The University of New England kicked off the 2016-17 academic year by setting a new record for its largest undergraduate class.
In an email on Tuesday morning to Mainebiz Sarah Delage, UNE communications specialist, said that the 2020 class of approximately 820 students tops last year’s undergraduate size of 727. According to its admissions data, the previous record was set in 2007, with 790 undergraduate students.
Delage added that UNE has seen drastic increases in overall enrollment growth since UNE President Danielle Ripich, Mainebiz’s 2016 Nonprofit Business Lead of the Year, took the helm of the university. When the president first began her term in the 2006-07 academic year, overall enrollment sat at 4,272 — for the 2015-16 academic year enrollment was at 12,245.
The incoming class is also the university’s most geographically diverse undergraduate class, with students coming from 32 states across the United States, according to the university.
“Don’t think of yourself as a vessel, here to be spoon-fed information by a wise and all-knowing faculty,” Ripich will tell the incoming class during Tuesday’s annual convocation celebration. “You are not a pail, here to be filled up. Think of yourself, instead, as an active agent in our community of learners. Our job is to provide the kindling and, perhaps, a spark. Your job is to let your fire burn wherever it may lead you.”
Ripich announced in May that she will step down from her post at UNE at the end of the academic year, on June 30, 2017.
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