This year, Mississippi State University’s enrollment has experienced a dramatic increase. During a speech given to the general faculty this semester, President Mark Keenum said around 3,450 freshmen have enrolled at the university. 
    Keenum said, “That’s something to be proud of, to grow our numbers and maintain quality.”
 According to Keenum, the size of the faculty has increased as well. Keenum said there were around 100 new faculty members have joined the Bulldog community, but growth in people is not the only change happening at State.
     Expansion and renovation of current buildings as well as the construction of new buildings are underway. 
Sid Salter, MSU chief communication officer for, said Mississippi State has 353 million dollars in projects in construction or design. Two new residence halls and the Center for America’s Veterans will both be ready by the fall of 2016. 
    Salter said the Library expansion is also under construction while the new Wise Center classroom addition is near completion. The construction of the Roberts Building which will include the post office is close to breaking ground. YMCA building renovations should start next year. There will also be a new parking garage and classrooms on the north side of campus. 
       Tim Muzzi, director of planning design and construction, said, “When the parking garage and classroom construction is done there will be room for 154 parking spots. The classroom space will be 90,000 square feet and in one day an estimated 11,600 people will go through the classrooms.”
      Muzzi said many projections were in the design phase such as the Dudy Noble addition and renovation, a new Meat Science Lab and a data complex called nSPARC. There is also a poultry complex in the works. 
Muzzi said that a circle road will be built behind sorority row along with a new sorority house, which is in the design phase. Another road is in the works that will connect Blackjack road to Poorhouse road. All three are to start construction soon.
 According to Muzzi, The Mill, which is still owned by the university, but is being leased to a developer, has been renovated. The building is on the Federal Register for Historic Places and has gone through a great renovation.
  President Keenum said, “Gorgeous, beautiful, surpassed my expectations,” when describing The Mill’s renovations.
Salter said a new Kinesiology building, College of Architecture, Art and Design building. The Kinesiology building is being built due to the Kinesiology program being one of the fastest growing programs. 
Salter also provided information on a new music building. The current music building is on the site of a new Engineering Building in the design phase.  President Keenum said the new music building is one of the top priorities right now.
 New buildings and renovation are all over campus with numbers still growing. Muzzi said construction will continue because the buildings are getting older and they need to be kept up.
Raymond Brooks, assistant dean of students, said the best thing about MSU’s growth is it brings in more money and more diversity. More money is needed to provide for new students and more diversity expands students’ knowledge of culture.
Brooks said that expansion is attracting more out of state students. Brooks said MSU has to be competitive because it is selling a service, and Mississippi State wants to give the best overall experience possible.
  Brooks said, “The growth and expansion show how far we have come and how the university is better than it was.”