MTSU Provost Brad Bartel, left, visits with Lynn and alumnus Ed Young of Colorado Springs, Colo., Sept. 19 in the Cope Administration Building lobby. It marked the first time Ed Young, who was a member of the class of 1957, had returned to the interior campus area since he graduated. The Youngs came for a campus tour. (Photos by MTSU News and Media Relations)

Fifty-six years after graduating from MTSU, Colorado resident Ed Young was amazed at the changes to the campus as he and his wife, Lynn, toured the university Sept. 19.

“It’s really outstanding,” Young said of the campus, the interior of which he had not seen since graduating in 1957 with an economics degree. “I’m just astounded — with the reception, the sights, the new buildings and the hospitality.”

Not long after arriving on campus, the Youngs were greeted by Provost Brad Bartel. Young, a resident of Colorado Springs, recalled seeing an announcement for when Bartel, former president of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., was leaving to accept the job at Young’s alma mater.

Given a tour by Blue Elite graduate student Mandy Mullins, the Youngs were shown the under-construction, $147 million Science Building, the one-year-old Student Union, two-year-old College of Education Building, the Campus Recreation Center and more.

Mullins took the Youngs past Kirksey Old Main and Wiser-Patten Science Hall. He said he recalled there only being agricultural land going east past Forrest Hall, the building that houses the military science program.

Mullins carried them to the Business and Aerospace Building, where new Jennings A. Jones College of Business Dean David J. Urban met and visited with them. Urban gave Ed Young an “I am True Blue” lapel pin.

While in BAS, Mullins showed them the financial trading room, a master classroom equipped with a data wall, ticker board and seven student laptop computers with Bloomberg software to simulate a financial trading room.

Alumnus Ed Young, right, of Colorado Springs, Colo., holds an “I am True Blue” lapel pin given to him Sept. 19 by MTSU Jennings A. Jones College of Business Dean David J. Urban. Young, who earned his degree in economics, was a member of the class of 1957.

On an elevator in BAS, he encountered two MT Blue Raider football players. Lynn Young reminded him that he keeps up with their games and those of the volleyball team via goblueraiders.com. The players thanked him for his support.

Before leaving the university, the Youngs spent time with members of the MTSU Office of Alumni Relations staff and received some alumni items.

The Alumni House on Middle Tennessee Boulevard and the alumni staff always welcome alumni to stop by during business hours, which are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

While in Middle Tennessee, the Youngs visited family in Franklin, Tenn., and attended Ed Young’s 60th reunion at Giles County High School in Pulaski, Tenn.

The Youngs, who recently celebrated a 50th wedding anniversary, have a son, daughter and eight grandchildren.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)