BDN speaks with President Ferrini-Mundy, staff about virtual tours for accepted students
The Bangor Daily News spoke with Joan Ferrini-Mundy, president of the University of Maine and University of Maine at Machias, and Matt LeClair, social media manager for Undergraduate Admissions, for a report on virtual tours being offered for accepted students during the coronavirus pandemic. UMaine’s virtual tour features student Lizzy Gillen showing viewers some of the most commonly used buildings on campus, including Fogler Library, the Memorial Union and the New Balance Student Recreation Center, as well as dorm rooms, dining halls and classrooms. UMaine also is offering department-specific tours and allowing prospective students to connect with professors using Zoom, the BDN reported. “Students are actually getting to see things they wouldn’t necessarily get from a live tour. Those are restricted to campus,” said LeClair. “Here we can show the vast resources UMaine has to draw from.” It is too early to tell how the coronavirus will affect college enrollment in the fall semester, according to Ferrini-Mundy. “We’re looking at both incoming students and retention of students. Will they come back?” she said. “We are hopeful, but we are watching very carefully because nationally it’s such an unsettled time it’s difficult to tell what will happen with college enrollment.” The university could even see enrollment growth in some graduate programs such as teacher education and business, as it does during periods of high unemployment, the report states. “Historically those are areas which are career specific which sometimes do grow during these kinds of crises,” said Ferrini-Mundy.