ORU Celebrates Phenomenal Growth
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Stephanie Hill, Director of University Relations & Communications
Office: 918.495.7337, Mobile: 918.720.5548
sthill@oru.edu
Tulsa, OK – Oral Roberts University’s fall 2017 census is reason to celebrate. Not only did ORU continue its phenomenal growth with nine straight years of rising enrollment, but we also now have 101 nations represented in our student population. The University also welcomed its largest incoming class in recent recorded history with nearly a thousand new students.
“We are continuing to attract more students from all over the world and we couldn’t be happier,” said ORU President Dr. William M. Wilson. “The campus is buzzing with activity and we believe our momentum to build Holy Spirit-empowered leaders is significant.”
ORU’s dedication to a global vision continues to show in the University’s student population. All 50 states and 101 nations are represented in the enrollment this year, up from 90 nations last year. Some of the new nations added include Rwanda, Cuba and Nicaragua.
“It has been our goal to expand ORU’s global reach through whole person education and serve the global Spirit-empowered community,” said Dr. Nancy Brainard, Vice President of Enrollment Management. “We are delighted to have hit the 100-nation mark this semester!”
Eighty-four percent of ORU freshmen last year came back to continue their education, the highest student retention number in recent history. This exceeds the retention rates of many evangelical-affiliated Universities. It demonstrates a commitment from ORU’s students to becoming spiritually alive, intellectually alert, physically disciplined, socially adept and professionally competent.
Lastly, more and more students are experiencing the vibrant campus life ORU offers. ORU has its highest residential population in recent history with over 2,000 students living on campus, a four-year growth of over 15%.
“When I started serving as ORU’s President just over four years ago, I wanted to see Oral Roberts’s mission fulfilled in more and more students,” said Dr. Wilson. “Building ‘Holy Spirit-empowered leaders through whole person education to impact the world with God’s healing’ is our consistent commitment and we have more new leaders involved in this process than ever before. It is a great time to be at ORU and it’s only going to get better.”