New transfer center opens in Wilson
By Kelly Conniff, staff writer
Posted on October 30, 2006

Last Friday marked the opening of Madison Transfer, a resource center dedicated to students making the transition into JMU.

Madison Transfer will act as an extension of the Orientation Office and strive to serve transfer students as they make an important change in their lives. The program is located in Wilson Hall, room 208, and the creators hope it will become a place for transfer students to receive help.

“Hopefully students can come here in between classes and hang out,” Graduate Assistant of Transfer Experience Kristen Garza said. “We want them to know that they are wanted at JMU so that they can be a part of things here.”

Madison Transfer comes from a $10,000 Innovation Grant that will allow it to develop programs that will appeal specifically to transfer students. A large array of information concerning housing, academics and various other services are already available in the office.

“The main thing is that we want to provide them with an orientation and transfer experience that is comparable to what a first-year student receives,” Tisha McCoy, assistant director for Orientation and Transfer Experience, said. “Our center is specifically designed to address the needs of these students.”

JMU has approximately 2,000 transfer students enrolled, which makes up about 12 percent of total enrollment. Sixty percent of these students come from two-year community colleges, while the other 40 percent come from four-year institutions.

In order to gauge the transfer student experience and discover what was missing, JMU has done extensive research.

“We’ve been looking at transfer students and adjustments, and done a number of studies, surveys and focus groups to find out what they really needed,” administrator Randy Mitchell said in a speech during the opening of the center.

After collecting more than 1,500 comments, Madison Transfer was formed. The center will be staffed by transfer students.

“It’s important to keep Madison Transfer staffed by those who understand what the transfer students are going through,” McCoy said.

Madison Transfer intends to revise the brochure currently available for transfer students as well as further develop its Web site. The program also has an AIM screen name, AskJMUTransfer, that helps reach out to potential transfers.

“We want to facilitate students’ transition to JMU,” McCoy said. “We want to be the first stop for them, the first point of contact, so that we can point them in the direction they want to go.”

More information about Madison Transfer is available on their Web site, jmu.edu/madisontransfer.