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The Ohio State University
Seal of OSU located near the Oval
Motto: Disciplina in civitatem
(Latin, "Education for Citizenship")
Established: 1870
Type: Public
Land Grant
Sea Grant
Endowment: $1.6 billion
President: Karen A. Holbrook
Staff: 5,202 academic faculty, 19,277 non-academic staff (not including students)
Students: 50,504 (Columbus), 57,748 (all campuses)
Undergraduates: 37,411 (Columbus), 44,307 (all campuses)
Postgraduates: 13,093 (Columbus), 14,441 (all campuses)
Location: Columbus, Ohio, United States
Campus: 1,755 acres (7 km²) Columbus campus
15,311 acres (62 km²) total
Athletics: "Buckeyes" - 19 men's varsity teams, 20 women's
Colors: Scarlet and Gray
Mascot: Brutus Buckeye
Website: www.osu.edu

The Ohio State University is currently the third largest university in the United States and currently ranked by US News and World Report as the best public university in Ohio and the twenty-first best public university in the nation.[3] Ohio State's students attend either the main campus in Columbus, Ohio, or regional campuses located in Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Gibraltar Island (Stone Lab), Newark, and Wooster. The university was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university.

Contents

[edit] History

The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, founded in 1870 as a land-grant university in accordance with the Morrill Act of 1862, first opened its doors for students during the September of 1873. Initially, President Stanton of Miami University was trying to receive more state funding through the Morrill Land Grant Act and was instrumental in the founding of The Ohio State University. The school was originally situated within a farming community located on the northern edge of Columbus, and was intended to matriculate students of various agricultural and mechanical disciplines. After an 1878 vote passed in favor of broadening the spectrum of educational offerings, the college permanently changed its name to the now-familiar "The Ohio State University". The University's first President, Edward J. Orton, Sr. is honored with the Orton Memorial Library of Geology, inside Orton Hall.

Ohio State operated The Big Ear, the largest and longest-running radio telescope SETI project in the world, until 1998.[1]

[edit] Organization

Ohio State University is comprised of the following colleges, schools, and campuses:

[edit] Campus

The Columbus, Ohio campus is currently one of the largest student bodies in the United States, with 50,504 students enrolled. The university is ranked best public university in the state of Ohio by U.S. News and World Report in their annual college rankings special issue.

The Columbus campus is arranged around an oval-shaped field of grass and a variety of native trees that is crossed by paths. Land purchases for the university began in 1871 in the area bordered by High Street on the east, 11th Avenue on the south, the Olentangy River on the west, and Woodruff Avenue on the north. At the time the land was mostly farm fields, unusable forested land, ponds. The Board of Trustees approved a plan for an early campus of 40 acres that would include a handful of buildings, including University Hall, which was was the original academic building. Ohio State University was an agricultural and mechanical school at the time, so the original structures were barns and a few dormitories. Additional buildings for electrical engineering, botany, and engineering followed after 1873 through the late 1880's. Construction of additional academic space in 1890-1893 began to produce an oval of open space that the campus centered around. Hayes Hall (the oldest building on campus) and Orton Hall were built during this period.[4]

An 1893 master plan by university architect Captain Herman Haerlin further developed the oval concept. The plan called for an open space for various university activities which would not be crossed by roads. Notable buildings built during the remainder of Haerlin's leadership were Townshend Hall and Armory and Gymnasium Building. "The Oval" came into general usage in 1912, as evidenced by its use in the alumni magazine and The Lantern. Walking east to west across the Oval is sometimes called "the long walk". The same publications used "the long walk" starting in 1920. Over the years the Oval has served as an informal gathering place for students to sunbathe, play frisbee, or talk with a professor. Formal events such as ROTC marches, commencement, and political rallies also fill the grassy expanse.[5]

The original University Hall was demolished in 1971 and rebuilt in 1976, with a similar design. The Armory burned down in 1958 and was replaced by Weigel Hall in 1979, now used by the department of music. The west end took a more familiar shape with the addition of the William Oxley Thompson Library in 1912. The faculty club also made its way to the south side of the Oval in 1940. Early visitors coming from High Street passed the president's house, which was razed in 1949 to be replaced by Mershon Auditorium in 1957.

The medical school is home to the James Cancer Hospital, a cancer research institute, and the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital, a research institute for cardiovascular disease. The Columbus campus is also home to the Wexner Center for the Arts. The current president is Karen A. Holbrook and Barbara R. Snyder is the Provost.

[edit] Athletics

Ohio State's intercollegiate sports teams are called the "Buckeyes" (after the state tree, the Buckeye), and participate in the NCAA's Division I-A in all sports and the Big Ten Conference in most sports. (The men's hockey program competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and its women's hockey program competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association). The school colors are Scarlet and Gray, although they were originally black and orange. The colors were not used however, because Princeton already used the colors. The mascot of OSU is Brutus Buckeye.

The Buckeye football team, which plays at Ohio Stadium (a.k.a. the Horseshoe or simply The 'Shoe), won the 2002 college football national championship at the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. It was the seventh national championship for the football team, which also topped the nation in 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, and 1970. Although Ohio State University does not recognize championships won in 1933, 1944, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1998, various organizations awarded it the national championship, reaching a total of 14 titles. The most famous football coach in Ohio State's history was the colorful and legendary Woody Hayes (1913-1987), who passionately taught players and students that a person succeeds in life through "hard work."

The Buckeye football team also boasts 5 Heisman trophy winners including the only two-time winner Archie Griffin (in 1974 and 1975), Les Horvath (1944), Vic Janowicz (1950), Howard "Hopalong" Cassady (1955), and Eddie George (1995). Other outstanding sports figures that were students at Ohio State include Jesse Owens "the Buckeye Bullet" (track and field); Fred R. Taylor, John Havlicek, and Jerry Lucas (basketball); Katie Smith (women's basketball); Frank Howard (baseball); Jack Nicklaus (golf); and Chic Harley (three-time All-American football running back) and Woody Hayes (football; M.A.).

Ohio State is a part of the intense athletic Ohio State-Michigan Rivalry (particularly in football). The University of Michigan leads the historical series 57-39-6, but Ohio State is 4-1 in the game since Jim Tressel became its coach in 2001. The OSU/UM game has been called the greatest rivalry in sports by ESPN.[6]

Ohio State's men's basketball team under former coach Jim O'Brien was found to be in violation of NCAA rules and regulations. The team will be under probation for three years. Women's basketball players also violated NCAA rules by receiving free dental services worth over $13,000. Football player Troy Smith has already admitted to accepting $500 from a booster. Eight of the nine charges against Ohio State were not contested by the university and seven of nine occurred under Jim O'Brien.[7]

[edit] Activities & Organizations

University Hall, The Ohio State University.
University Hall, The Ohio State University.

The Ohio Union was the first student union built by a public university. The Ohio Union is dedicated to enriching the student experience on and off of the Ohio State University campus. The Ohio Union, located prominently along High Street and southeast of the Oval, has been a center of student life at The Ohio State University for more than 50 years. It provides facilities for student activities, organizations and events, and serves as an important meeting place for campus and community interaction. In addition, many student services and programs are housed in the union, along with dining and recreational facilities.

[edit] Student Organizations/SOURCE

Student organizations at The Ohio State University provide students with opportunities to get involved in a wide variety of interest areas including academic, social, religious, artistic, service-based, diversity and many more. There are over 800 registered student organizations that involve many thousands of students.

[edit] Leadership & Service

The Union's vision is to prepare students to be responsible, engaged leaders committed to community participation for social action and change. Examples of programs to get involved in are the Buckeye Leadership Society, LeaderShape, Buckeye Service Council, Community Commitment, and Alternative Spring Break. All of these programs have the ultimate goal of making students into better leaders, people and citizens of Ohio State.


[edit] Student Governments

At The Ohio State University, there are three recognized student governments that represent their constituents.

  • Undergraduate Student Government (USG), which consists of elected and appointed student representatives who serve as liaisons from the undergraduate student body to university officials. USG seeks to outreach to and work for the students at the Ohio State University.
  • Council of Graduate Students (CGS), which promotes and provides academic, administrative, and social programs for the university community in general and for graduate students in particular. The Council provides a forum in which the graduate student body may present, discuss, and set upon issues related to its role in the academic and non-academic aspects of the University community.
  • Inter-Professional Council (IPC), which is a representative body of all professional students in the colleges of Dentistry, Law, Medicine, Optometry, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine. Its purpose is to act as a liaison between these students and the governing bodies of the University.

[edit] Student life

The Office of Student Affairs is responsible for many of the outside-the-classroom aspects of student life at Ohio State. Among these are student housing; food service; health, wellness and counseling; activities, organizations and leadership development; recreation and intramurals. The Office of Student Affairs also operates the Schottenstein Center, the Fawcett Center, the Blackwell Inn, the Ohio Union and the Drake Event Center.

The Makio is Ohio State's annual/yearbook. The Makio ran into financial problems during the early 1970s, and the organization went bankrupt and stopped publication during the late 1970s. The book was revived from 1985 to 1994, and has been revived again since 2000.

The Ohio State University Marching Band (or TBDBITL, "The Best Damn Band in the Land") is also a tradition at Ohio State. The marching band is the largest all-brass band in the world and all songs from "Carmen Ohio" to "Hang on Sloopy" are arranged to fit this unorthodox instrumentation. The band is famous for "Script Ohio," during which the band marches single-file through the curves of the word "Ohio" while playing the famous march "Le Regiment de Sambre et Meuse." At the end of the performance, the "i" in "Ohio" is "dotted" by the high-stepping sousaphone player. The tradition of high quality music performance isn't just seen on the football field. OSU's School of Music contains several high quality concert bands consisting of graduate and undergraduate music majors and non-music majors. Groups such as the OSU Wind Symphony, have received praise on the national level.

OSU's "Buckeye Bullet" electric car broke the world record for the fastest speed by an electric vehicle on October 3, 2004 with a speed of 271.737 MPH (437.3 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The vehicle also holds the US record for fastest electric vehicle with a speed of 314.958 MPH (506.9 km/h), and peak timed mile speed of 321.834 MPH (517.9 km/h). The vehicle was designed, built and managed by a team of engineering students at the university's "Center for Automotive Research-Intelligent Transportation" (CAR-IT).

The Ohio State University Men's Glee Club[8], formed in 1875, is the oldest musical organization on campus. In 1990, led by Professor James Gallagher, the Men's Glee Club participated in the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangolen, Wales and won the male chorus competition by an unprecedented 20 points before, in a unanimous decision of the judges, being named "Choir of the World"—the first American choir to win such an honor. The Glee Club is under the direction of Dr. Robert J. Ward.

[edit] Ohio State-affiliated media

OSU operates a public television station, WOSU-TV 34 / WOSU-DT 38 (a local PBS TV station), as well as two public radio stations, WOSU-AM (NPR/BBC) and WOSU-FM (Classical) in Columbus, both with the call letters WOSU. In 2003, the television station began broadcasting in HDTV. There is also a student-run radio station with an Internet audio stream (no broadcast signals are available in Columbus) called "The Underground" and a student-run cable channel, airing primarily on the campus cable system operated by UNITS (the university's telecommunications department), known as Buckeye TV.

The school newspaper is called The Lantern, and has operated as a laboratory newspaper in the School of Communication (formerly the School of Journalism) for more than 150 years. The university also produces a literary magazine called Mosaic, which features undergraduate fiction, poetry, and art.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Points of interest


[edit] External links

Lane Avenue bridge over the Olentangy River, on campus.
Lane Avenue bridge over the Olentangy River, on campus.