent four-year colleges in the state had larger enrollment growth than us in the past two years. William Woods University is the fastest growing four-year institution in Missouri outside of a major metro area. So, when we say The Woods is the “Missouri’s fastest growing small-town university,” we aren’t just making up catchy phrases for a carefree August day.
At William Woods, we hope you share our optimism about the future. In a few short days, our Summer hiatus will end and another auspicious Autumn at The Woods will be upon us!