| University of Puget Sound | |
|---|---|
| Motto | προs τα ακρα (Greek) |
| Motto in English | To the heights |
| Established | 1888 |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | $217.7 million[1] |
| President | Ronald R. Thomas |
| Academic staff | 219 |
| Undergraduates | 2,576 |
| Postgraduates | 209 |
| Location | Tacoma, Washington, USA |
| Campus | Suburban, 97 acres (39 ha) |
| Colors | Maroon and white |
| Mascot | "Grizz" the Logger |
| Website | www.pugetsound.edu |
The University of Puget Sound (Puget Sound or UPS) is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States. It is the only nationally ranked independent undergraduate liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of only seventeen west of the Mississippi River.[2]
It offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Music, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Education, Master of Occupational Therapy, and Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees. As of 2010, it has an undergraduate enrollment of 2,632 and a graduate enrollment of 209. The school draws students from 48 states and 20 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 major fields.[3]
In the 1970s the university was widely known for its freewheeling social life, but throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the focus increasingly shifted to academics. Now, Puget Sound is a nationally ranked institution enjoying top academic marks from third party evaluators and college guides. In 2009, U.S. News & World Report ranked it 80th in a list of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States.[4]
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The University of Puget Sound was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888 in downtown Tacoma. Charles Henry Fowler, who had previously been the president of Northwestern University, dreamed up the idea for the college while in Tacoma for a Methodist conference. He spoke at the conference with his vision of a Christian institution of learning. The conference released a report:
We commit ourselves...heartily to the building up within the bounds of the conference of an institution of learning which shall by its ample facilities...command the respect and patronage of Methodist people within the bounds of the territory...and so by united and prayerful efforts advance to the establishment of a school of learning which shall be a praise in all the land.
Two cities vied for the location of the school: Port Townsend and Tacoma. The committee eventually decided on Tacoma. A charter was drawn up and filed in Olympia on March 17, 1888. This date marks the legal beginning of the school. At this time, the school's legal title was "The Puget Sound University".[5] In September 1890, UPS opened its doors, taking in 88 students.
The beginnings of the school were marked by moral conviction: students were warned against intoxicating liquors, visits to saloons, gambling, tobacco use, and obscene drawings or writings on the college grounds. The university also had a financially tumultuous beginning. There was no endowment and the school often struggled for funds to pay the professors. It moved locations three times in 13 years and, at one time, the school was merged with Portland University (former campus is now the University of Portland). It opened up a year later (1899) back in Tacoma on 9th and G Street.[6] In 1903, the school was "reborn" and re-incorporated as a different entity, different trustees, and a different name: the "University of Puget Sound".
The character of the school changed dramatically during the presidency of Edward H. Todd (1913–1942), who worked tirelessly to bring financial and academic stability. During his tenure, the "Million Dollar Campaign" was started, raising $1,022,723 for buildings, equipment, and endowment. With this money, the campus moved in 1924[7] to its current location in the residential North End of Tacoma, with five buildings, setting a stylistic tone for the institution. In 1914 the university was renamed the "College of Puget Sound".
President R. Franklin Thompson (1942–1973) led a massive physical and institutional expansion: During this era almost all of the university's buildings were constructed. In 1960, the university's name changed from the "College of Puget Sound" back to the "University of Puget Sound", as it is known today.
Phillip M. Phibbs presided from 1973 to 1992 and endeavored to change the tone of Puget Sound. In 1980, the university divested its attachment with the Methodist Church, and an independent board of trustees assumed full fiscal responsibility of the university. Also during this time, the university began to focus on undergraduate education excellence, phasing out all off-campus programs except the law school and most graduate programs. During this time the library collections were broadened and the faculty greatly expanded.
With the advent of President Susan Resneck Pierce (1992–2003), the law school was promptly sold to Seattle University, in a move that was calculated to focus the university's resources on its undergraduate campus. During her tenure, the University completed almost $100 million of new construction and renovation Collins Memorial Library and four academic buildings were renovated, and Wyatt Hall was constructed to house the growing class and office space needs of the Humanities Department. Trimble Residence Hall was constructed, bringing on-campus student residency to 65%. SAT scores rose from 1067 to 1253 and the endowment more than tripled. Puget Sound's newest President is Ronald R. Thomas, affectionately called "Ron Thom" by many students, a scholar of Victorian literature, and the former vice-President of Trinity College.
Thompson Hall, home of the sciences at the university, underwent a major renovation, including the construction of a new wing (Harned Hall, completed 2006) on the building's western side against Union Avenue and extensive renovations to the current wings and courtyard to allow for upgraded labs and facilities. The entire project was completed in mid 2008. The entire complex is now known locally as "The Science Center". The now completely enclosed courtyard contains a striking Plexiglas structure where a new coffee shop, the Oppenheimer Cafe,[8] is located.[9]
∗ Prof. Charles O. Boyer (acting president, 1901–1903)
The University of Puget Sound campus is our most valuable and distinctive asset. It is our link to the past and our key to the future. Our responsibility is to invest in it wisely and care for it responsibly.
- - Puget Sound President Ronald R. Thomas
The campus is located in North Tacoma, Washington in a primarily residential setting. It remains only a few minutes walk from downtown Proctor and the Sixth Avenue district. President Ron Thomas recently initiated a campus "Master Plan" in order to preserve and expand the campus aesthetically and fundamentally.[10] The plan will increase on-campus housing to 75% as well as allow for the construction of a number of new buildings. The master plan task force includes the president, several vice presidents, professors, alumni, trustees, and representatives from the community. The campus is made up of mainly brick buildings in the Tudor- Gothic architectural style. Buildings are mostly arranged into quads. The three main quads are the North Quad and South Quad, which contain residence halls, and Karlen Quad, which contains Jones Hall, Collins Memorial Library and the Music Building. The library was designed by Tacoma architect Silas E. Nelsen in 1954. It was later renovated. President Thomas recently wrote a piece explaining his opinion that new buildings should maintain the gothic style that the university is known for.[11]
Harned Hall, named for alumnus and local real estate developer H.C. "Joe" Harned, was dedicated on September 29, 2006. The building is 51,000 square feet (4,700 m2) and cost $25 million to construct. It was designed and built to meet the US Green Building Council's LEED Silver Standard. This means that sustainable building materials were used in construction, and the building adheres to strict environmental guidelines. The building features labs for biology, geology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics, a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) courtyard with a crystalline glass gazebo in the center, offering a café which serves fair trade coffee to the campus community, a Foucault pendulum designed by Alan Thorndike, as well as Gray whale skeleton named Willy.[9]
After Harned Hall was completed, the university continued to show its dedication to the sciences by beginning a $38 million renovation of Thompson Hall, the "old" science building. Harned and Thompson Halls actually form a square with a courtyard in the middle that are collectively named the Science Center. Thompson Hall has an area of 121,000 square feet (11,200 m2) and was originally constructed in 1968. The renovation was completed in spring 2008.[12]
Wyatt Hall is the second newest academic building on campus, dedicated in 2003. It houses the English, History, Foreign Languages & Literature, Politics & Government, Philosophy, Honors, Science Technology & Society,[13] Classics, and Religion departments. Many of the classrooms in the building are seminar style, meaning a circle of tables that students sit at to encourage discussion between students and the professor, rather than a lecture. The building features glass art by Dale Chihuly that represents the ivy leaves covering the campus buildings.
The Wheelock Student Center, affectionately known as the "SUB" (Student Union Building) is the main hub of life on campus. It features a rotunda used for lectures and catered events, KUPS (the campus radio station), the cafeteria and dining area, Diversions Cafe (a student-run coffee shop), and The Cellar (a student-run pizza parlor).
Other buildings include McIntyre Hall, home of the School of Business and Leadership, the departments of Economics, Comparative Sociology and International Political Economy, Howarth Hall, home of the psychology and education departments, Jones Hall, home of theatre arts, communications and several administrative offices including the Office of the President and the Music Building (which is the only building on campus without a name). Kittredge Hall, the original student union building, now houses the art department and Kittredge Art Gallery. The Gallery is now affiliated with the Tacoma Art Museum.
Collins Memorial Library [14] houses over 400,000 books and over 130,000 periodicals, is a partial federal government repository, and has substantial microform holdings.[15] The Library was named after former trustee Everill S. Collins. The current Library building was built in 1954. A larger addition was completed in 1974. In 2000, a major renovation brought new technology and media resources into the Library's spaces, making it one of the most popular campus gathering places for students.
Construction for the Center for Health Sciences began in spring 2010. At 42,500 square feet (3,950 m2), the center will provide the resources and flexibility needed to support new areas of study in the fields of health and behavioral sciences. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson/Seattle, the center will conform to the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards.[16]
The university offers many different housing options. Harrington, Schiff, Anderson/Langdon, Smith, and University halls make up what is called the "North Quad", and Todd/Phibbs, Regester, Seward, and Trimble make up the "South Quad". Theme Row, which runs to the south end of campus, contains around 20 different theme houses that students may apply to live in. The Music House is the longest standing house, originating in 1989. After the Music House, the Outhaus and the Track and Cross Country Theme House are the two longest standing houses. There are also about 60 non-theme university-owned houses available.
Currently around 65% of students live on campus, although the mission of the master plan calls for an increase to 75%. First year students are not required to live on campus, although 98% do, on average.[17]
Wireless connections can be found throughout the campus as of the 2009-2010 school year. In 2009, the university upgraded residential Internet bandwidth by more than two-fold, to 100 Mbit/s. During that year, a new connection to the Washington State K-20 Educational Network was also installed, bringing the university's aggregate bandwidth to 150 Mbit/s.[18] Further bandwidth upgrades are planned for the 2010-2011 academic year.
The university offers more than 40 major programs in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as graduate programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy, and education.[9] The student to faculty ratio is 11 to 1,[19] and like most other liberal arts colleges, there are no teaching assistants that teach classes rather than a professor. This encourages professors to put classroom instruction before other research, helping to fulfill the institution's educational goals effectively.
| University rankings (overall) | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Forbes[20] | 176 |
| Liberal arts colleges | |
| U.S. News & World Report[21] | 80 |
| Washington Monthly[22] | 121 |
The University is consistently ranked among the top five small liberal arts colleges for the number of graduates who participate in Peace Corps; in 2007, it ranked first place.[23]
University of Puget Sound was ranked one of The Advocate's "Top 20 College Campuses for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual students", getting 19 out of a possible 20 points.[24]
Demographics of the surrounding area: 76% White, 7% Black, 6% Hispanic, 6% Asian, and 1% Native American.[25]
The university sponsors study abroad programs in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, China, Costa Rica, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Pacific Rim, Scotland, Spain, Taiwan, and Wales.[26]
The program in the Pacific Rim, known as PacRim, or the Pacific Rim/Asia Study-Travel Program (PRAST) is unique to UPS. Every three years a group of 15-25 students are selected to spend two semesters traveling, studying, and researching in eight Asian countries. Students must have taken three courses in the Asian Studies program and completed a course of readings assigned by the director.[27] Over the program's thirty year history students have visited: Mongolia, People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Iran, and Yugoslavia. Previous lecturers have included: Johan Galtung, Ken Yeang, Dr. M.S. Nagaraja Rao, Jack Weatherford, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, His Holiness Swasti Sri Charukeerthi Bhattaraka, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, and Sogyal Rinpoche.
The number of students at UPS who study abroad has increased from 17% to 40% from 1998 to 2008.[28]
For 2009-2010, the cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, and fees) is $44,900, which is consistent with other liberal arts colleges of its caliber.
Although the college is viewed as expensive by most students, it has a reputation for being generous with financial aid. More than 90% of all students receive some form of financial aid.[19] In the 2008-2009 academic year, for students who qualified for need-based assistance, the middle 50% of aid packages were between $20,690 and $38,665. There are three scholarships attainable by incoming freshmen based on the academic strength of the application (these are awarded by merit, independent of need):
All of the above scholarships require no additional applications and are renewable provided a student maintains satisfactory academic progress.
Additional scholarships are available through separate applications or by audition. Puget Sound offers scholarships for music, forensics (speech and debate), art, and other talents. Scholarships based on academic interest—such as the sciences, humanities, and Asian Studies—are offered as well.
The Puget Sound athletics teams are known as the "Loggers" with a grizzly bear, "Grizz", as their mascot. Originally only "Loggers" was used, until debate arose over the appropriateness of having a male logger be the mascot at a school which supports equal rights for men and women. The school is now trying to shift mascot recognition over to "Grizz", who is viewed as more in line with the University's focus.[29] They participate in the NCAA's Division III Northwest Conference, competing with George Fox University, Lewis and Clark College, Linfield College, Pacific University, Pacific Lutheran University, Whitman College, Whitworth University, and Willamette University.
The University offers 21 different varsity sports teams: Men's Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Crew, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Men's Football, Men's and Women's Golf, Women's Lacrosse, Men's and Women's Soccer, Women's Softball, Men's and Women's Swimming, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Track & Field, and Women's Volleyball. On a minor note, former national soccer team coach Bruce Arena got his coaching start at Puget Sound in 1976 as head of the men's soccer team.[30]
There are both men's and women's club soccer teams, as well as men's club lacrosse (which, due to Title IX restrictions, competes in the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League). The University also has a men's club Ultimate team known as the "Postmen [3]", and a women's club Ultimate team known as "Zephyr".
The UPS Loggers Hockey team which was founded in 2005 and is currently an ACHA division II team. The team's most prominent victories include defeating the University of Washington Huskies in a 3-game series in the 2006-2007 season, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2007-2008 season. Loggers hockey is subsidized by ASUPS (the Associated Students of UPS) student body and ticket sales for home games. Home games are currently played at the Sprinker Ice Area in south Tacoma. Players come from the student body, and mostly consist of students hailing from Canada, Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, and states on the East Coast.
Several sports teams have achieved some degree of success in recent years. The men's basketball team has won three straight Northwest Conference championships since 2004, as well an average .826 winning percentage over the 2004, 2005, and 2006 seasons. In 2005, the Division III Loggers defeated the Division I Highlanders of the University of California, Riverside, making it their first Division I defeat since the 1970s. In the 2009 regular season, the Loggers went an undefeated 16-0 in Northwest Conference play, becoming the first team in conference history to do so, capturing the conference title in the process.[31]
Log Jam is a campus-wide celebration that ends the first week of fall classes. Tables are set around the perimeter of Todd Field and clubs and teams set up to recruit potential members.[19]
Foolish Pleasures is an annual student film festival showing films written, directed, acted, and produced by students.[19]
Midnight breakfast is a celebration in the student union building, which occurs each semester on the last day of classes.
The Hatchet is the official symbol of sports teams at the University of Puget Sound. It was first discovered in 1906 when students were digging up a barn at the old campus. They decided to carve their class year into it. This became a tradition of sorts, as the seniors would hand the hatchet to the juniors on senior recognition day. This turned into a competition where each class would try to possess the hatchet for as long as possible. It disappeared for 15 years until it was anonymously mailed to former President Franklin Thompson. Thompson displayed it in a trophy case in Jones Hall, where it mysteriously disappeared again, only to resurface at a homecoming game in 1988. In 1998, the hatchet's return was negotiated through an intermediary, and it was permanently displayed in a display case in the Wheelock Student Center. It was stolen in 1999 during a false fire alarm in one of the dormitories.[35]
On September 30, 2006 (homecoming) a student rappelled into the football field at halftime, brandishing "the hatchet". It was later revealed by the student newspaper The Trail that this hatchet is a replica of the actual hatchet, commissioned by the former student government administration without the knowledge of the student senate. The replica hatchet was painstakingly carved to look exactly like the original, using over 150 photos as a guide.[36]
The original hatchet was finally returned to President Ronald Thomas in 2008 by two anonymous alumni and was displayed at Homecoming. Plans for safe storage of the relic are still in the works.[37]
The campus has a notable recent history of sustainability. On February 10, 2005, President Ronald R. Thomas signed the Talloires Declaration, committing the University to certain standards regarding sustainability. The Sustainability Advisory Committee, consisting of one faculty co-chair, one staff co-chair, and a mix of faculty, staff and student volunteers, organizes the majority of sustainability efforts on campus. These efforts have included:
In 2007, the Sustainability Advisory Committee initiated an innovative campus grants program. Members of the campus community are invited to submit proposals to the Sustainability Advisory Committee. Proposals are ranked using criteria of feasibility and impact, and decisions for funding are made accordingly. Recipients and project descriptions are available here.
The Students for a Sustainable Campus, founded in 2006, actively generated and pursued projects during the 2006-2007 school year, including:
In 2007, President Thomas signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment on behalf of the university.
UPS is home to four fraternities and four sororities. 20% of male students and 29% of female students are involved in Greek life.[38] Represented fraternities include, Phi Delta Theta (1848/1952), Sigma Chi(1855/1950), and recently reinstated Sigma Alpha Epsilon (1856/2010). Represented sororities and women's fraternities include Pi Beta Phi (1867), Kappa Alpha Theta (1870), Alpha Phi (1872), and Gamma Phi Beta (1874). Puget Sound has a "deferred recruitment", which means that fraternities, sororities, and their members are not allowed to have any official contact with freshmen outside of class, athletics or club activities until the organized recruitment events in the first two weeks of the spring semester. Freshmen may not join a chapter until January. In the fall, chapters are permitted to give "snap bids" to upperclassmen, as well as participate in an organized fall recruitment open only to upperclassmen. A ceremony called "Crossover" takes place annually on the third weekend of spring semester. Members of the Greek community partake in an entire day of celebration to honor the new members as they run across the field to their selected fraternity.
Previously, several other organizations, including Sigma Nu, Kappa Sigma, Delta Delta Delta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Theta Pi were represented on campus, however those chapters have all closed for a variety of reasons.
KUPS 90.1FM (The Sound) is a student-run, non-commercial, educational college radio station that began in 1968. In 2002, KUPS began streaming its standard live programming online to the world. The radio station broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and serves the greater Tacoma area with programming in a variety of genres. KUPS has earned various awards while broadcasting over the years. In 2005, KUPS was named by The Princeton Review as one of the best college radio stations in the country (#12). In 2007, KUPS was ranked #9 by the Princeton Review in the Top Ten Best College Radio Stations in the Country. Most recently, in the spring of 2010, MTV honored KUPS with the national title of Best College Radio Station at the MTVu Woodie Awards.[39]
The Trail is an independent student-run organization that provides Puget Sound students, faculty, staff, and the local community with a credible weekly newspaper that serves as a comprehensive source of information, entertainment and discourse relevant to its readership. The Trail provides opportunities for students interested in journalism and acts as an archival record for the university. In addition, The Trail serves as a link between Puget Sound and the greater Tacoma community and provides an open forum for student opinion and discourse within the university.
"Crosscurrents" is the school's literary and arts magazine and was established in 1957. Crosscurrents is published two times during the academic year, once during the Fall semester and once during the Spring semester. Magazines are free to the campus community. It is staffed by students and publishes student artwork, photography, prose, poetry, and the occasional miscellaneous piece. Crosscurrents also features a guest artist or writer in each issue- usually a notable person from the pacific northwest who is interviewed about their work.
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