.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Drake University is prepping for an expected influx of 961 freshmen this fall, which is believed to be its biggest class ever. The estimate represents a big jump from the 780 to 810 freshmen of recent years. In response, the school has added five new faculty members, two counselors and two new student advisors. To house the newbies, Drake bumped up plans to renovate the lower floor of Morehouse Hall from 2010 to this summer. The area had been occupied by Drake’s International Center.

“The Morehouse dorm rooms will be ready by fall,” vice president of admissions Tom Delahunt said. “We’re also remodeling the cafeteria so everyone has a place to sit. We added an extra orientation session this summer.”

Delahunt attributed some of the enrollment bounce to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Recently, the magazine ranked Drake 40th on its list of 50 best values among private colleges in the United States.

Drake has hired two new faculty members to teach English, one for history, one for rhetoric and one for law, politics and society, a curriculum that prepares students for law school or a political or public service career.

Drake’s Law School is getting almost a 10 percent increase in first-year students this fall, Drake spokeswoman Lisa Lacher said.

Hubbell Realty Co. and Drake hope to attract older students with a $37 million mixed-used project being built at 30th Street and Carpenter Avenue that includes residences for 500 students. There will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units along with 25 studio apartments. Each unit will have furnished living rooms and kitchen appliances.

Residents will be able to use group study rooms and exercise facilities in their buildings. Street-level retail suites will occupy 9,159 square feet of the 226,000-square-foot complex. The project was designed to exude the ambience of a small town square.

“The homes are like apartments that should appeal to grad students and law students,” Lacher said. The units will be ready in August 2008.

The university held a campus-wide contest in May to name the complex. A pharmacy student won an iPod with her entry: Drake West Village.