President Tim Hall

More students than ever are discovering what a great place Austin Peay is! This year our enrollment increased to 9,401 students in the fall—the largest enrollment ever for APSU and the largest increase in enrollment of any of the institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents system.

Part of that increase can be attributed to the increased success of our students. We measure that success in part by keeping track of the number of first-time, full-time freshmen who started last year and have returned to Austin Peay this year. This year 67.6% of the first-time, full-time freshmen who started last fall have returned to the university. This is the highest retention rate we’ve seen in years and an increase of 1.8% over last year!

Tim Hall

I now have two Austin Peay homecoming weeks under my belt! Both have introduced me to the incredible variety of interests and accomplishments of our students and alumni.

I arrived a few minutes too late to get a sample of the chili at our annual cookoff, but managed to take in all of the Apollo Talent Show, which made me wish I had practiced piano and guitar more when I was young.

There was the step off at the beginning of the week, bridge playing at the alumni card party (how many high card points does it take to bid 2 no trump?), golf tournaments–one under water the other not, a 5k run that made me want to start training (I was a spectator rather than a participant), a bonfire with guest appearance by Nacho Libre, a step show in Foy, the alumni awards brunch, the homecoming parade, the best tail gating of the year, and a homecoming football victory over Tennessee Tech.

Oh yes, there was the homecoming concert with Three 6 Mafia, for which a pair of ear plugs came in handy, even if I didn’t understand this business of musical groups with numbers in the name. And I didn’t know a concert could make my clothes vibrate!

Homecoming week was, in short, my favorite week of the year! I wish everyone would come home more often.

Tim Hall