For release: August 15, 2011
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey, 901/678-2843

A welcome as warm as this summer’s weather awaits dorm students when they move into their University of Memphis residences Thursday and Friday, Aug. 25 and 26. A team of U of M volunteers will help students move their clothing, computers, refrigerators, microwaves, TVs, and other necessities of college life into their on-campus rooms.

The volunteers include students, groundskeepers, professors, secretaries, and others from the University’s faculty and staff. Among the administrators expected to help are President Shirley Raines, Provost Ralph Faudree, Student Affairs Vice President Rosie Phillips Bingham, and Stephen Petersen, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

University representatives will greet students and their parents in the parking lots, provide them with cold soft drinks, and lend assistance in carrying items up to rooms. The offices of Residence Life and Physical Plant and Planning will direct activities.

Some freshmen and students in living/learning programs will move in Thursday between 1 and 4:30 p.m. Most students are expected to arrive Friday, also between 1 and 4:30 p.m.

During Welcome Week, students also will be treated to a full calendar of activities, including a carnival, outdoor movie, picnic, RecFest, comedy slam, and karaoke night. This is the 14^th year for Operation Warm Welcome.

Some 2,850 of the 20,000-plus students expected to enroll at the University of Memphis this fall will live on campus.