Marquette University

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Marquette University
Logo of Marquette University

Motto: Numen Flumenque
("God and the River")
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
("For the greater glory of God")
Established: Founded as Marquette College August 28, 1881
Chartered as Marquette University 1907
Type: Catholic, Jesuit, Private
Endowment: $301.2 million [1]
President: Rev. Robert A. Wild, S.J.
Staff: 730
Undergraduates: 7,718
Postgraduates: 3,587
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Campus: Urban, 80 acres
Athletics: 11 NCAA Division I teams
Colors: Navy Blue & Gold
Mascot: Golden Eagles
Website: www.marquette.edu www.gomarquette.com/
Marquette University monogram

Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States of America. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The university is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. It currently has a student body of 11,500, making it one of the largest Jesuit universities in the United States, and the largest private university in the state of Wisconsin. The largest college within the university is the Helen Way Klingler College of Arts & Sciences. Athletics programs at Marquette compete in the Big East Conference.

Marquette has also risen in stature and prestige academically in the past decade, along with increasingly selective admissions policies. This has culminated in Marquette being ranked 82nd among National Universities in U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2008."[2]

Contents

[edit] Campus

Marquette is located on an 80-acre (320,000 m²) campus in the near downtown Milwaukee neighborhood of University Hill, on the former Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. Lake Michigan is roughly one mile east of the edge of campus. The campus encompasses 9th Street on the east, to 20th Street on the west, and from Wells Street on the north, to Clybourn Street on the south. Wisconsin Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Milwaukee, bisects the campus. The university is positioned adjacent northwest and partially northeast of the Marquette Interchange, which was named so because of its proximity to the campus.

Marquette University is also a national leader in providing academic opportunity to first-generation college students, students from under-represented groups or ethnicities and students from low-income families. That commitment is shown through the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), a federally funded TRIO program which motivates and enables low-income and first generation students, whose parents do not have a baccalaureate degree, to enter and succeed in higher education. Specifically, eligible students, who show potential for success at Marquette, and enrolled at Marquette are provided with a network of supportive services, financial aid assistance, a pre-enrollment summer program, academic counseling, specialized courses, seminars, tutoring and educational and career counseling through the Student Support Services (SSS) division of EOP.

Marquette Hall in autumn
Marquette Hall in autumn

[edit] Major buildings

  • Sensenbrenner Hall currently houses the Marquette University Law School. One of the oldest buildings on campus, Sensenbrenner Hall is known for its stained-glass windows and traditional design, especially in the Howard B. Eisenberg Memorial Hall. Attached to it is the Law Library, which has contrasting, modern architecture. By 2010, the School of Law will be moved into a new facility south of the current one, and while it will not be demolished, the future use of Sensenbrenner Hall is uncertain.
  • Robert A. Johnston Hall, which houses the J. William & Mary Diederich College of Communications. Built at the turn of the 20th century, the fledgling Marquette College almost went bankrupt to build this until Robert A. Johnston, a local confectioner, donated just over $100,000 to save the project. For a short while, Johnston Hall housed the entire College, including the Jesuit faculty. The now ivy-covered building once featured an observatory for astronomy students. MUTV, the student-run television station, MUR, the student-run radio station, and the Marquette Tribune, the student-produced newspaper, are produced in Johnston Hall.
  • Gesu Church, completed in 1894, is considered the spiritual center of the campus, although it is not technically affiliated with the university. The Jesuit parish was designed by architect Henry Koch in the French Gothic style. It is said to be a scaled-down version of Chartres Cathedral in France. Student-organized masses are held each Sunday in Gesu Church, along with the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit, a traditional celebration at many Jesuit universities to begin the school year.
  • Marquette Hall, built in 1924, is the four-story building that originally served as Marquette's Science Building with offices, classrooms and labs. In 1976, it was renamed Marquette Hall in honor of the University's namesake, Jesuit missionary-explorer Father Jacques Marquette, S.J. One of the most widely-recognized buildings on campus, Marquette Hall is home to several offices, including Undergraduate Admissions on the first floor. The four-story building features three lecture halls with 300 seats each. In the tower of Marquette Hall is the university carillon, a set of 48 bells. The bells are played every Wednesday and for special events.
  • The John P. Raynor, S.J. Library[3], completed in 2003 at a cost of almost $60 million, is named for one of Marquette's former presidents. It contains many of J. R. R. Tolkien's original manuscripts, and serves as one of the main study areas on campus. In addition to the Raynor Library, Marquette also features a law library associated with its law school as well as the university's longstanding library, Memorial Library, which was built in the early 1950s.
  • Alumni Memorial Union (AMU, for short), the student union, is at the center of campus. The five-story brick building was completed in 1990 and features a ballroom for 800 guests, numerous offices for student organizations, a coffee shop called "Brew Bayou", the university's information center, a post office, US Bank branch, game room, cafeteria, and the campus gift shop. An adjacent auditorium, named for alumnus Tony Weasler and his wife, Lucille, is connected to the AMU by a covered promenade. Also part of the AMU is the Chapel of the Holy Family which holds a popular, standing-room-only student mass each Sunday night.
  • St. Joan of Arc Chapel, the oldest building in the Western Hemisphere still used for its original purpose, is also located at Marquette (although it originated in France and was relocated to the U.S., first to New York, then to Milwaukee). Originally built in France in the 15th century, the Chapel was donated to the university by Mr. and Mrs. Marc Rojtman in 1964 and reconstructed piece by piece in 1966. Today, the St. Joan of Arc Chapel hosts daily weekday masses at noon and 10pm.
  • The Union Sports Annex is a popular hangout for students, especially during men's basketball season. "The Annex," as it is called, is almost entirely underground and features a restaurant, bar, sport court, and bowling lanes. In 2003 ESPN columnist Jim Caple called it the "best place to watch a game."[4]
  • The Al McGuire Center, named for the legendary Marquette basketball coach, was opened in 2004 and is home to the women's volleyball and basketball teams and serves as the practice facility and administrative offices for the men's basketball team.
  • The School of Dentistry building holds Wisconsin's only dental school. Completed in 2002, the building boasts pre-clinical labs, classrooms and even a community dental clinic.
  • Valley Fields, used for men's and women's soccer, men's and women's track and field, and various club athletics, is located across the Menomonee River in the Menomonee Valley, just south of the main campus. It is currently undergoing a $5 million renovation to add covered bleachers and other facility improvements.

[edit] Residence halls

Throughout the years, Marquette has absorbed within itself many existing buildings in the area, especially for use as residence halls. Of the eight current student residence halls, only three (O'Donnell Hall, Schroeder Hall and McCormick Hall) were originally built by the university. Some examples of absorbed buildings include Charles Cobeen Hall and M. Carpenter Tower, both Art Deco buildings built in the 1920s on 11th Street that have been converted into undergraduate residence halls. Glenn Humphrey Hall, a student apartment complex which was once the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and David Straz Tower, which used to be the Downtown Milwaukee YMCA, and is now a residence hall, recreation center and administrative office building. Mashuda Hall, a sophomore dorm, was once the Coach House Motor Inn where The Beatles stayed during their tour in 1964. [5] Abbottsford Hall served as The Abbottsford Hotel until the university purchased it for use as graduate apartments. It was converted into a freshman residence hall for the 2006-2007 academic year. [6]

[edit] History

Father Jacques Marquette, S.J.
Father Jacques Marquette, S.J.

Marquette University was founded in 1881 by John Martin Henni, the first Catholic bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, as Marquette College, and named after 17th century missionary and explorer Father Jacques Marquette, S.J. The highest priority of the new college was to provide an affordable Catholic education to the area's booming German immigrant population. The school attained its status as a university in 1907. Marquette University High School, formerly the preparatory department of the university, became a separate institution the same year. In 1912, the relatively young Marquette University became the first Jesuit university to admit women.

The university acquired the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1913, and opened schools of medicine (including nursing), dentistry, and pharmacy. The School of Medicine separated from Marquette in 1967 to become the Medical College of Wisconsin.

In 2006, Marquette celebrated the 125th anniversary since its founding. [7]

The two largest single donations to Marquette University came within the same academic year. The second-largest gift was given by an anonymous couple who have, over time, donated over $50 million to the university. On December 18th, 2006, President Rev. Robert A. Wild, S.J. announced that the couple donated $25 million to the College of Engineering. [8] Less than five months later, on May 4th, 2007, Marquette announced a $51 million gift from Raymond and Kathryn Eckstein that will directly benefit the Marquette University School of Law. The gift is currently the largest amount ever given to a Wisconsin university. [9]

[edit] Organization

Today the University includes 11 schools and colleges:

[edit] Academic reputation

In 2008, the most recent nationwide rankings of colleges done by U.S. News & World Report, Marquette ranked 82nd overall among undergraduate programs for national universities.[10] Washington Monthly, another nationally-recognized college ranking source, listed Marquette as 48th among the country's 245 best universities. Washington Monthly "ranks colleges and universities on their contributions to society as engines of social mobility, fostering of scientific and humanistic research and promoting among students an ethic of service to country." Entrepreneur Magazine also included Marquette in its rankings of the top 100 entrepreneurial universities and colleges in 2003, 2004 and 2005.[11] For 2007, Princeton Review named Marquette as one of the "Best 361 Colleges in the US," a "College With a Conscience" for its continued dedication to service and ethics-based curriculum, and one of the Best Midwestern Schools. Princeton Review named Marquette's part-time MBA program one of the top 290 MBA program for 2008.[12]

  • Marquette's physical therapy program was ranked 17th by U.S. News & World Report in 2005.[14]
  • The College of Business Administration has received numerous accolades. BusinessWeek listed it as 46th among undergraduate business programs in 2006. Also, the Graduate School of Management's part-time master's degree in business administration program was ranked 17th by U.S. News & World Report for 2008.
  • In 2004, U.S. News also listed the College of Nursing as the 53rd best in the country. Its nursing-midwifery program was 18th nationally. The College has one of only five doctorate programs in the US with a "teacher/scholar" focus.[15]
  • Marquette's physician assistant program was ranked 40th in the nation for 2008, according U.S. News & World Report.
  • The school's biomedical engineering program was ranked 37th in 2008.
  • Annually the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy gathers and reports data on CPA examination candidates. For 2005, the latest year for which data are available, Marquette University ranked 15th nationally for first-time candidates without advanced degrees. To be included on the report, school must have at least 20 candidates sitting for the CPA exam during the year.

[edit] Student life and demographics

Marquette's 11,500 students come from all 50 states, various U.S. territories, and represent more than 80 countries. Among these students are traditional-age undergraduates, adult undergraduate learners in the College of Professional Studies, and graduate students pursuing masters and doctorates in the arts, sciences and engineering. Marquette also has a very substantial number of law students and dental students.

The majority of Marquette's students hail from the Midwestern United States. These students generally come from the metropolitan areas surrounding Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, Detroit, and St. Louis. The student body is roughly 85% Caucasian and 55% female, and many students are of a Catholic religious background. The retention rate for Marquette is significantly high, with about 90% of students returning for their sophomore year.[16]

Greek life at Marquette is minor, with about 9% of all students being part of either a sorority or fraternity. There are 11 social sororities and 10 social fraternities on campus, each with its own unique defining characteristics.

Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC)

Panhellenic Association (NPC)

National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) Fraternities:

Sororities:

[edit] Athletics

Main Article: Marquette Golden Eagles

The school's colors are navy blue and gold, although powder blue has been incorporated in the 1970s and late 2000s, and the mascot is the Golden Eagle. Marquette is a Division I member of the NCAA and competes in the Big East Conference. The university has 11 varsity teams: basketball, cross-country, men's golf, soccer, track & field, tennis and women's volleyball.

The Marquette Warriors (the nickname that preceded Golden Eagles) won the NCAA basketball championship in 1977.

Marquette's athletic rivals include Cincinnati, DePaul, Pittsburgh, Louisville, UW-Milwaukee, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin.

The current Marquette athletics monogram logo
The current Marquette athletics monogram logo

[edit] Mascot and nickname

Marquette's intercollegiate athletic teams were the "Warriors" from May 1954 to July 1994 when the nickname was changed to the "Golden Eagles". Prior to 1962 Marquette football was known as "Golden Avalanche" and other teams were known as "Warriors," "Blue and Gold," and "Hilltoppers." In 2004, Marquette began to consider changing the name back to Warriors, and conducted a poll that showed 92 percent of alumni and 62 percent of students "identified" with that nickname. However, the Board of Trustees ignored the results of the poll on the grounds that previous logos had been disrespectful to Native Americans, and changed the nickname to simply "Gold." An intensely negative reaction by students, faculty, alumni, and fans led to yet another series of votes, which eventually pitted "Golden Eagles" against "Hilltoppers." Respondents were told in advance that write-in votes for "Warriors" would not be tabulated, (although those results were later released) and "Golden Eagles" was restored in June 2005.

[edit] Other clubs and organizations

See also: Marquette University Student Media

The university has more than 230 student organizations in various fields of interest:

  • Alpha Sigma Nu, an international Jesuit honor society, was founded at Marquette in 1915.
  • The Marquette University Players Society (MUPS for short) is Marquette's platform for student-produced theater.[1]
  • The student newspaper, The Marquette Tribune, was founded in 1916 and is the official campus newspaper. Aside from printing, the "Tribune" is student produced. It is published in print on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the school year. The Tribune offices are in the basement of Johnston Hall. The paper has won dozens of regional and national awards for excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists.[citation needed] While most of the 40-person staff are journalism majors, students from all fields of study are welcome to write. In February 2005, the faculty advisor of the Tribune was fired, in what some claimed was a response to controversial articles the paper published. Marquette was chastised by groups such as College Media Advisors as a result of the incident.[citation needed]
  • Marquette Radio and MUTV, the student radio and television stations, respectively, were launched in the late-60s to mid 70s. MUTV airs a number of student-produced programs, including newscasts, sports shows and entertainment shows. Marquette Radio likewise airs a number of student-produced shows with focuses on music, sports, news and talk.
  • In spring 2005, a group of students formed The Warrior, an independent conservative newspaper, named for Marquette's former nickname. The paper evolved from a monthly to a biweekly and has also won several journalism awards.[citation needed]
  • Hilltop was Marquette's university-wide yearbook from 1915 to 1999. The publication, in its 84 years of existence, totaled over 30,000 pages in 82 volumes. Students' color-plate sketches were often highly detailed, humorous or dramatic, and appropriate examples of contemporary artwork. Copies of these can be found on campus, particularly in the libraries. In April of 2006, Marquette's librarians completed a digitally-archived collection of Hilltop.[17]



[edit] School songs

The Marquette University school songs, "The Marquette University Anthem" and the "Marquette University Fight Song," are generally sung by students and alumni during basketball games, accompanied by their pep band. However, the former is often played using the carillon bells of the Marquette Hall bell tower during the afternoon.[18] "The Marquette University Anthem," as it was originally known, is now referred to almost exclusively as "Hail Alma Mater." The tune was written by Liborius Semmann. The Fight Song is more commonly referred to as "Ring Out Ahoya," although the actual meaning of the word "Ahoya" is open to a great deal of debate. One leading theory is that the call of "Ahoya" was often made by sailors on the Potomac river while passing Georgetown University in Washington, DC, hence Georgetown getting its nickname of "Hoyas". The cheer/chant/call then made its way to Marquette through faculty moving between the two Jesuit schools.

[edit] The Marquette University Anthem - Hail Alma Mater

Hail Alma Mater,
Thee we do call.
We're here to greet thee,
Dearest friend to all.
We're here to show thee
Our love is strong.
Hail Alma Mater!
Marquette, hear our song!

[edit] Marquette University Fight Song - Ring Out Ahoya

Ring out ahoya with an M-U rah-rah!
M-U rah-rah!
M-U rah-rah! Rah rah rah!
Ring out ahoya with an M-U rah-rah,
M-U rah rah for Old Marquette!

(Chanting)
Goooo! Goooo! Go Marquette! Go! Go! Go! Go!
Goooo! Goooo! Go Marquette! Go! Go! Go! Go!

[edit] Notable alumni

For a comprehensive list of alumni, see the list of notable Marquette University alumni.

Many Marquette graduates are involved in the media and government, especially in Wisconsin. This influence has been referred to as the "Marquette Mafia."[2] Alumni from Marquette's School of Journalism also make up a large portion of many newspaper staffs throughout Wisconsin. NBA and FIBA star Dwyane Wade is also a Marquette University alumni.

[edit] Notable faculty

Les Aspin was the first Secretary of Defense for the Clinton Administration
Les Aspin was the first Secretary of Defense for the Clinton Administration
  • Les Aspin (professor of Political Science, 1969-1971; MU Center for Government renamed in his honor)
  • Daniel Blinka, law professor
  • Tom Colbert, former Law School Dean
  • Matt Cook, English Department Lecturer, poet
  • Nabeel Aly Omar Demerdash, 1999 IEEE Nikola Tesla Award Recipient
  • Arpad Elo, Professor of Physics, Author of The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present
  • William Markowitz, Professor of Physics (1966-1972)
  • Benjamin Percy, Visiting Assistant Professor, author (2004-2007, now faculty at UW-Stevens Point)
  • George Reedy, former Dean of the Journalism School
  • Athan G. Theoharis, Professor Emeritus of History
  • Donald Neumann, Professor of Physical Therapy, Author of Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System: Foundations for Physical Rehabilitation
  • David Harden, Professor of Literature, Author of Potent Potables: The effects of High Modernism on SNL

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Marquette University Players website
  2. ^ Walker, Don. "Holding court a final time". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel January 29, 2001.

[edit] External links

Wikisource has an original article from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia about: