Tulane University

Tulane University

Motto: Non Sibi Sed Suis (Latin)
Motto in English: Not for oneself, but for one's own
Established: as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834[1]
as the University of Louisiana in 1847
as Tulane University of Louisiana in 1884
Type: Private University
Endowment: US $1.1 billion +[2]
President: Scott Cowen
Faculty: 1,132[1]
ratio to students–8:1[3]
Undergraduates: 6,749[1]
average class size–22[3]
Postgraduates: 4,408[1]
Location: New Orleans, LA, USA
Campus: Urban
Colors: Olive Green and Sky Blue         
Nickname: Green Wave
Athletics: NCAA Division I - Conference USA
Competing in eight varsity sports
Affiliations: AAU
Website: tulane.edu

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as a public medical college in 1834, the school grew into a comprehensive university and was eventually privatized under the endowments of Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb in the late 19th century. It is the only American university that has been converted from a public institution to a private institution.[4] The university was elected to the Association of American Universities, an organization of leading research universities, in 1958. Other satellite campuses of its continuing education and MBA programs are located in Elmwood, LA, Covington, LA, Biloxi, MS and Houston, TX.

Contents

History

Founding and early history – 19th century

Paul Tulane, eponymous philanthropist of the school

The university dates from 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana.[1] With the addition of a law department, it became The University of Louisiana in 1847,[1] a public university. 1851 saw the establishment of an "Academic Department."

The university closed for three years during the American Civil War; after reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges. Paul Tulane donated extensive real estate within New Orleans for the support of education; this donation led to the establishment of a Tulane Educational Fund (TEF), whose board of administrators sought to support the University of Louisiana instead of establishing a new university. In response, through the influence of former Civil War general Randall Lee Gibson, the Louisiana state legislature transferred control of the University of Louisiana to the administrators of the TEF in 1884.[1] This act created the Tulane University of Louisiana.

In 1885, a Graduate Division started. One year later, gifts from Josephine Louise Newcomb totaling over $3.6 million led to the establishment of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College within Tulane University. Newcomb was the first coordinate college for women in the United States, and became a model for such institutions as Radcliffe College and Barnard College.[5]

In 1894 a College of Technology formed. In the same year the university moved to its present-day uptown campus on St. Charles Avenue, five miles by streetcar from downtown.[5]

20th century

Gibson Hall in the early 20th century. It faces St. Charles Avenue and is the entry landmark to the uptown campus.

In 1901, the cornerstone was laid for the F.W. Tilton Library, endowed by the New Orleans businessman and philanthropist Frederick William Tilton (1821–1890).

An Architecture Department originated within the College of Technology in 1907. One year later, Schools of Dentistry and Pharmacy appeared, both temporarily: Dentistry ended in 1928, and Pharmacy six years later.[5]

In 1914, Tulane established a College of Commerce, the first business school in the South.[5]

1925 saw the formal establishment of the Graduate School. Two years later, the university set up a School of Social Work, the first in the Deep South.[5]

The house of Tulane's president on St. Charles Avenue was once the mansion of Sam Zemurray who was the head of the United Fruit Company which became infamous for its exploitation of Latin American countries as "banana republics."

University College dates from 1942. The School of Architecture grew out of Engineering in 1950.

The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine dates from 1967 and is the oldest school of its kind in the country. Also, Tulane's School of Tropical Medicine is the only one of its kind in the country.

On April 23, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., spoke at Tulane University's Fogelman Arena at the invitation of Congressman F. Edward Hebert, the powerful representative of Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District. During the historic speech, Ford announced that the Vietnam War was "finished as far as America is concerned"- one week before the fall of Saigon. Ford drew parallels to the Battle of New Orleans saying that such positive activity could do for America’s morale what the battle did in 1815.[6]

21st century

In July 2004, Tulane received two $30 million donations to its endowment, the largest individual or combined gifts in the university's history. The donations came from Jim Clark, a member of the university's board of trustees and founder of Netscape, and David Filo, a graduate of its School of Engineering and co-founder of Yahoo!.

On March 4, 2008, the university announced that a record 34,000 students had applied for admission to the class of 2012, and that the average SAT score was expected to be around 1365, marking a rise of approximately 30 points above the average of the class of 2011.

A fund raising campaign called "Promise & Distinction" raised $730.6 million as of October 3, 2008, increasing the university's total endowment to more than $1.1 billion.

Hurricane Katrina

Main article: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Tulane University

As a result of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and its effects on New Orleans, most of the university was closed for the second time in its history—the first being during the Civil War. The closing affected the first semester of the school calendar year. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's distance learning programs and courses stayed active. The School of Medicine relocated to Texas for a year. And aside from student-athletes attending college classes together, most undergraduate and graduate students dispersed to campuses throughout the U.S.

Facing a budget shortfall, the Board of Administrators announced a "Renewal Plan" in December 2005 to reduce its annual operating budget and create a "student-centric" campus. Addressing the school's commitment to New Orleans, a course credit involving "community service" became a requirement for an undergraduate degree. In May 2006, graduation ceremonies included commencement speakers former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton who commended the students for their willingness to return to Tulane and serve New Orleans in its renewal.

Notable firsts

Organization

Tulane University, as a private institution, is governed by the Board of Tulane (also known as the Board of Administrators). The board comprises more than 30 regular members (plus several members emeriti) and and the university president. See the complete, up-to-date list of board members.

There have been 14 presidents of Tulane since the establishment of the Tulane Education Fund in 1884.

Campuses

A view of the Gibson Hall, named after Randall Lee Gibson, on the uptown campus of Tulane University
The Academic Quad behind Gibson Hall of Tulane University is shaded by many large live oak trees.

Tulane's uptown campus, known for its many large live oak trees and architecturally historic buildings, was established in the 1890s and occupies more than 110 acres (0.45 km2). The campus architecture consists of several styles, including Richardsonian Romanesque, Elizabethan, Italian Renaissance, Brutalist Modern, and Ultramodern styles. Though there isn't a coherent building design across the entire campus, most buildings make use of similar materials. The front campus buildings use Indiana White Limestone or orange brick for exteriors, while the middle campus buildings are mostly adorned in red St. Joe brick, the staple of Newcomb College Campus buildings.

The uptown campus faces St. Charles Avenue directly opposite Audubon Park and reaches to South Claiborne Avenue. It is intersected by Freret and Willow Streets. Loyola University is directly adjacent to Tulane, on the downriver side.

The centerpiece of the Academic Quad is the first academic building, Gibson Hall, along with the schools of Architecture and Social Work. The middle of the campus, between Freret and Willow Streets and bisected by McAlister Drive and Newcomb Place, serves as the center of campus activities. The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, Fogelman Arena, McAlister Auditorium, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, most of the student residence halls and academic buildings populate the center of campus. The facilities for the business school line McAlister Drive and Tulane Law School sits adjacent to the Business school.

The middle campus is also home to the historic Newcomb College Campus, which sits between Newcomb Place and Broadway. The Newcomb campus was designed by New York architect James Gamble Rogers, noted for his work with Yale University's campus.[12] The Newcomb campus is home to Tulane's performing and fine arts venues. The back of campus, between Willow Street and South Claiborne, is home to two residence halls, Reily Recreation Center and Turchin Stadium, the home of Green Wave baseball.

After Hurricane Katrina, Tulane has continued to build new facilities and renovate old spaces on its campus. The newest residence hall, Lallage Feazel Wall Residential College, was completed in August 2005 and took in its first students when Tulane re-opened in January 2006. The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life was renovated to be a green, environmentally friendly building and opened for student use in January 2007.[13]

Other facilities of Tulane include:

Academic profile

Academic divisions

Tulane is organized into 10 schools centered around liberal arts, sciences and specialized professions:

Newcomb-Tulane College
All undergraduate students are enrolled in the Newcomb-Tulane College. The graduate programs are governed by individual schools.

School of Architecture
The first architecture courses at Tulane leading to a architectural engineering degree were offered in 1894. Intitally part of the College of Technology, the Tulane School of Architecture was separately formed as a school in 1953.

The Tulane School of Architecture ranks 15th nationally for its research performance.[15]

School of Business
The A.B. Freeman School of Business was named in honor of Alfred Bird Freeman, former chair of the Louisiana Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and a prominent New Orleans philanthropist and civic leader.

The business school is ranked 44th nationally and 28th among programs at private universities by Forbes magazine. It was ranked 28th nationally and 48th internationally by Mexican business magazine Expansion (August 2007), and 22nd nationally and 36th internationally by AméricaEconomía magazine (August 2006). Its finance program was ranked 10th in the world by the Financial Times.[16] The school ranked 13th nationally for entrepreneurship by Entrepreneur magazine (October 2006).

Law School
The Law School, established in 1847, is the 12th oldest law school in the United States.

US News & World Report's 2009 edition ranked the School of Law 44th overall and 12th in environmental law.[1][17]

School of Liberal Arts
The School of Liberal Arts consists of 15 departments and 22 interdisciplinary programs. All of the departments offer an undergraduate major and minor.

A view of the downtown Tulane University health sciences campus

School of Medicine
The School of Medicine was founded in 1834 and is the 15th oldest medical school in the United States. It has highly selective admissions, accepting only 175 medical students from more than 7,000 applications.

It comprises 20 academic departments: Anesthesiology, Biochemistry, Family and Community Medicine, Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Otolaryngology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Physiology, Psychiatry and Neurology, Radiology, Structural and Cellular Biology, Surgery and Urology.

In 2008 US News and World Reports ranked the School of Medicine's research ranking at 55th.[20]

School of Public Health
The Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is the oldest public health school in the U.S. Although a program in hygiene was initiated in 1881, the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was not established until 1912 as a separate entity from the College of Medicine. In 1919 the separate school ceased to be an independent unit and was merged with the College of Medicine. By 1967 the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine reestablished as a separate academic unit of Tulane. In the fall of 2006, the School of Public Health began admitting undergraduate students.

US News & World Report's 2007 edition ranked the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 13th among public health programs.

School of Science and Engineering
The School of Science and Engineering offers degrees in biological chemistry, biomedical engineering, cell and molecular biology, chemical and biomolecular engineering, chemistry, earth and environmental science, ecology and evolutionary biology, environmental biology, environmental geoscience, geology, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, psychology, and statistics. In addition, a minor is offered in engineering science.

School of Social Work
In 1941 the Southern School of Social Sciences and Public Services was the first training program for social workers in the Deep South. By 1927 the school became a separate program with a two-year master of arts. The School of Social Work has awarded the master of social work degrees to more than 4,700 students from all 50 of the United States and more than 30 other countries.

School of Continuing Studies
Tulane offers continuing education courses and associate's and bachelor's degrees through its School of Continuing Studies.

Core

As part of the post-Hurricane Katrina Renewal Plan, the university initiated an extensive university wide core curriculum. Three major elements of the university core are (1) TIDES classes, a freshmen seminar that is pass or fail, (2) a two class sequence for public service, and (3) a capstone experience for students to apply knowledge in their fields of study.

Many course requirements of the core curriculum can be certified through AP exam or IB course credit or placement exams in English and foreign languages offered by the university during orientation. Some schools have different core requirements (e.g., students in the School of Science and Engineering are required to take fewer language classes than students in the School of Liberal Arts).

Research and endowment

In 2008, Tulane became one of 76 U.S. colleges to maintain an endowment above $1 billion.[21]

Tulane was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1958. Tulane also is designated by the Carnegie as a research university with "very high research activity."[22]

For 2007, Tulane reached the highest level of research funding in its history, exceeding $157.5 million.[23] In 2008 Tulane was ranked by the Ford Foundation as the major international studies research institution in the South and one of the top 15 nationally.[24] The National Institutes of Health ranks funding to Tulane at 79th.[25]

Rankings

Overall university rankings include:

Admission statistics

Dean's Honor Scholarship

The Dean's Honor Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship awarded by Tulane which covers full tuition for the duration of the recipient's undergraduate program. The scholarship is offered to 100 incoming freshmen by the Office of Undergraduate Admission, and is awarded only through a separate application. This scholarship is renewable provided that the recipient maintains a minimum 3.0 GPA at the end of each semester and maintains continuous enrollment in a full-time undergraduate division. Typically, recipients have SAT I scores of 1450 or higher or an ACT composite score of 33 or higher, rank in the top 5% of their high school graduating class, have a rigorous course load including honors and Advanced Placement classes, and an outstanding record of extracurricular activities.[30]

Notable recipients include Sean M. Berkowitz, David Filo and Eric R. Palmer.

Scholar statistics

Student life

USG and GAPSA come together twice a semester to meet as the ASB Senate, where issues pertaining to the entire Tulane student body are discussed. The meetings of the ASB Senate are presided over by the ASB President.

In 1998, the student body of Tulane University voted by referendum to split the Associate Student Body (ASB) Senate into two separate houses, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA). Previous to the split, only one Executive Cabinet was elected and all student government meetings consisted of both undergraduate and graduate students. Now, each house has its own Executive Cabinet and Senate elected by its own students. USG and GAPSA meet separately to issues pertaining to their respective constituencies. However, the Office of the Associated Student Body President remained - the ASB President is a representative of every student on all of Tulane's campuses. This person is still elected by the entire student body of Tulane, both undergraduate and graduate students.

The Jambalaya, Tulane's yearbook, published annually since 1897, published its last edition (Volume 99) in 1995, because of funding and management problems. In the fall of 2003, the Jambalaya was reestablished as a student club, and in the Spring of 2004, the centennial edition of the Jambalaya was published. The staff now continues to publish a Jambalaya annually.

The student-run radio station of the university, WTUL-FM, began broadcasting on campus in 1971.

Athletics

Main article: Tulane Green Wave
Tulane's football team usually plays its home games in the Louisiana Superdome.

Tulane is a member of Conference USA in athletics and an official member of the NCAA Division I. Baseball and women's volleyball are among its stronger sports.

In 2008, Tulane reopened Greer Field at Turchin Stadium, a renovated baseball venue for its team. The baseball team consistently ranks among the top 25 in national polls such as Baseball America, USA Today/ESPN, and Collegiate Baseball. In 2001 and 2005, Tulane baseball finished with 56 wins and placed 5th at the College World Series.

The women's volleyball team, which plays in Fogelman Arena, won the 2008 Conference USA Championship tournament.[31] Fogelman Arena was renovated for basketball in the fall of 2006, and is expected to undergo another renovation to add more seats.

The Green Wave football team went 12-0 in 1998, winning the Liberty Bowl and finishing the season ranked No. 5 in the nation. The Green Wave also won the Hawaii Bowl in 2002, the Liberty Bowl in 1970, and the 1935 Sugar Bowl. Tulane once used Tulane Stadium on the uptown campus that seated more than 80,000 people, held three Super Bowls, and was the home of the New Orleans Saints and the Sugar Bowl. The football team now plays in the refurbished Louisiana Superdome and occasionally plays at Tad Gormley Stadium, which provides an outdoor venue for many homecoming events.

Tulane also participates in a variety of men's and women's intercollegiate sports such as basketball, track and cross country, tennis and golf. Tulane's graduation rate for its student-athletes consistently ranks among the top of Division I athletics programs. Most of the administrative and athletic support facilities (such as weight rooms, training center, locker rooms, conference rooms, and hall of fame displays are located in the Wilson Athletic Center located between Willow Street and Claiborne Avenue.

Notable people

Main article: List of Tulane University people

Tulane is home to many outstanding alumni, who have contributed to the the arts and sciences, as well as the political and business realms. For example, from literature: Shirley Ann Grau, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner; from business: David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo!; from entertainment: Lauren Hutton, film actor and supermodel, and Paul Michael Glaser, TV actor of "Starsky and Hutch"; from government: Luther Terry, former U.S. Surgeon General who issued the first official health hazard warning for tobacco; from medicine: Michael DeBakey, inventor of the roller pump; from science: A. Baldwin Wood, inventor of the wood screw pump; from sports: Bobby Brown, former New York Yankees third baseman and former president of the American League.

Tulane also hosted several prominent faculty, such as two members who each won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Louis J. Ignarro and Andrew V. Schally. Other notables such as John Kennedy Toole, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces, Rudolph Matas, "father of vascular surgery," and George E. Burch, inventor of the phlebomanometer in medicine, also were on faculty at Tulane.

Several football alumni play in the National Football League, including Patrick Ramsey (Denver Broncos), J.P. Losman (Buffalo Bills), Anthony Cannon (Detroit Lions), Mewelde Moore (Pittsburgh Steelers), Matt Forté (Chicago Bears), and Roydell Williams (Tennessee Titans). Several baseball alumni play in the Major Leagues, including Andy Cannizaro (New York Yankees) and Micah Owings (Cincinnati Reds).

Tulane in literature and media

Main article: List of Tulane University in literature and media

Tulane has been portrayed in several books, television shows and films. Also, several movies have been filmed at Tulane University, especially since tax credits from the state of Louisiana have drawn more productions to the new "Hollywood South" in the late 2000s.[32] Also the uptown campus has been host to two movie premieres from 2006 to 2007.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Tulane University Facts" (2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
  2. "Report charts highs, lows for Tulane" (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Tulane Admission: Tulane at a Glance" (2008). Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
  4. "Gerald R. Ford: Address at a Tulane University convocation" (1975). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Significant dates in Tulane's History" (PDF) (unknown). Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
  6. "Address at a Tulane University Convocation" (1975). Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
  7. "Gerald R. Ford: Address at a Tulane University convocation" (1975). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  8. Smith JL (1852). "The inverted microscope-a new form of microscope". Am J Sci Arts 14: 233–241. 
  9. Riddell JL (1854). "On the binocular microscope". Quart J Microsc Sci 2: 18–24. 
  10. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine History
  11. PUBLIC SERVICE GRADUATION REQUIREMENT
  12. "unknown" (PDF) (unknown). Retrieved on 2007-06-21.
  13. "Campus Is Hopping as Students Return," New Wave, January 12, 2007
  14. "University Square Gives Room to Grow," New Wave, Tulane University, October 17, 2007
  15. You must specify title = and url = when using {{cite web}}."".
  16. "Tulane's A.B. Freeman School of Business ranked among the top" (2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  17. "Best Law Schools" (2008). Retrieved on 2008-07-02.
  18. "Latin American Studies" (2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
  19. "Chronicle Facts & Figures: Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index" (2005). Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  20. "USNews.com: Top Medical Schools" (2008). Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  21. Coming Home to Celebrate Tulane's 'Pivotal Moment', tulane.edu, October 8, 2008
  22. "Institutions: Tulane University of Louisiana" (2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
  23. Research Connections
  24. You must specify title = and url = when using {{cite web}}."" (August 26, 2008).
  25. "NIH Award Trends-Rankings: All Institutions 2005" (2005). Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
  26. "America's Best Colleges 2008" (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
  27. "How to Choose a College - Forbes.com" (2008). Retrieved on 2008-08-18.
  28. "The Early Show" (July 29, 2008).
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 "Tulane Admission: Getting into Tulane" (2008). Retrieved on 2008-07-11.
  30. Dean's Honor Scholarship information
  31. "Volleyball Continues Historic Run," New Wave. November 25, 2008.
  32. Anya Kamenetz. "The Short, Shady History of Hollywood South," Fast Company, Issue 118, September 2007.

External links