Tenth day numbers were being finalized as of late Tuesday evening by institutional research, according to Provost Jay Gatrell.

Until the official memo goes out, Gatrell said he could not release any official numbers. He said a highlight of the data is the increase in the number of transfer students.

Josh Norman, associate vice president for enrollment management, said recently that current reports indicate freshman numbers are going to be down this year, while transfer, graduate and international undergraduate numbers are up.

Last year, Eastern’s fall enrollment dropped by almost 13 percent, going down from 8,520 students to 7,415. In the spring semester, it dipped even lower to 6,673 students toal.

“We still have challenges ahead,” Gatrell said at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting. “I want to be very transparent about that.”

After he meets with all the academic departments, Gatrell said he feels he will have a better understanding of the challenges Eastern still faces.

“I’ve got to learn about the personalities in the units, the people as well as their programs,” Gatrell said at the meeting. “So, I think once my ‘world tour’ is done, I think then I will have a better sense of the resources that are on campus and the ways in which I think faculty can help advance that.”

Chrissy Miller can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].