University of Lynchburg is prepared to welcome new and returning students and faculty for a new academic year. The community will be energized over the next several weeks as students arrive for fall athletics training, leadership programs, orientation, and classes.
LC will welcome more than 650 new undergraduate students this month, including about 550 freshmen and 95 transfer students this year from 35 states and 13 countries.
Most new students will move in on August 16 and will participate in Hornet Days, a three-day orientation program that includes community service and fun celebrations. Convocation, a formal event that welcomes the new students and their families, will take place on the Dell on August 18.
Fall 2015 classes will begin on August 20.
In addition to a new group of students, the new year is marked with several other new changes around campus. Some changes include:
Parking
The University of Lynchburg students will have more space to park their cars this fall.
The College is acquiring a paved parking lot at 606 Thomas Road to provide more than 200 parking spaces for LC freshmen. The College is working on improvements to the property and will add pedestrian access between that will connect the parking lot to College Street near Peaksview Hall.
Academic Programs
LC will officially begin three new graduate programs and a new undergraduate major this fall. The graduate programs are master’s degrees in criminal justice leadership, nonprofit leadership studies, and public health.
The new major, liberal arts studies, gives undergraduate students flexible options for pursuing degrees that span across several disciplines. Students may choose from several flexible, pre-defined options that create a major using courses from several minors. They also can design their own degree programs with guidance from a committee of faculty members from the disciplines in which the students are interested.
Smoke-Free Dell
Fall 2015 marks the introduction of a new smoking policy that makes most of the campus tobacco free, including the green Dell at the center of campus. Smoking will be allowed at 13 locations around campus marked by red, metal picnic tables covered by umbrellas. Smoking also will be allowed on the porches of college-owned housing off the main campus as well as in private vehicles with the windows closed.
Students, faculty, and staff crafted the policy over the past few years. The new policy will take effect in mid-September after the installation of the new red tables.