With enrollment projected to decline over the next decade, recruiting has become a priority for Central Michigan University and its academic colleges.

Michigan high schools will graduate an estimated 90,000 students in 2020, about 30,000 fewer than in 2008. In the College of Communication and Fine Arts, faculty members from the various departments have taken proactive measures to recruit students to come to CMU. Chair of the Art and Design Department Larry Burditt said his department has been very active in finding students.

His department is on the forefront of recovering from a 32-percent decrease in undergraduate enrollment last year. In fall 2010, there were 250 signed art majors, compared to 177 this fall.

Due to lower enrollment in art classes, some special topics courses have been cut.

“Last year we stepped up recruiting more than what we’ve done (in the past) but we’ve always done extensive recruiting," Burditt said.

The department is currently looking at 3-D printing, and within the next five years will look at where technology fits in with art.

Specific days hosted by the college such as CCFA Day and other events hosted by the university like CMU and You day, also help show students what is offered at the university. Recruiters have also traveled to exhibitions across the state to find prospective students.

“At the beginning of (November), I went to the Kalamazoo Institute of Art and looked at student art where 15 to 20 schools were represented,” Burditt said.

Marybeth Minnis, the assistant director of the school of music, said her department's recruiters go to high schools often.

“We do a lot by going out,” she said. “We want students coming in. We enjoy it, too. We like meeting with students and working with students.”

Minnis' department has grown slowly in the last five years, from 231 signed majors to 249.

Faculty within the School of Music help judge at events like Solo and Ensemble, and they also organize clinics in schools.

There are also several events on campus that help recruit students to the school or music like Jazz Weekend and instrumental workshops.

“We also go to conferences,” Minnis said. "There’s the Michigan Music conference in Grand Rapids in January and there’s a conference in December in Chicago where we have a booth with CMU school of music stuff.”

The School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts is another area within CCFA that has been working to increase enrollment. BCA has grown from 231 signed majors in 2010 to 249 in 2014.

“One of the objectives of reaching out to high schools and talking to high school teachers is to get a sense of what they’re doing,” said Rick Sykes, the assistant director of BCA. “We also let them know what we’re doing and we let them know about co-curricular activities."

Showing the facilities of the School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts to potential students also aids in recruitment.

“We regularly have high school classes come and tour our facilities,” said Peter Orlik, director of BCA.

Since the creation of the advertising major in the 2012-2013 academic year, that program has shown a 300 percent increase in students signing it.

Prior to the creation of the advertising major, students at CMU had to major in journalism with a concentration in advertising. Doug Berry, a former fixed-term faculty professor who spent almost 30 years in the industry, helped create the major.

“I surveyed students in advertising classes and asked if there had been an advertising major would you have considered it,” Berry said. “The results from the survey indicated that the major would double”.

Berry took his survey results to the journalism department, where the creation of an advertising major was supported unanimously and to the CCFA deans office, where he also received support.

Johnny Sparks, an associate professor of advertising in the journalism department, predicts that advertising will keep growing.

“I think that it will probably grow into one of the largest majors”, Sparks said. “I think it will be comparable if not bigger than integrative public relations. It’s a very interesting program, very attractive to students because we’re all familiar with advertising."

With the growth of the program, three more advertising classes have been added.

CMU students benefit from an advertising major rather than just a concentration in advertising. The lack of marketing courses made them less competitive with students from schools like Michigan State and Western Michigan University.

Berry says the advertising major better prepared students for the work force.

“On paper they were more competitive and better trained for the initial interview," Berry said. "The advertising major gave students more marketing background for their first interview and more an idea of what to expect."