For Immediate Release
Oct. 24, 2003

MUW hosts Bring a Friend to Class Week
 

By Jill D. O’Bryant

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- In conjunction with National Non-Traditional Student Week, Mississippi University for Women will host Bring a Friend to Class Week Nov. 3-7.

To kick off the week, a reception will be held at the President’s Home at 1217 College Street on Nov. 3 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. All current and potential adult learners are invited to attend. MUW personnel will be available to answer questions about becoming a MUW student and about financial aid.

Dr. Claudia A. Limbert, president of MUW, sees this week as an opportunity to show support for the area adult learner population.

“In Walmart the other day, a woman came up to me and said, ‘I am a single mother and am tired of working so hard and having so little. I want a better life for me and for my children. Please tell me about how I can go to college,’” Limbert recalled. “MUW's Bring a Friend to Class Week is our attempt to find a way that feels safe and comfortable for prospective adult learners to find out what college is all about, how they themselves can become students and give them the opportunity to interact with our adult learner population that is currently about 34 percent of our student body.

“Taking part in this event has the potential to not only change their lives for the better but also the potential to change the lives of their families. I myself was such an adult learner and going to college totally changed my life and the lives of my children forever.”

Limbert married and had four children before beginning college. She received a bachelor’s degree in English, history and education from Bethel College in Kansas in 1978, and she received a master’s degree in creative writing in 1980 and a doctorate in English literature in 1988, both from Boston University.

Other events scheduled for the week include a “Mind-Body-Spiritual Wellness” program conducted by Linda Halbert, director of counseling and testing, at 4:30 p.m. and an opportunity to meet current MUW adult learners at 5:45 p.m. Both events will be held on Thursday, Nov. 6 in Home Economics room 120.

All week the public is invited to sit in on any class to get a feel for the campus and classrooms.

“The main purpose is to reach out to adult learners and support them in overcoming their apprehensions about coming to or returning to a university after a period away from schooling of any sort,” said Patricia Brock, director of continuing education. “At MUW, I believe we have a perfect setting for an adult learner - strong faculty who give a personal touch to their teaching and strong student support as exemplified by the OWLS (Older Wiser Learning Students) group.”

For more information about Take a Friend to Class Week, please contact MUW’s Office of Continuing Education at (662) 329-7137, toll free at 1-877-462-8439 or continue@muw.edu.
 

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