For release: August 8, 2012
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey, 901-678-2843

A welcome as warm as this summer’s weather awaits students when they move into their University of Memphis residence halls Thursday and Friday, Aug. 23 and 24. 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 and Student Affairs Vice President Rosie Phillips Bingham.

University representatives will greet students and their parents in the parking lots, provide them with water or 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 an outdoor movie, luau, student involvement fair, and comedy slam. This is the 15th year for Operation Warm Welcome.

Some 2,300 students are expected to live on the U of M’s main campus this fall.