Bowling Green State University

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Bowling Green State University
Established:	1910
Type:	Public
Endowment:	$70.2 million[1]
President:	Dr. Sidney Ribeau
Faculty:	918
Staff:	1915
Students:	22,882[2]
Undergraduates:	19,855
Postgraduates:	3,027
Location:	Bowling Green, Ohio, United States
Campus:	1338 acres (5.4 km²)
Colors:	Orange & Brown
Nickname:	Falcons
Mascot:	Freddie and Frieda Falcon
Website:	http://www.bgsu.edu/

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public four-year institution located in Bowling Green, Ohio, USA, about 20 miles south of Toledo, Ohio on I-75. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry bill, which also established Kent State University. For the 2007–2008 academic year BGSU has a student body of over 20,000, of which 3,000 are graduate students^[3].

Originally known as Bowling Green State Normal School, it was one of several institutions established in the Progressive Era to meet demands for training and professional development of teachers. Classes began in 1914, enrolling 304 students primarily from Ohio and a few from Michigan and New York who were taught by the original faculty of 21. The school graduated 35 certified teachers in 1915, the same year that the campus’ first two buildings, University Hall and Williams Hall, opened their doors. Two years later the first baccalaureate degrees were awarded. Setting the pace for teacher education in Ohio with four-year degree programs, Bowling Green State Normal School achieved the status of college in 1929 and expanded its curriculum through the addition of the College of Liberal Arts, now known as the of Arts and Sciences. [1][2]

The addition of graduate programs and the College of Business Administration helped to raise the status of the institution from the college level when it was designated Bowling Green State University in 1935. With continued growth, the was established in 1947 and the University’s first doctoral degree was awarded by the state in English in 1963. The 1970s represented a hallmark of progress with the addition of three new colleges. The College of Health and Human Services opened in 1973 to offer degree programs in a variety of health and community services. In 1975, the School of Music was elevated to the College of Musical Artsand the Graduate School to the Graduate College. Adding further evidence of the University’s ability to address increasingly complex socioeconomic trends and offer expanding career opportunities, the School of Technology was given college status in 1985 and renamed the College of Technology.[3] [4] The founding tradition of teacher preparation is now maintained in theUniversity's College of Education and Human Development.

Extension services are integral to the University’s rich curricular texture and rural history. First offered in 1946 in the Sandusky, Ohio, area and later expanded to serve Erie, Huron, and Ottawa counties, extension programs established a foundation for BGSU Firelands, the University's regional campus. Located near the shores of Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio, and about 60 miles east of Bowling Green, Ohio, This college was established in 1968, when the first building (now Foundation Hall) at the Huron location was opened. BGSU Firelands is home to approximately 2,000 students^[4]. The college grants mostly 2-year degrees, but students are able to complete 4-year degrees in Early Childhood Education, Criminal Justice, Business Administration, Liberal Studies, Visual Communication Technology, Applied Health Science, Nursing, and Advanced Tech Ed.

In 2003, the Cedar Point Center, BGSU’s most technologically sophisticated facility, opened its doors on the Firelands campus to serve constituents of the University and the community.

BGSU offers over 200 undergraduate programs ^[5], as well as various master's and doctoral degrees, including the nation's first Ph.D. program in photochemical science and one of the first undergraduate programs in neuroscience. In addition, BGSU has accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools to offer full degree programs online.

BGSU remains a leader in teacher preparation institution. Students enrolled in the College of Education and Human Development may choose majors from among several teacher licensure areas, including early childhood (grades Pre-K to 3), Middle Childhood (grades 4 - 9), Adolescent-Young Adult (grades 7 - 12), Special Education (grades K - 12), and foreign language (grades K - 12).

Housed within the School of Communication Studies is the national and international award-winning Falcon Forensics, Speech and Debate Team, established in 1919. BGSU is home of the national literary journal Mid-American Review, which publishes new works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and which also sponsors Winter Wheat: The Mid-American Review Festival of Writing each November.

BGSU has many services for students, faculty and community members that help connect academics with real life experiences. For instance, The Women's Center, founded in 1998, provides a place for the community to gather and serves as a resource center. Many student organizations meet at the center. The center hosts brown bag lunches once a month where all are welcome to join in informal discussions on topics of broad interest.

[edit] Notable programs

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BGSU is known for its American Culture Studies (ACS) Department. The department draws students to its undergraduate and graduate programs from across the nation and around the world. Students can earn a Bachelor's, Master's and a Doctorate in ACS at BGSU. ACS maintains an interdisciplinary approach to shape its degree programs, constructed to allow ACS students to take courses from most of the departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.^[6]

BGSU's Popular Culture Department is a unique component of the university. Not only is POPC the first and only department of its kind in the country, but its founder, Dr. Ray B. Browne, also established The Journal of Popular Culture and the national Popular Culture Association, both of which are widely known and respected to this day.^[7] By extension, BGSU also has quite an extensive popular culture library, along with a music library which contains over 700,000 titles (mostly on vinyl), making it the third-largest collection of popular music in the world. The Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives are housed on the 3rd floor of Jerome Library. While the collections support the research endeavors of BGSU students in the College of Musical Arts, the Department of Popular Culture, and the American Culture Studies program, the music collections are accessible by request to any interested researcher. Popular fiction predominates, particularly novels in the romance, mystery-detective, science fiction-fantasy, and western genres. The materials in the Browne Popular Culture Library cannot be checked out. This policy preserves materials that have become more important to researchers as second- and third-generation interpretations of comic books have become popular on- and off-screen. The Popular Culture Library also has an extensive collection of independently produced zines covering a wide subject area.

Additionally, the Jerome Library is also home to the Historical Collection of the Great Lakes whose collections include materials related to commercial shipping, shipbuilding, navigation, maritime law, commercial fishing, shipwrecks, yachting, labor history, popular literature, freshwater ecology, recreation, and the history of Great Lakes ports.

The Department of German, Russian and East Asian Languages [5] offers a variety of language and culture courses and education abroad experiences (Salzburg, Austria; St.Petersburg Russia; Nanzan University, Saitama University, or Hiroshima Jogakuin University, Japan; Xi'an International Studies University,China),which prepare students for the long term success in the era of globalization and international integration. German program offers undergraduate majors, minors, as well as a Masters of Arts in German. BGSU is the only public institution in northern Ohio which offers a full, four-year course of study in Russian culture and language. The Department awards both majors and minors in Russian. The Department offers a three-year language and culture program in Japanese and Chinese. The Department actively collaborates with interdisciplinary programs (Asian Studies, International Business, International Studies, Women's Studies, the Honors Program), which introduce students to the diversity of ideas and experiences.

BGSU hosts The Center for Family and Demographic Research (CFDR), an NIH-funded population research center dedicated to research, training, and service in demography. The CFDR integrates demographic methods, data, and perspectives with other social scientific approaches to understand the well-being of children and families. A special focus of research by CFDR affiliates addresses the public health and social problems facing at-risk children, adolescents, and families. The CFDR consists of a highly energized, research-active faculty from several disciplines, including Sociology, Geography, Psychology, History, Human Development and Family Studies. The CFDR is in a growth mode and developing momentum from both new faculty hiring and success in obtaining federal funding. The faculty researches topics related to the health and development of children, adolescents and families. We capitalize on the strength of CFDR faculty and focus on themes of adolescent development, immigration, health and mortality, and family structure and the well-being of children and adults. Much of the research conducted under the aegis of CFDR focuses on high risk populations, and involves multidisciplinary and multimethod investigations that have policy relevance. We emphasize the integration of demography with broad social scientific perspectives to maximize the identification of mechanisms underlying demographic events and thus provide a basis for public policy formulation.

BGSU also has one of the top Sport Management programs in the country^[8]. BGSU offers both undergraduate and graduate programs accredited by The North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) through The School of Human Movement, Sport, and Leisure Studies. Degree programs are split into two divisions: the Kinesiology Division offers undergraduate majors in Dance, Exercise Science, Human Movement Science, and Physical Education Teacher Education. The Exercise Science program has gained recognition by the National Strength and Conditionining Association. The Sport Management, Recreation, and Tourism Division offers undergraduate majors in Athletic Training/Clinic Management, Recreation, Sport Management, and Tourism. The Graduate Program includes specializations in Developmental Kinesiology (biomechanics, exercise physiology, exercise psychology, motor learning and motor development, physical education teacher education, and sport psychology), Sport Administration, and Leisure and Tourism.

The university's Ph.D. program in Industrial-Organizational Psychology is ranked #3 in the nation (behind Michigan State and Minnesota and ahead of Penn State and Illinois) by the U.S. News and World Report.^[9] BGSU's I-O psychology program was founded by noted I-O psychologists Robert Guion and Patricia Cain Smith. Its graduates have gone on to success in academia, private industry, and government.

According to the Philosophical Gourmet Report, BGSU's Ph.D. program in Applied Philosophy ranks in the top group (programs 1-6) in the English-speaking world in the area of Applied Ethics, along with programs such as Harvard University and Oxford University^[10]. The Report also notes BGSU's significant strengths in the areas of political philosophy, metaethics, and normative ethics/moral psychology^[11] Students and faculty benefit from the activities of BGSU's Social Philosophy and Policy Center, which has a long history of bringing excellent scholars to campus.

BGSU has a thriving Canadian Studies program, one of the largest in the United States in terms of the number of courses offered and students enrolled. The Canadian Studies Center educates students and the public about the importance of trade, security, and cultural relationships with America's neighbor to the north. Students can earn a Canadian Studies minor which provides an international perspective and prepares them for work in a globalizing economy. The Center for Environmental Programs is part of the newest school at BGSU: The School of Earth, Environment, and Society (SEES). The school is a combination of the Center for Environmental Programs, Geology, and Geography. Providing a multi-disciplinary approach better prepares students to contribute society.

The Center for Photochemical Sciences was established at BGSU in 1985. The Center focuses on the study of the interaction of light with physical, chemical, and biological systems, and on the quest for practical application of that basic knowledge, which stimulate new technology.

The Center for International Programs has been making efforts in diversifying the university for more than forty years. Each year BGSU enrolls more than 1,000 international students representing at least 35 countries in different programs and at both the graduate and undergraduate levels[6].

As a result of historical increases in life expectancy and the recognition of the aging of the population, BGSU instituted one of the first bachelor's programs in gerontology in 1976. Gerontology is a multidisciplinary field of study that examines aging, at both an individual and population level, with attention given to the biological, psychological, and social aspects of this experience. The Gerontology Program at BGSU offers two degrees, a degree in general gerontology and one in long term care administration, and is one of fewer than 50 colleges/universities in the country that offers a bachelors degree in gerontology. The Gerontology Program at BGSU sponsors an undergraduate student group named UGA - Undergraduate Gerontology Association. Activities that the group is involved in include community service, peer mentoring, and social opportunities. Community projects include activities and programs at the local senior center and nursing homes.

BGSU also hosts Wood County Corps, which is an AmeriCorps program (often referred to as the domestic Peace Corps), currently located at 204 South Hall. Wood County Corps is a team of committed college-aged students and community members making the community safer, helping a child get a real education, or protecting the environment. Whatever the interest, there is an AmeriCorps program that needs the courage, the skills, and the dedication of community members who have the outstanding opportunity to do something unique in service to the community. Each year, more than 75,000 members serve with AmeriCorps programs in every state in the nation. The Bowling Green State University Wood County Corps is proud to have been a part of this great National Service program since September 2005. We are proud to have this program as an offering connected with the university. It affords participants the opportunity to give back to the community while receiving a modest living allowance and earning an education award.

BGSU's doctoral program in history is one of the few in the country that focuses on policy history—the integration of political and institutional history with social and cultural history—to examine the context, implementation, and unintended consequences of policy decisions.

For the fourth consecutive year in 2007, BGSU was listed for its residential living/learning communities in U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Colleges” under “Programs to Look For,” a section of the guide that notes “outstanding examples of academic programs believed to lead to student success^[12]." In BGSU's residential learning communities, students with similar interests and goals live and study together. In the academically based communities students work closely with faculty members who teach classes and have offices right in the residence hall.

In addition, Princeton Review's Best 282 Business Schools: 2007 Edition, features the College of Business Administration for its Master of Business Administration program. The Supply Chain Management program in the Department of Management, College of Business Administration at BGSU is ranked 16th in the nation according to 2007-08 US News and World Report .

[edit] Programs and departments

See also: Degree Programs at Bowling Green State University

[edit] Career center

BGSU's Career Center provides comprehensive career services to its students and alumni including career planning, on- and off-campus student employment, co-op and internships opportunities, and post-graduate and graduate school planning. The following services are provided: (1) individual consultations to discuss academic and career planning or job search strategies, (2) career development courses including UNIV 131-Career & Life Planning, UNIV 141-Effective Strategies in the Workplace, and UNIV 141-Career Implementation, (3) career assessments that measure interests, personality characteristics and preferences for various work environments, (4) the Career Resource Library, (5) on-campus recruiting, (6) job fairs, (7) workshops related to interviewing, resume writing, job search techniques, and networking, (8)WorkNet, an online job listing software, and (9) career related publications. The Career Center can help students develop career goals, identify academic and experiential program that achieve these goals, and help students gain employment in their chosen field.

[edit] Department of Geography

The Department of Geography at BGSU is a part of the School of Earth, Environment and Society (SEES) within the College of Arts and Sciences. Professors are actively engaged in scholarly activities that are widening the horizons of the discipline of Geography. The knowledge generated by this research is integrated into the classroom curriculum. The Department also offers a certificate in GIS or Geographical Information Systems.

[edit] University Honors Program

The Bowling Green State University Honors Program offers a challenging intellectual environment focusing on helping students develop critical thinking skills and showing them how to apply these skills across disciplines [7]. The BGSU Honors Program was created in 1978 in the spirit of “bringing together students of the highest caliber in pursuit of social ties to one another and intellectual challenge” [8]. Influential in the creation of this learning experience are the nationally recognized learning communities present at BGSU [9], particularly the Honors Learning Community and the Integrating Moral Principles and Critical Thinking (I.M.P.A.C.T.) Learning Community.

[edit] Marine laboratory

The marine laboratory at Bowling Green State University contains over 3,000 gallons of seawater in over 40 aquaria including a 500-gallon shark tank and a 10-foot touch tank. In the lab, eight major phyla are represented in over 66 genera of marine life including sea anemones, corals, starfish, sea urchins, snails, crabs, and algae as well as a wide variety of freshwater and marine fish. The animals in the lab are maintained by students mainly for class study and research projects, but are also present for the appreciation of visitors and other students. The B.G.S.U. Marine Laboratory is located on the second floor of the Life Science building and is open to anyone wishing to view the animals or talk with the students. It is free and open during normal working hours. Last year over 1,400 people visited the marine laboratory at Bowling Green State University.

[edit] Hearing and Speech Clinic

The BGSU [10]Speech and Hearing Clinic offers state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic speech, language, and hearing services while acting as a training facility for master's- and doctoral-level speech-language pathologists. Clients from newborns to the elderly with a wide variety of communication problems (including autism, foreign accent modification, speech and language disorders, stuttering, voice disorders…) are seen individually and/or in small groups. Specialty clinics include an intensive program for people who stutter and reading & language assessment clinics.

[edit] Institute for the Study of Culture and Society

The institute, located in the College Park Office Building, serves to promote scholarly and creative activity in the humanities and arts. It provides a forum for new developments across disciplines for both the university and the larger community through programs that provide long-term research facilities for BGSU faculty, an annual Provost Lecture Series that brings prominent scholars from across the country to speak in Bowling Green, interdisciplinary research cluster groups for graduate students and faculty, writing groups for faculty, as well as continuing seminars and public talks about faculty research.

[edit] BGSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics

The BGSU [11] Department of Mathematics and Statistics is composed of faculty who are respected, both nationally and internationally, in their respective fields. The BGSU faculty include representatives from many fields of mathematics, including statistics, probability, actuarial mathematics, algebra, topology, complex and real analysis, and mathematics education. The degrees BGSU offer include: Master of Arts in mathematics, Master of Arts in Teaching in mathematics, Ph.D. in mathematics, and coming soon, Ph.D. in Statistics.

Along with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics there is a department called COSMOS. COSMOS (Center Of excellence in Science and Mathematics education: Opportunities for Success) is a partner of the Northwest Ohio Center of Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (NWO). Funding provided by the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Resource Center. COSMOS is a great resource for staff, students and others to obtain professional development, resources and information on STEM careers.

[edit] General Studies Writing

The General Studies Writing Program (GSW) [12] offers three composition courses: ENG. 110, ENG. 111, and ENG. 112. GSW is known for its Portfolio Review Process, a system in which students maintain portfolios of their writing all semester. At the end of the semester, instructors, all of whom are trained in assessing portfolios, review the writing of each student. This process works to maintain high quality work amongst students and instructors.In addition to participating in several BGSU learning communities, the BGSU Common Reading Experience, and the BGeX and Honors programs, GSW awards competitive prizes, such as the Leland prize, for outstanding student essays that exhibit critical thinking and writing about values.

[edit] Political Science Department

The Political Science Department [13]offers an undergraduate major and minor in political science. Graduate degrees offered are a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) and a Dual Masters in German-Political Science. The distinguished faculty represent the many fields in the discipline: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Public Law, Public Policy, Public Administration, and Political Theory.

[edit] Athletics

Main article: Bowling Green Falcons

Bowling Green's sports teams are called the Falcons. The Falcons participate in NCAA Division I (Division I-A for football) and in the Mid-American Conference and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. BGSU is one of only 13 universities in the country offering NCAA division I-A football, division I men's and women's basketball, and division I ice hockey. The Falcons have won three conference championships in a row in women's basketball in 2005, 2006, and 2007. In advancing to the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship each of those years, the Falcons lost in the first round in 2005 and 2006, but then won their first two games on their way to the "Sweet Sixteen" in 2007. The women's soccer team won the conference crown in 2005.

The Falcons' main rivals are the Rockets of the University of Toledo. Separated by just 20 miles on Interstate 75, the two schools celebrate a heated rivalry in several sports. The most well-known of these games is the Battle of I-75, a football game held each year in which the winner takes home the Peace Pipe, an American Indian peace pipe placed upon a wood tablet.

The 1984 Falcons hockey team defeated the University of Minnesota-Duluth, in the longest college hockey championship game in history, to win the NCAA National Championship.

The Bowling Green Dance team performs at many BGSU sporting events. They are well known for their high-energy, spirited performances.

University of Florida coach Urban Meyer coached at BGSU earlier in the decade for 2 seasons (2001 and 2002).

[edit] Facilities

The football team plays its home games in Doyt Perry Stadium. Men's and women's basketball is played at Anderson Arena with the hockey team playing inside the BGSU Ice Arena. The Ice Arena is one of the few in the country with facilities for the sport of curling. Warren E. Steller Field is the home of BGSU's baseball team. The Sebo Athletic Center, which opened in 2007, is a new facility located behind the northern end zone at Doyt Perry Stadium and houses training facilities and offices for the athletic department.

[edit] Student life

[edit] Student media publications

• The student operated, independent daily newspaper BG News, which has been published since 1920.
• The university's independent, student operated yearbook was first published in 1918 as the Bee Gee. Publication stopped after 1918 for 6 years and in 1924 the yearbook resumed production under a new name, The KEY and has been published every year since 1924 as the only comprehensive record of students, activities, and events for a given year.
• The Department of Telecommunications ran student operated, independent, non-commercial, FCC-licensed college radio station is WBGU 88.1 FM and the student operated, commercial radio station is WFAL 1610 AM. BGSU is also home to BG24 News, a student-run television newscast airing live at 5:30pm three days a week.
• Bowling Green Radio News Organization (BGRNO)-BGRNO provides up-to-the minute radio news coverage Monday-Friday on WBGU-FM AND WFAL-AM. Students write, produce, and report live on the air the latest local and national news, sports and weather stories.
• Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO)-BGRSO broadcasts BGSU's football, hockey, men's and women's basketball, and baseball games on WBGU-FM and WFAL-AM. WBGU-FM is also the flagship station for women's basketball and hockey.

• VideoBank - Student run music video/comedy skit show.
• Mid-American Review (MAR), published through the BGSU Department of English since 1980, is nationally recognized for publishing contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. Preceding MAR was Itinerary, a magazine that was established by editor Robert Early in 1972 to publish the works of BGSU's MFA students. However, the students tired of publishing nothing but their own work and suggested broadening into an international publication. Itinerary was retired in 1980 when the first issue of MAR was released. No BGSU student work is included in MAR (with the exception of occasional reviews of newly released literary titles).
• Prairie Margins is a national undergraduate literary journal published by students in the Creative Writing Program at BGSU. The annual journal features literary work by both BGSU students and undergraduate creative writers from other institutions.

[edit] Traditions and events

• BGSU's official spirit crew is called Sic Sic which began in 1946. ^[13]
• BGSU's official mascots are Freddie and Frieda Falcon. Freddie began appearing at athletic events in 1950. Frieda first appeared in 1966, but officially re-emerged in 1980. ^[14]
• Buckeye Boys State - Bowling Green is the current home for the American Legion Buckeye Boys State, which gathers high-school students from all over Ohio for a nine-day program. At Buckeye Boys State, the students operate a full government modeled after the Government of Ohio. Buckeye Boys State is held each June.

[edit] School songs

Bowling Green State University has three common songs that can be heard at various athletic and academic events. These three songs are the Alma Mater, "Forward Falcons" which is the school's fight song, and "Ay Ziggy Zoomba" which is played to hype up the crowd at events, which is more familiar to most students, alumni, and fans.^[15][16]

[edit] Notable alumni

Main article: List of Bowling Green State University alumni

With strong academic and successful athletics programs, the Bowling Green State University has seen many of its former students go on to local and national prominence. This includes many athletes that have excelled at the collegiate and professional levels, including: Nate Thurmond^[17], Rob Blake^[18], Orel Hershiser^[19], Ken Morrow^[20], Don Nehlen^[21], Jordan Sigalet^[22], and George McPhee^[23]. In addition, many state politicians have graduated from Bowling Green, including current Ohio congressman Tim Ryan^[24], former Israeli ambassador Daniel Ayalon^[25], and current Ohio state senators Randy Gardner^[26] and Kevin Coughlin^[27]. Other notable alumni include author James Baldwin, actor Tim Conway^[28], ESPN sportscasters Jay Crawford^[29] and Jason Jackson, CBS News Correspondent Steve Hartman^[30], TCU Chancellor Dr. Victor J. Boschini^[31] and Adobe Systems President and COO Shantanu Narayen.^[32]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official BGSU Homepage
• BGSU School of Art highlighted in Arts Extravaganza 2005, a WBGU-PBS documentary
• The Poe Road Community Art Project, a WBGU-PBS documentary
• Doyt Perry: A Coach For Life, a WBGU-PBS documentary
• BGSU Biology Lab Tours, showcases BGSU's Herpetology Lab, Greenhouse and Marine Biology Lab (educational).