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William Carey, USM-Gulf Coast surge back to meet students needs.

Article Excerpt
Higher education on the Coast was knocked to its knees by Hurricane Katrina as the two major four-year colleges, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Gulf Coast and William Carey University on the Coast, had beautiful campuses on the waterfront that were decimated by the storm surge.

Fast forward three years later and enrollment at Southern Miss on the Coast is expected to exceed pre-Katrina enrollment this year, and enrollment at William Carey this fall is expected to see a sizeable increase from last year when there were 612 students enrolled compared with 743 in the fall 2004.

New campuses

Both colleges are planning brand new campuses in safer territory farther inland. William Carey is building a campus in the Tradition planned community north of Interstate 10 while USM has been given 200 acres by Cross Creek Development and is beginning planning for its Cross Creek Campus facility.

Neither college is waiting until new campuses can be constructed to continue offering higher education on the Coast.

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"We are offering even more classes than we did prior to Katrina because we have the interim site in Gulfport and the Gulf Park campus, as well," said Dr. Pat Joachim, associate provost, USM Gulf Coast. "And...

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