Classroom specs: Size does matter

The classrooms on the Francis Marion University campus are, for the most part, utilitarian. They’re clean and they’re up to date. They do the job.

But here’s what FMU’s students like best about them: The size, and specifically the fact that they’re all pretty small.

Yes, there is the occasional lecture in Lowrimore or Thomason Auditorium, elegant spaces,both of which seat a little more than 100. But they are seldom filled,and in truth there are no gigantic lecture halls on our campus. 

That means there are no 400-student freshman Biology classes, no English Lit adventures where the professor is a distant, indistinct figure, droning on over a PA system.

Most of the classrooms on the FMU campus hold 20-30 students. And most of the classes contain somewhere between 12 and 20. That’s true for seniors at FMU. It’s true for freshmen, too.

When we say we have a student-faculty ratio of 15:1 we mean it. That’s not so much an average as a statement of fact, a reflection of a norm.

The end result of all this is a comfortable, intimate academic environment where our faculty can do what they do best – teach students they know and understand.

So when it comes to classrooms, just know that size does matter.

In fact, it’s the most important part.