By ANNE GREGORY
Media Relations
Manchester University

NORTH MANCHESTER — The big move-in day for new Manchester University undergraduate students was Saturday, Aug. 22, at the North Manchester campus. Classes start Wednesday, Aug. 26, with the Pharmacy Program, Fort Wayne, having started Monday, Aug. 10.

Some highlights for this year are as follows.

Adding more than 70 students this year, MU’s four-year doctor of pharmacy program begins the final leg of its accreditation process. Fourth-year students are embarking on clinical rotations and this will be the first class to graduate from the program.

Based at MU’s Fort Wayne campus, the program is becoming a regional leader in research excellence. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation recently awarded the program a $60,000 grant to study the use and potential of pharmacogenomics in patient care at pharmacies.

Manchester is the only private, liberal arts school in Indiana that offers an undergraduate major and minor in sales, launched hast year.

Manchester will offer a new major in software engineering beginning in the fall of 2016, replacing the current computer science major. Several classes for the new major are already available. Software engineering focuses on problem solving, requirements engineering, software architecture and design, software quality and construction and software testing systems.

Over the summer, MU adopted the college model used by many universities across the nation. The reorganization with four colleges – College of Pharmacy, Natural and Health Sciences, College of Arts and Humanities, College of Business and College of Education and Social Sciences – and six deans is designed to strengthen student learning and provide student services more effectively. This includes developing new academic programs and partnerships and increasing academic, research, internship and service opportunities for students.

Two student centers have been created to allow the university to integrate student learning inside and outside of the classroom in a holistic way. The Student Experience Center will focus on serving commuter students, multicultural affairs, orientation, residential life, student activities and wellness services. The Student Success Center oversees academic advising, career services, hands-on learning opportunities and volunteer service.