A host of programming is planned to celebrate the new academic year at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and to welcome new students into the community.
Activity on campus is ongoing in preparation for the move-in of new students August 24 and 25, and for continuing students on August 26. The first day of class for the fall semester is August 27.
Opening of the Academic Year
At 9:00 a.m. on August 24, IUP president Michael Driscoll will preside over the “Opening of the Academic Year: 2018–19” in the IUP Performing Arts Center's Fisher Auditorium. The program is open to the community.
The day's events continue with a picnic lunch in the Oak Grove from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Picnickers may purchase food from Aramark in the Oak Grove or bring their own lunch. Cost for fill-your-plate picnic items is $8.50.
A live stream of the event will be available on the IUP YouTube channel.
Student Move-In
Move-in activities on campus officially began August 12, with students working as community assistants and academic success mentors for the Office of Housing, Residential Living, and Dining arriving at the university, in addition to students on the football, women's soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, and volleyball teams and IUP Marching Band, checking into the residence halls.
On August 18, 247 new students participating in the university's College Undergraduate Success Program Early Entrance Experience move into their residence halls. Sponsored by the Department of Developmental Studies, CUSP gives first-year students an introduction to college and a head start on the adjustment process.
Today, international students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including students studying at the American Language Institute, arrive on campus. Each year, IUP hosts nearly 800 students from nearly 60 countries. New international students will have orientation activities the week before the beginning of classes.
On August 24 and 25, new and transfer students will move into residence halls from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Returning students will move into the residence halls on August 26 between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.
IUP officials have been making community residents and merchants aware of move-in day and the anticipated traffic associated with the event.
Students have been given staggered arrival times, indicated on dashboard tags, so that move-in activity is spread throughout each day. As in past years, arriving students and their families are directed to a staging area in the Miller Stadium parking lot and will be released from there to the appropriate building.
Roughly 200 volunteers, including members of student organizations, will assist as movers. IUP police officers, faculty members, and student workers from a variety of offices are active throughout move-in days to help make students feel welcome.
In addition, some 100 community assistants, graduate, and professional residence hall staff members will work inside the residence halls to greet and assist students and family members. Professionals from the Office of Public Safety, the Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement, and the Office of Housing, Residential Living, and Dining begin developing move-in day procedures, signs, work schedules, and publications during the spring semester of the previous year, according to Valerie Baroni, chair of the IUP Move-In Committee.