News

Today Portland State University begins its 2004-05 academic year with a projected 24,750 to 25,000 students attending classes - continuing a trend of nine consecutive years of enrollment growth.

Current campus enrollment numbers are estimates based on year-to-year comparisons, applications, actual enrollments and continuing education students. The Oregon University System will release official 4th-week enrollment numbers for the 2004-05 academic year in November.

"The first day of school at PSU always brings with it excitement and enthusiasm for new beginnings. For PSU students, it is a time to realize their dreams," said PSU President Dan Bernstine. "This year, PSU will enroll more transfer and Ph.D. students than ever before. That reflects our commitment to accessibility, as well as our strength as a research doctoral granting university."

Fall 2004 End of Term Enrollment Projections for Portland State University
* Total enrollment: 24,750 - 25,000 (Fall 2003 end of term enrollment was 24,193-an approximate 2-3% increase over last fall);
* New transfers: 2,550, a nearly 4% increase over last fall (2,454)
* Ph.D students: 545, just over 9% increase over last fall (499)
* Top five declared undergraduate majors: psychology, biology, English, business administration: marketing, computer science.

New Programs, Faculty and Facilities
* New Minors: Minor programs in Art, Film Studies, Native American Studies and Real Estate Development begin this fall.

*New Faculty: This academic year over 65 new instructional faculty members will be joining the PSU campus community, including six in the Graduate School of Social Work and ten computer science and engineering faculty members from OHSU's OGI School of Science & Engineering.

* New Housing: The University has opened the doors to The Broadway, a two-towered, 10-story mixed-use development on Portland State University's campus (SW Broadway and College). The complex includes student housing, university services and ground-floor retail. The $47.5 million, 217,000-square foot complex is the latest public/private partnership between Portland State University, the PSU Foundation and Gerding/Edlen Development, LLC. The Broadway's top eight stories features 383 self-sustaining residential units, while the second level houses classrooms, conference rooms, a 24-hour computer laboratory and departmental offices. The ground floor will be comprised of several retail shops encompassing a total of 15,000 square feet.

* Curriculum Honored: For the third year in a row, Portland State University's community-based learning curriculum is among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2005." PSU is featured under the section "Choosing a School: Programs to look for" in five categories: Internships/Co-Ops, Senior Capstone, First-Year Experiences, Learning Communities and Service Learning, along with Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, University of California, Berkeley and the University of North Carolina.

Portland State University, Oregon's only urban university, is the largest and most diverse in the state system. The University's position in Oregon's economic and cultural center allows for deep community engagement and the creation of partnerships with hundreds of organizations throughout the region - partnerships that give PSU students valuable learning opportunities as they solve real-world problems of business and community. Portland State offers more than 100 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees, as well as graduate certificates and continuing education programs. PSU serves more students and confers more master's degrees annually than any other Oregon university.

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