KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — MTSU is continuing its East Tennessee swing for its next True Blue Tour events to recruit prospective students for 2019 and beyond.

The entourage, led by university President Sidney A. McPhee, finished a successful visit to Johnson City Tuesday, Oct. 23, and now anticipates a large crowd registered for the Knoxville tour stop at The Foundry at the Fair Site, 747 World’s Fair Park Drive, on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

MTSU College of Education Dean Lana Seivers, left, shows a favorite photo from the college’s current magazine Oct. 23 as Destiney Minnefield, right, of Elizabethton, Tenn., an Elizabethton High School senior, and college adviser Alicia Abney watch during the True Blue Tour visit to Johnson City at the Carnegie Hotel. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)

MTSU has two events planned in Knoxville: a 12:30 p.m. luncheon for counselors and community college staff and a 6 p.m. reception for students and their families.

University recruiters, admissions staff, advisers and administrators travel across Tennessee during the True Blue Tour, recruiting high school and community college prospects. MTSU officials also will travel to Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama, next week and already have visited Atlanta, Georgia, and Bowling Green and Louisville, Kentucky, in the university’s effort to entice prospects to choose MTSU.

The Murfreesboro university recently announced a consolidation of scholarships into the new Presidential Scholarship, which can mean $18,000 for four years — or $4,500 per year — for qualifying students with a 25 to 29 on their ACT and a 3.5 or higher GPA who apply by Dec. 1.

McPhee will share this news and more with Knoxville-area students during the True Blue Tour visit.

In Johnson City, the president told the crowd that MTSU “enjoys coming to East Tennessee and to Johnson City. We bring our deans, provost, department chairs and advisers with us. We focus on quality. We have constructed and built some of the finest facilities in the country. The people — caring faculty, staff and administration — are what we’re about.”

Makayla Jones, 17, right, a Hampton High School senior, receives MTSU housing information from Mitchell Furtner Oct. 23 during the True Blue Tour visit to Johnson City as her mother, Phyllis Jones, observes. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)

McPhee shared information about innovative programs at the university, including mechatronics engineering, unmanned aerial systems or drones, fermentation science and the School of Nursing.

Several northeast Tennessee-area students have applied and already received acceptance letters and will start at MTSU in 2019.

To take a closer look at campus life, MTSU offers one more Saturday fall preview day — Nov. 3 starting at 8 a.m. in the Student Union — plus daily campus tours at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. that begin in the Student Services and Admissions Center. Schedule a tour at www.mtsu.edu/tours.

For more information about admissions, email admissions@mtsu.edu or call 615-898-2233. For information about tours and events, email tours@mtsu.edu or call 615-898-5670.

Prospective students need to submit an application for admission and accompanying documents by Dec. 1 to meet the guaranteed scholarship deadline for 2019. To apply, visit www.mtsu.edu/applynow.

To learn about MTSU’s 300-plus programs, visit www.mtsu.edu/closerlook.

An attentive audience in Knoxville, Tenn., listens as MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee discusses the university and its many attributes in October 2017 during the True Blue Tour event at The Foundry at the Fair Site. MTSU is returning Oct. 24 to The Foundry for a 2018 event. (MTSU file photo by Randy Weiler)