University of Richmond

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University of Richmond
University of Richmond Logo
Motto Verbum Vitae et Lumen Scientiae
(Word of life and the light of knowledge)
Established 1830
Type Private
Endowment $1.4 billion (June 30, 2006) [1]
President William E. Cooper (until June 30, 2007)

Edward L. Ayers (from July 1, 2007)
Faculty 312 FT (Fall 2006)
Undergraduates 3,460 (Fall 2006)
Postgraduates 755 (Fall 2006)
Location Richmond, Virginia, USA
Campus Suburban, 350 acres (1.4 km²)
Athletics 19 teams (NCAA Division I, football I-AA)
Mascot Spider
Website richmond.edu

The University of Richmond is a private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located in Richmond, Virginia. The University of Richmond ("UR" or "U of R") is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School of Arts & Sciences, the Robins School of Business, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, Richmond School of Law and the School of Continuing Studies.

Contents

[edit] History

Founded by Virginia Baptists in 1830 as a seminary for men, the school was incorporated ten years later as Richmond College. During the American Civil War, Richmond College was used as a hospital for Confederate troops and later as a Union barracks. By the end of the war, the college was bankrupt and unable to continue functioning. In 1866, James Thomas donated $5,000 to re-open the college. The T.C. Williams School of Law opened in 1870.

In 1894, the college elected Dr. Frederic W. Boatwright president. President Boatwright would serve for 51 years. He is most remembered for his decision to move the college in 1914 from its original location in what is now the Fan district to its current location in the Westhampton area of Richmond. The university's main library, Boatwright Memorial Library, was named in honor of Dr. Boatwright's long and distinguished service.

Looking out over Westhampton Lake from Tyler Haynes Commons
Enlarge
Looking out over Westhampton Lake from Tyler Haynes Commons

In conjunction with the move, a new college for women, Westhampton College, opened on the new campus. In 1921, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences opened, followed by the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business in 1949, and the School of Continuing Studies in 1962. In 1969, E. Claiborne Robins, a trustee and alumnus, donated $50 million to the university, the largest gift made to an institution of higher education at the time. Today, the university's endowment totals $1.4 billion.

In 1987, a donation of $20 million by Robert S. Jepson, Jr. facilitated the opening of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, the first such school in the United States. The school, which opened in 1992, was the first of its kind in the U.S.

In 1990, the missions of Richmond and Westhampton Colleges were combined to form the School of Arts and Sciences.

On October 15, 1992, candidates George Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot came to campus for the first-ever "town hall" televised presidential debate broadcast before 200 million people worldwide.

In 2000, President William E. Cooper launched the University's signature Richmond Quest program. Every other year, the University community focuses its collective attention on exploring a single pervasive question confronting society through a series of courses, seminars and lectures.

On January 12, 2006, Cooper announced that he would step down as president of the University of Richmond, effective June 30, 2007. On November 10, 2006, the university named Edward L. Ayers, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia, the ninth president of the University of Richmond. He will take office on July 1, 2007.[2]

[edit] Academics

All students must complete general education requirements as part of the liberal arts curriculum. These requirements include the Core Course, a demanding two-semester course heavily focused on international writings and philosophy that first-year students must complete. Other general education requirements include expository writing, wellness, foreign language, and one class each in six fields of study.

Richmond offers more than 100 majors, minors, and concentrations in three undergraduate schools--the School of Arts and Sciences, the Robins School of Business, and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.

[edit] Student Research

The University of Richmond offers numerous research opportunities for students. In addition to research-based courses, independent studies, and practicums in most disciplines, many special opportunities exist for students to participate in close research collaborations with University of Richmond faculty. Student research occurs in all academic areas, including the arts, sciences, social sciences, and other fields. The 10:1 student/faculty ratio at the University of Richmond promotes close research collaboration. The University of Richmond is listed by the 2007 U.S. News and World Report as one of 35 (out of 2,500) “schools with outstanding examples of academic programs that are believed to lead to student success” in the area of “Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects.” The Richmond Research Institute at the University of Richmond provides information on undergraduate research opportunities as well as numerous examples of student research videos, publications, posters, and abstracts.

[edit] Admissions

The University of Richmond admitted 44% of applicants for the class of 2010, which has middle 50 percent range SAT I scores of 1850–2030. In its "America's Best Colleges 2007" issue, U.S. News and World Report ranked Richmond 34th among national “Liberal Arts Colleges" for the second straight year. For the previous eleven years, UR had been ranked first in the "Master's Universities - South" category, but an official reclassification by the Carnegie Foundation resulted in UR's inclusion among national liberal arts colleges. Business Week recently ranked the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business as the 25th best undergraduate program in the nation.

Despite the fact that the University of Richmond's name incorrectly leads some to believe that it is a public institution of higher education drawing students primarily from within the state of Virginia, only about 15 percent of UR's undergraduate students are from Virginia. The University of Richmond primarily draws students from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, but also draws students from across the country and abroad. Peer universities that Richmond typically competes with for students include Washington and Lee University, Wesleyan University, Davidson College, Wake Forest University, Bucknell University, Colgate University, and Furman University.

[edit] Financial Aid

Richmond administers a generous financial aid program, with 65% of all students receiving some form of financial assistance. Richmond is one only a few universities in the United States to offer a "need-blind" admissions policy and to meet 100% of admitted students' demonstrated need. Richmond offers 50 merit-based, full tuition scholarships to students in each entering class (approximately 1 out of every 15 students). Richmond also caps student loan debt at $4,000 per year. Recently, to encourage enrollment from Virginia residents, admitted students from Virginia with family incomes of $40,000 or less will receive full-tuition/room and board financial aid packages without loans.

[edit] Student Life

Richmond has over 250 student organizations. Student groups include those devoted to: academic interests (Phi Beta Kappa, Golden Key National Honour Society, Women Involved in Learning and Living); student government (Richmond College Student Government Association and Westhampton College Student Government Association); media (The Collegian, student newspaper published since 1914, campus radio station WDCE); community service (Habitat for Humanity, Alpha Phi Omega); intramural athletics; club sports (Richmond Ice Hockey Club, Richmond Synchronized Swimming); religion (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Hillel); performing arts (including several a capella groups); and culture and diversity (Ngoma African Dance Company, Multicultural Student Union, New Directions for the GLBTQ community).

Richmond also has an active Greek life with 14 national fraternities and sororities. The fraternities include Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma, Phi Gamma Delta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, and the founding chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. The sororities are Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Pi Beta Phi.

[edit] Traditions

Noted University of Richmond traditions include: an honor code administered by student honor councils; Investiture and Proclamation Night, ceremonies for first year men and women to reflect on their next four years; Ring Dance, a dance held at the Jefferson Hotel by the Junior class women; and Festivus, a Greek, day-long celebration held in the spring (until recent years called Pig Roast).

[edit] International Education

In the past decade, the university has sought to develop a stronger international focus. International students from about 70 countries represent about 6% of the student body. Approximately half of undergraduate students participate in one of 78 study abroad programs offered by the university. Other international programs include Global House, a residential program housed in Keller Hall, and an international film series.

[edit] Campus

The University of Richmond's campus consists of 350 acres in a suburban setting on the western edge of the city. The university has, with few exceptions, remained true to the original architectural plans for the campus--stately red brick buildings in a collegiate gothic style set around shared open lawns. Many of the original buildings, including Jeter Hall and North Court, both residence halls, and Ryland Hall, the original administration building and library for Richmond College, were designed by Ralph Adams Cram in 1910. Cram, a noted institutional architect, also designed buildings for Princeton, Cornell, Rice, and Williams, among other universities. Warren H. Manning, a former apprentice to Frederick Law Olmstead, designed the original landscape plan. The overall effect of the gothic architecture set amid a landscape of pines, rolling hills, and Westhampton Lake, is intimate and tranquil. In 2000, the campus was recognized by the Princeton Review as the most beautiful in the in United States.

The University of Richmond also owns the former Reynolds Metals Executive Office Building, purchased from Alcoa in 2001. Located a few miles from campus, the 250,000 square-foot building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and opened in 1958. The building, which incorporates nearly 1.4 million pounds of aluminum, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It currently serves as the headquarters of Philip Morris USA, which is leasing it from the university. In early 2001, the university also finalized the purchase of 118 acres of land in eastern Goochland County, a few miles from the main campus. The land is currently used for biology research, but future uses could include intramural athletic fields.

[edit] Gottwald Center for the Sciences

A major enhancement to the university’s scientific resources occurred with the dedication of the Gottwald Center for the Sciences in 2006. The $37 million Gottwald expansion provides state of the art facilities for departments and programs in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, Neuroscience, Physics, and Pre-Health.

Gottwald houses 22 teaching laboratories and 50 student-faculty research laboratories, including a quantitative science center and a nuclear magnetic resonance center. A central atrium, reading room, and meeting spaces on every floor extend classroom learning throughout the building. Student workbenches are grouped into islands that promote interactive learning and faculty/student interaction. New equipment at the Gottwald Center for the Sciences includes a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer, a scanning electron microscope, a high-field nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, a confocal microscope and an atomic force microscope.

[edit] Athletics

Richmond is the only university in the country with the spider as its official mascot. The university's athletic programs compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference in all sports except women's golf, which competes as an associate member of the Colonial Athletic Association. UR's basketball program has developed a reputation as a "giant killer" in the NCAA tournament, defeating the Charles Barkley-led Auburn Tigers in 1984, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in 1988 by defeating defending national champion Indiana and Georgia Tech, and becoming the first 15-seed to knock off a 2-seed when the Spiders defeated Syracuse in 1991. The Spiders hold the distinction of being the only basketball program to win NCAA tournament games as a 12, 13, 14, and 15 seed.

Richmond's traditional rival is the College of William and Mary. In football, Richmond and William and Mary have met 115 times since 1898, making the rivalry (sometimes referred to as "the South's oldest rivalry") the 4th most-played in college football. Only Lafayette-Lehigh, Princeton-Yale, and Harvard-Yale have played more games. In 2007, UR's football program and the other eleven Atlantic 10 football programs will begin playing under the banner of the Colonial Athletic Association.

See also: University of Richmond Stadium
See also: Robins Center

[edit] Miscellaneous

The University of Richmond campus was used to film the pilot of Commander in Chief as well as the movie Cry_Wolf. Much of Cry_Wolf was filmed on the Westhampton side of campus, with several dormitories, including South Court, North Court, and Keller Hall, serving as locations. Several episodes of the television show Dawson's Creek were also filmed on campus, referring to Richmond only as a nameless "beautiful Ivy League campus." The filming itself took place in Stern Quad and inside the Jepson Alumni Center. From 1990-2003, the Shanghai Quartet served as quartet-in-residence at UR, and their relationship with the university continues with their roles as Distinguished Visiting Artists. In 2004, contemporary music sextet eighth blackbird (spelled in all lowercase) was named ensemble-in-residence. Camp Concert Hall, located on campus, is a favorite recording venue for National Public Radio (NPR).

The University of Richmond is home to the Virginia Governor's School for Visual and Performing Arts and Humanities during the summer.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Sports

[edit] Politics & Government

[edit] Business

[edit] Humanities & Arts

[edit] Science & Technology

  • Leland D. Melvin - NASA astronaut
  • Gregory Morrisett - Allen B. Cutting Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University
  • Alice T. Schafer - Past president, Association for Women in Mathematics, for whom the national prize for undergraduates given by the organization is named

[edit] External links

The Atlantic 10
Charlotte • Dayton • Duquesne • Fordham • George Washington • La Salle • UMass • Rhode Island • Richmond • Saint Bonaventure • Saint Joseph's • Saint Louis • Temple • Xavier
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