UM Ready to Welcome Over 10,000 Students for 2023 Fall Semester
Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The end of summer will usher in a new fall semester at the University of Montana.
KGVO News spoke to UM’s Director of Strategic Communications Dave Kuntz on Friday about the state of the new semester in Missoula.
“Today is really the start of our journey to welcome students back to campus in advance of school starting next week,” began Kuntz. “on Monday we’ll have well over 1,000 students who are going to be part of the freshman class, coming to campus and moving into their residence halls and beginning their orientation experience, which lasts through the week as they get settled in to start school which will start a week from Monday on the 28th. So we are preparing to welcome back more than 10,000 students to town as we begin the fall 2023 semester. Things are starting to get vibrant here again, and unfortunately, we're saying goodbye to summer but we're really excited to launch another school year.”
The UM Fall Semester Begins on Monday with Freshman Orientation
Just one of the many construction and remodeling projects that have been progressing through the summer is the newly updated Knowles Hall.
“We're excited this week to reopen historic Knowles Hall,” he said. “It was originally constructed in 1962. The university invested $18 million in the past year to renovate the building. It has new updated rooms, all new piping, new flooring, new tiles, as well as some other additions we've made. It has some shared kitchen space, some study lounges, some classrooms that are going to be in the residence hall, so really we're excited to show this off to students and welcome the first class we're moving into this really exciting building.”
Several Construction Projects have been Completed on Campus
Kuntz continued with a review of some changes students and faculty will see on campus this fall.
“We still have about one more year of construction on the new dining hall, as well as we're beginning to plans to begin the total renovation of Clapp, which is our big science complex which we will rebuild to add some new labs and other offerings. So the major infrastructure renewal that's happening here at the University of Montana continues, but we're really excited to see some of these first projects come to the finish line and really open them up to students in the community.”
Parking at the Adams Center is Easier as the Museum of Art and Culture is Finished
Anyone who has visited the Adams Center over the past year will be happy to know that the construction project in the parking lot has nearly been completed.
“In about a month we're going to open the Museum of Art and Culture here on the University of Montana campus,” he said. “This is a privately funded project to really bring some of the art and culture offerings that the university has in its possession available to the public. We're really excited to have that open up in the parking lot there across from the Adams Center.
The University of Montana boasts a 13-1 student to faculty ratio with an average class size of only 30.
Click here to get more details about the University of Montana.