No Vacancy: NKU Dormitories Reach Top Capacity, Reject 350 Students

Students began moving back into a booked-up Northern Kentucky University Friday. The university expects an enrollment of about 15,000 students this school year, up from 14,638 last year. All 1,400 dormitory spaces are full and 350 students who asked to live in dorms had to be find other arrangements.

“In all likelihood, we’ll be renting hotel rooms like we did last year to accommodate some of the students who wanted to live in residence halls,” said NKU spokesman Chris Cole. “We’re also helping students find other off-campus housing.”

Several months ago, NKU bought a former nursing home near campus and announced plans to convert it to a 460-student dormitory. But the state legislature has not yet approved financing plans for the renovation and Cole said it may two years before the building can be used as a dorm.

Nick Kuhn of Nicholasville arrived Friday morning with his parents to move in to University Suites, where they unloaded their cars on the sidewalk. They were soon met by a half-dozen members of the Hall Opening Team (HOT) who helped carry his belongings to a fourth floor room.

“Moving in wasn’t too bad, actually,” Kuhn said. “It was pretty easy.”

Sophomore Katie Ritter was a member of HOT helping others move Friday. “It’s been hard work,” she said. “My arms fell like Jell- O.”

The Highland Heights campus continues to evolve, both physically and in its programming. Construction will be continuing this school year on two gigantic campus structures. A new student union building and the Bank of Kentucky Center, a 9,000-seat arena, will open next spring.

To try to alleviate chronic parking problems on campus, NKU has struck a deal with the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) for all NKU students, staff and faculty to ride TANK buses free of charge. By showing bus drivers an NKU identification card, NKU students, staff and faculty can ride any TANK bus anytime, anywhere for free, Cole said.

NKU is offering students three new academic courses of study this year — undergraduate majors in media informatics and German and a master’s degree program in health informatics.

“Media informatics combines cutting-edge technology with traditional communication techniques,” said NKU Provost Gail Wells.

“Graduates can work in many industries. They will be able to design Web pages, work with hand-held devices and do video streaming — all the dynamic technological tasks associated with communications in today’s world.”

The major in German is part of NKU’s decision to expand its offerings in languages and world cultures.

“We’re going to build out in other languages and internationalize the campus,” said Wells. “Students need to have an international perspective. We need to understand other cultures in order to be successful global citizens.”

The master’s degree program in health informatics is in line with the federal government’s mandate that all medical records be switched from paper records to electronic records, said Gary Ozanich, director of the program.

“We see a tremendous need for people with expertise in using technology in health care,” he said. “There will be a big future for employees in this area, including nurses with expertise in information technology and information technology workers with expertise in health care.”

Across the entire academic horizon, NKU is emphasizing what it calls “active learning.”

“NKU is going to focus on engaging students in active learning,” said Wells. “Today’s students are not content to sit through long lectures. They need to be actively involved in learning. Research shows the more students are engaged, the more likely they are to stay in school and end up with an education that really serves them well.”

Originally published by Post staff report.

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