For release: April 21, 2011
For press information, contact Curt Guenther, 901-678-2843

In light of the announced closure of Lambuth University in Jackson, the University of Memphis is working with officials at the campus to make it as easy as possible for current Lambuth students to continue their studies and complete their degrees at the U of M.

A team of U of M advisors will visit the Lambuth campus Monday, April 25, to work directly with interested students.  They will be in The Wisdom Parlor in Varnell Jones Hall on Lambuth Boulevard at 1:30 p.m.

The group will include Dr. Shannon Blanton, vice provost for Undergraduate Programs, and specialized transfer advisors Yolanda Mathews and Karen Thurmond.  Representatives of the U of M Financial Aid office will also travel to Jackson to answer Lambuth students’ questions.

Dr. Jean Ashmore, director of the University’s Jackson Center on the campus of Jackson State Community College, is also available on a daily basis to talk with Lambuth students.

The University of Memphis has also reached a formal agreement with the Lambuth administration on a “teach-out” agreement to govern Lambuth students’ transfer to the U of M and their continuation of their Lambuth degree programs at Memphis.

The U of M agrees to accept all Lambuth students in good academic and social standing, to accept all their earned credits, and to apply all the appropriate course credits to their U of M degree programs.  Wherever differences may exist between a student’s degree programs at Lambuth and the U of M, the University will apply the student’s completed work at Lambuth as fully as possible toward the U of M degree program.

Dr. Tom Nenon, vice provost for Assessment, Institutional Research and Reporting, who is one of the U of M administrators working with Lambuth officials on the teach-out agreement, said, “The University of Memphis does a great job of accommodating and graduating more than 1,000 transfer students each year.  In the case of Lambuth University, President Raines has asked all the members of the University community to make a special effort to help Lambuth students, and I’ve been pleased to see how positively our faculty and staff are responding.”

To avoid additional financial burdens to Lambuth students and their families, the University of Memphis will waive the transferring students’ application fees. The U of M will also honor scholarship arrangements previously in place with Lambuth University so that the overall financial obligations for tuition and mandatory fees for each student will in no case exceed what they would have been if the student had continued at Lambuth University.

In fact, the U of M believes that because of its very reasonable tuition and fees as a public institution, most students transferring from Lambuth, whether on scholarship or not, will see a significant reduction in their financial obligations.

The University of Memphis, which will observe its centennial next year, currently enrolls more than 17,500 undergraduate students and offers them 15 bachelor’s degrees in more than 50 subjects and 70 concentrations.  The degree offerings include those of the University College, which works with students to accommodate individualized degree programs that may not fit exactly into an existing major.

The U of M, only 80 miles from Jackson, is fully accredited in all majors, already has an extensive presence in Jackson at Jackson State Community College, and also offers many online courses and degree programs.  The University is experienced in working with transfer students, and welcomes the opportunity to work with Lambuth University students to complete their degrees.

More information about transferring from Lambuth University to the University of Memphis is available online at www.memphis.edu/admissions/lambuth.htm or by phone at 901-678-3997 or 731-427-4725.