2008 Woodie Awards
Colleges use celebrities to raise status, interest
Associated Press
Issue date: 4/16/07 Section: News
ATLANTA - College brochures tout Ivy-covered campuses, plush dorms and high-tech fitness centers. Yet, when it comes to getting the attention of students - and rival institutions - nothing works as well as a little star power.
Relatively unknown schools like Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., experienced a boost in enrollment after Al Gore taught at the school. Well-established schools hoping to secure truly elite reputations are signing up celebrity professors, like Atlanta's Emory University did when it inked a five-year deal with acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie.
Landing a big name to teach gives a school an air of credibility with some prospective students it might not otherwise get, some observers say.
Sheila Peters, associate provost at Fisk, a traditionally black college of 900 students, said Gore's decision to teach at the school following his failed 2000 presidential bid thrust the school's name into the limelight. The vice president also taught at Middle Tennessee State University in Nashville and Columbia University in the wake of the election.
"I'm sure there were people who didn't know about Fisk that became introduced to us by virtue of his being here, and we are forever grateful for that," associate provost Sheila Peters said. "I don't think it hurt recruitment by any means."
Students from colleges around the Nashville area and community member were vying to get a seat in Gore's 100-student class, and prospective students were shuttled past Gore's classroom. Freshman enrollment, which had dipped to 151 students in 2001, jumped to 220 the next year.
Other schools to have gotten in on the act include Northwestern [Oprah Winfrey], Creighton [Clarence Thomas] and the University of Pennsylvania [Kal Penn, star of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle"].
Emory already is fielding calls from current and prospective students interested in taking Rushdie's four-week literature seminar next fall, school officials say.
Relatively unknown schools like Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., experienced a boost in enrollment after Al Gore taught at the school. Well-established schools hoping to secure truly elite reputations are signing up celebrity professors, like Atlanta's Emory University did when it inked a five-year deal with acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie.
Landing a big name to teach gives a school an air of credibility with some prospective students it might not otherwise get, some observers say.
Sheila Peters, associate provost at Fisk, a traditionally black college of 900 students, said Gore's decision to teach at the school following his failed 2000 presidential bid thrust the school's name into the limelight. The vice president also taught at Middle Tennessee State University in Nashville and Columbia University in the wake of the election.
"I'm sure there were people who didn't know about Fisk that became introduced to us by virtue of his being here, and we are forever grateful for that," associate provost Sheila Peters said. "I don't think it hurt recruitment by any means."
Students from colleges around the Nashville area and community member were vying to get a seat in Gore's 100-student class, and prospective students were shuttled past Gore's classroom. Freshman enrollment, which had dipped to 151 students in 2001, jumped to 220 the next year.
Other schools to have gotten in on the act include Northwestern [Oprah Winfrey], Creighton [Clarence Thomas] and the University of Pennsylvania [Kal Penn, star of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle"].
Emory already is fielding calls from current and prospective students interested in taking Rushdie's four-week literature seminar next fall, school officials say.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 5
Gary
posted 4/16/07 @ 7:50 PM CST
Why on earth did Sidelines print this article since it contains a major error?! Last time I checked, MTSU was located in MURFREESBORO, not NASHVILLE!
Abby
posted 4/21/07 @ 9:29 PM CST
Viola, it's in the fourth paragraph:
"Sheila Peters, associate provost at Fisk, a traditionally black college of 900 students, said Gore's decision to teach at the school following his failed 2000 presidential bid thrust the school's name into the limelight. (Continued…)
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