APSU 2020: A student-focused year in review
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Over the decades, Austin Peay State University has developed a reputation as a student-focused institution, and when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived earlier this year, University officials doubled their efforts. Departments across campus developed innovative programs, from loaning laptop computers to providing free meals, to help keep students safe and successful at APSU.
Here is a look back at some of the University’s top, student-focused initiatives from 2020.
- APSU provides limited number of laptops for students to go online. In March, after moving all instruction online, Austin Peay’s COVID-19 Task Force developed a Laptop Loan Program to provide free laptop computers to students without computer access.
- APSU loaning MiFi wireless routers to rural students without internet access. In April, the University’s Distance Education Office began loaning MiFi tablets for students in rural areas with limited or no internet access at no cost to APSU students. A MiFi is a wireless router that acts as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot.
- APSU waiving ACT, SAT and GRE tests for summer and fall admission. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University waived standardized test requirements – the ACT, SAT and GRE – for any student applying for undergraduate and graduate admission throughout 2021. The University adopted this new, test-optional admission policy because of the many challenges potential students now face amid state and local shelter-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines.
- APSU develops special COVID-19 relief scholarship for students taking summer classes. Because of the hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic on college students, Austin Peay created a special scholarship last summer to help all APSU students enrolled in summer 2020 courses. The APSU COVID-19 Relief Scholarship covered a portion of educational expenses for students taking classes last summer. The scholarship was automatically credited to the accounts of students enrolled in summer classes
- APSU alumni and friends give nearly $70,000 to campus community through Govs Give Back. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Govs Give Back Fund was created last spring. This initiative provides urgent financial assistance for students, faculty and staff who have suffered severe economic, medical or similar hardships this pandemic and in other times of crisis. The money has covered expenses related to the pandemic, including rent, electric bills, childcare, healthcare and access to technology.
- At APSU, telehealth provides new creativity for counseling sessions. Austin Peay State University’s Boyd Health Services embraced new video-conferencing technology this year to continue providing students with important counseling services.
- APSU receives $400,000 in state grants to expand innovative three-year teacher residency and degree program. The Tennessee Department of Education awarded Austin Peay four $100,000 grants to support the APSU Eriksson College of Education’s accelerated Grow Your Own Teacher Residency programs. Working with area school districts, the programs provide recent high school graduates with a free path to become full-time teachers, and a guaranteed job in partner districts, in just three years.
- APSU Foundation launches Feed a Gov program, providing free meals for students in need. Earlier this fall, the Austin Peay State University Foundation used a Tennessee Community CARES Program grant to offer free hot meals to students in need. The program, Feed a Gov, used the $500,000 grant to provide eligible students and their families with meal vouchers to the University’s dining venues and expanded opportunities for placing grocery orders through the University’s food pantry.
- APSU one of Tennessee's first schools to drop ACT/SAT requirement for scholarships. The University, which U.S. News and World Report recently named one of the top 25 regional public schools in the South, prides itself on graduating 41% of its students with no debt. And in November, Austin Peay became one of the first universities in Tennessee to drop ACT and SAT requirements for awarding scholarships, which means APSU will award more financial scholarships to students looking to earn their degree.
- Austin Peay to enhance COVID testing, give up to 25,000 vaccinations in coming months. Austin Peay State University officials expect to administer up to 25,000 COVID-19 vaccinations in the coming months to university students, employees and their families. Additionally, Austin Peay plans to open a new clinical laboratory Jan. 4 on campus that will help university healthcare workers deliver quicker, more accurate COVID-19 testing and results.
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