SPOKANE, Wash. — Full-time enrollment for the fall 2002 semester at Washington State University Spokane is once again the highest ever for the campus, now in its 13th year.
The campus exceeded its target enrollment of 593 FTE by reaching 673 FTE (827 headcount). Growth in individual students enrolling (headcount) represents an increase of 127 over fall 2001 (720 headcount, 622 FTE), a growth rate of 17.64 percent.
The fall 2002 figures represent an increase of over 106 percent over the 401 headcount (417 FTE) enrolled just four years ago, in fall 1998.
Campus executive officer and dean Bill Gray cited continued steady program growth in educational administration as one factor in the campus’s climbing enrollment. Students from around the state enroll in field-based programs based at WSU Spokane to attain certification as principals and superintendents.
Two-thirds of all school superintendents in the state of Washington receive their certification through WSU, according to the WSU College of Education, and the program was recently cited as one of the top 6 in the nation by the American Association of School Administrators.
Another factor in enrollment growth is the move of the third year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program to Spokane from Pullman. Pharmacy students complete the first two years of the four-year professional program in Pullman, then move to Spokane for the final two years.
“We’re delighted to bring our students to the outstanding facilities in the Health Sciences Building,” said Larry Cohen, chair of the department of pharmacotherapy. Cohen continued, “Bringing them up to the region’s medical center also exposes them that much sooner to the professional environment in which they’ll be practicing, which is a value to students.”
Gray pointed out that almost half the enrollment–305 of the campus’s 675 FTE–falls in the health sciences, completing graduate and professional studies in nutrition, exercise science, health policy and administration, speech and hearing sciences, and pharmacy. “We are reaching critical mass in our development as a campus with a significant emphasis on the health sciences, both in academic programs and in our research and service activities,” he said.
Web sites:
WSU Spokane: www.spokane.wsu.edu
Superintendent’s program: www.supercert.spokane.wsu.edu
News release 8/14/02 on AASA recognition of superintendent’s program: wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=3190
