Hillary Capes and Ryan Hulsey help freshman Tyler Haley check into the dorm.

The new academic year officially kicks off today with convocation featuring Greg Mortenson, author of the best-selling book “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time,” at 2 p.m. in Murphy Center. The President’s Picnic follows at Walnut Grove. Comic Mike Birbiglia will perform Aug. 26 at 8 p.m. at Murphy Center. These events are free and open to the public.

As the new traditional college year begins, The Murfreesboro Post Top 10 (like a baker’s dozen, always one more) highlights notable points for the university: 

1. MTSU is anticipating another record student enrollment this fall.

“We expect to be slightly above what we were last year,” said Deb Sells, interim vice president for student affairs at MTSU. 

Enrollment is expected to reach 23,500, up nearly 1 percent from the previous fall.

“That is our hope at this point,” Sells said.

University officials had predicted a flat enrollment for the fall due to rising economic pressures facing students such as high gasoline prices. 

2. MTSU President Sidney McPhee recently formed the Office of Community

Engagement and Support to support MTSU’s overall mission as it relates to addressing the ever-growing needs of both MTSU and the surrounding community at large.

Gloria Bonner, former dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Science, is leading the new department. Rep. John Hood also will serve the university through the new office.

McPhee said the new office was needed due to MTSU’s significant growth and economic impact on Rutherford County.

The office’s main objective is to articulate the university’s mission and activities to the surrounding communities and through involvement with the community, provide a listening ear to the needs and concerns of MTSU neighbors as it relates to the university. 

3. The grand opening of the expanded Student Recreation Center and relocated Health Services is slated for 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27.

The new clinic has 22 exam rooms, a procedure and observation room, expanded laboratory, allergy injection rooms, central nurse station and a conference area. The facility has new digital X-ray equipment to provide diagnostic X-rays for students. A campus pharmacy is located just off the main entrance and will be open to fill prescriptions. There will also be a drive-thru pharmacy window, a new office of Health Promotion and a Travel Medicine Clinic.

The expanded recreation center includes an additional 4,000 square feet to the weight room, a new cardiovascular room, exercise room, group meeting room, a health-assessment room and a family changing room.

The facility now uses a hand-geometry ID system instead of requiring the scanning of a student ID card to gain entry. The HandReader reads the shape of the hand and develops a unique identification number using an invisible light. 

4. The $6 million reconstruction of Reese Smith Field is complete. Work on the baseball field was funded through gifts from the city of Murfreesboro and private donors. The new facility houses a new press box and suites, improved seating, new dugouts for the teams and an improved entry plaza. 

5. Blue Raider “Black Out” game is slated for Sept. 30. Fans are encouraged to attend the game wearing official “Black Out” T-shirts to show support for the Blue Raiders. The game versus defending Sun Belt Conference champion Florida Atlantic University will be televised on ESPN 2 at 7 p.m.

A combo of a “Black Out” shirt and a voucher for one ticket to the FAU game costs $15. The voucher is attached to the T-shirt and can be redeemed at the MTSU ticket office located at Gate 1A of Floyd Stadium anytime prior to the game. 

6. Save the date – MTSU Homecoming is Nov. 8. The Blue Raiders play Louisiana Monroe at 2:30 p.m.

The theme for this year’s festivities is “Bet on Blue.” Few details have been released so far, but the traditional parade and tailgating prior to the afternoon game should be expected. Veterans will be saluted during halftime of the football game. 

7. A recently opened roundabout on the MTSU campus not only provides some relief from traffic congestion but also has historical significance, said Ron Malone, assistant vice president for events and transportation.

The circular intersection where traffic flows around a center island replaced a four-way stop near Rutherford Boulevard and Scarlett Commons apartments that could become congested during peak times on campus.

Pieces of limestone columns from the state capital are used as landscaping around the roundabout. With the help of U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tennessee), an MTSU alum, the university was able to salvage the columns that were removed from the state capital around 1960. 

8. Three new academic degrees are available to students beginning this fall: commercial construction management, biochemistry and a Ph.D. in literary studies.

The commercial construction management program is designed to prepare graduates for entry-level supervisory and estimating positions with commercial construction firms, material manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. The goal is to become a leading program graduating 50 to 100 entry-level managers per year who would stay in Tennessee.

School psychologists, speech-language pathologists, reading teachers, classroom teachers and school administrators at all levels will be among those enrolling in MTSU’s new Ph.D. in literacy studies degree. This program will come face to face with why the National Assessment of Education Progress consistently shows that an average of four out of 10 children fail to read at grade level by fourth grade.

The interdisciplinary doctorate is based on the idea that narrow expertise in a single area does not equip graduates to understand the many factors that support successful literacy.

The new doctoral is a first-of-its-kind partnership that has emerged from the Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia at MTSU, a hands-on learning lab that may be the only one of its kind in the nation. 

9. MTSU has named several new deans and directors to colleges and programs at the university who begin their first academic year this fall.

Roy L. Moore, the current associate vice president for academic affairs at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga., and former executive director of the First Amendment Center at the University of Kentucky, was named dean of the College of Mass Communications.

John Vile, former chair of the MTSU political science department, was named dean of the University Honors College.

James H. “Jim” Williams, a 12-year member of the history faculty, became the third director of the Albert Gore Research Center

Diane Miller was named vice provost for academic affairs; Frederick “Rick” Vanosdall has joined MTSU as director of the Tennessee Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Center; and Newtona (Tina) Johnson, professor of English and chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women at MTSU, is the new director of the university’s Women’s Studies Program. 

10. Two concentrations within the Department of Psychology were accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs making them two of only a handful of such programs in the state to be designated as such.

The newly acquired accreditation is the highest level of accreditation for counseling programs in the United States. This designation is important for students because they could receive special consideration when looking for jobs across the country.

11. The Kawahito Scholarship for Experiential World Poverty Studies was created to give students a chance to live in some of the worst conditions on the planet, examine why these areas are impoverished and witness efforts to fight the poverty.

The scholarship was created by and is named for Kiyoshi Kawahito, professor emeritus of economics and finance and former director of the university’s Japan-U.S. Program.

The first scholarship recipient, Steve Shibley, a senior from Signal Mountain, will intern for 10 weeks this fall in Bangladesh with the Grameen Bank, the financial institution founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former MTSU professor Muhammad Yunus.