| The University of Iowa | |
|---|---|
| Established | February 25, 1847 |
| Type | Public |
| Endowment |
US $791,231,000 [1] US $1 Billion+[2] |
| President | Dr. Sally Mason |
| Academic staff | 2,156 |
| Students | 30,328 |
| Undergraduates | 20,574 |
| Postgraduates | 9,754 |
| Location | Iowa City, Iowa, USA |
| Campus | Urban 1,900 acres (7 km²) |
| Nickname | Hawkeyes |
| Colors |
Black & old gold |
| Athletics | Big Ten NCAA Division I |
| Mascot | Herky the Hawk |
| Affiliations | Association of American Universities, Big Ten Conference, Committee on Institutional Cooperation, Universities Research Association |
| Website | www.uiowa.edu |
The University of Iowa (also known as UI, or simply Iowa) is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. UI is categorized as RU/VH Research University (very high research activity) in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.[3] The university is a group member of the Association of American Universities, the Big Ten Conference, Committee on Institutional Cooperation, and the Universities Research Association. Additionally, UI is considered a Public Ivy according to Howard and Matthew Greene's "The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Public Universities".
The University is home to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. It is one of the largest university-owned teaching hospitals in the nation.[4] Iowa was the first American institution of higher learning to accept creative work for academic credit, and developed the Master of Fine Arts degree.[5]
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The University of Iowa was founded February 25, 1847 as Iowa's first public institution of higher learning, only 59 days after Iowa became a state. The legal name for the university is the State University of Iowa (SUI) but this became confusing with Iowa State University (ISU), and the Board of Regents approved using "University of Iowa" (UI) for everyday usage in October 1964.[6]
The first faculty offered instruction at the university in March 1855 to students in the Old Mechanics Building, situated where Seashore Hall is now. In September 1855, there were 124 students, of whom forty-one were women. The 1856–57 catalogue listed nine departments offering Ancient Language, Modern Language, Intellectual philosophy, Moral Philosophy, History, Natural History, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry. The first President was Amos Dean.
The original campus was composed of the Iowa Old Capitol Building and the 10 acres (40,000 m2) (4.046 hectares) of land on which it stood. Following the placing of the cornerstone July 4, 1840, the building housed the Fifth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa (December 5, 1842) and then became the first capitol of the State of Iowa (December 28, 1846). Until that date it had been the third capitol of the Territory of Iowa. When the capitol of Iowa was moved to Des Moines in 1857, Old Capitol became the first permanent "home" of the University.
In 1855, Iowa became the first public university in the United States to admit men and women on an equal basis. Additionally, the university was the world's first university to accept creative work in theater, writing, music, and art on an equal basis with academic research.
The university was one of the first institutions in America to grant a law degree to a woman (Mary B. Hickey Wilkinson, 1873), to grant a law degree to an African American (G. Alexander Clark, 1879), and to put an African American on a varsity athletic squad (Frank Holbrook, 1895). The university offered its first doctoral degree in 1898.
The university was the first state-university to officially recognize the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Allied Union (1970).[7]
Iowa established the first law school west of the Mississippi River, and was also the first to use television in education (1932) and pioneered the field of standardized testing.[8] Additionally, Iowa was the first Big Ten institution to promote an African American to an administrative vice president’s position (Dr. Phillip Hubbard, promoted in 1966).
On November 1, 1991, five employees of the university were killed and one student was critically injured when Gang Lu, a former physics graduate student, went on a shooting rampage before committing suicide.[9] Officials received letters written by Lu that discussed his grievances and plans; apparently Lu was set off because he felt that his dissertation should have been received more eagerly.[10]
On April 13, 2006, a tornado struck the university and adjacent Iowa City, causing extensive damage throughout the campus and town. The tornado was the most intense and destructive of 5 tornadoes that touched down in Johnson County, Iowa that evening; it was given the rank of F2 on the Fujita Scale.[11] “Damage on the campus was limited to a parking garage for university vehicles and some downed trees.” [12] Several Iowa City homes and businesses received extensive damage.[11] Despite the wreckage, injuries were relatively light in the area, although one person in a neighboring county was killed.[11]
On June 8, 2008, the Army Corps of Engineers warned that flooding on the Iowa River and overflow from the Coralville Reservoir would cause major and potentially record flooding. Such an event could have serious implications and bring widespread damage to campus buildings. After flood waters breached the reservoir spillway more than 20 major campus buildings were damaged.[13] Several weeks after the flood waters receded university officials placed a preliminary estimate on flood damage at $231.75 million. Later, the UI Vice President estimated that damages would cost about $743 million.[14]
In November 2008, responding to a proposal from the UI Writing University committee, UNESCO designated Iowa City the world's third City of Literature, making it part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.[15][16]
On April 18, 2011, anthropology and women's studies professor Ellen Lewin responded to a campus-wide email from the University of Iowa College Republicans relating to an "Animal Rights Barbecue" and for using the term "coming out" with respect to being Republican with the controversial response of "F*** YOU REPUBLICANS!"[17] The response eventually drew nationwide attention. [18]
The University of Iowa College of Public Health was formed in 1999 when the Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health and the Graduate Program in Hospital and Health Administration were split from the Carver College of Medicine.[27]
Iowa is one of 60 elected members to the Association of American Universities and is listed in Greene's guides as a "Public Ivy of the Great Lakes & Midwest."
The university is currently home to ISCABBS, an aging public bulletin board system that was the largest Internet community in the world prior to the commercialization of the world wide web.
The University of Iowa is also the home to the National Advanced Driving Simulator (a virtual reality driving simulator.)
| University rankings (overall) | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| U.S. News & World Report[30] | 72 |
| Washington Monthly[31] | 43 |
Overview:
Main page: Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Writers' Workshop was founded in 1936. Since 1947 it has produced thirteen Pulitzer Prize winners. In total, twenty-five people affiliated with the Writers' Workshop have won a Pulitzer Prize.
Notable workshop students and faculty include former faculty Robert Penn Warren, author of All the King's Men, former student Flannery O'Connor, former student John Irving, author of The World According to Garp, former student Gail Godwin, former faculty Philip Roth, author of Goodbye Columbus and American Pastoral, former student Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours, and former faculty Kurt Vonnegut, author of books such as Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, and Slaughterhouse-Five. The great American playwright, Tennessee Williams, author of A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie among others, studied theatre and playwriting as an undergraduate student at the University but did not attend The Writers' Workshop.
The University of Iowa's main campus, located in Iowa City, was originally designed by architect D. Elwood Cook. The campus is roughly bordered by Park Road and U.S. Highway 6 to the north and Dubuque and Gilbert Streets to the east. The Iowa River flows through the campus, dividing it into west and east sides.
Of architectural note is the Pentacrest at the center of The University of Iowa campus. The Pentacrest comprises five major campus buildings: Old Capitol, Schaeffer Hall, MacLean Hall, Macbride Hall, and Jessup Hall. The Old Capitol was once the primary government building for the state of Iowa, but it is now a museum of Iowa history.
Also on the eastern side of campus are five residence halls (Burge, Daum, Stanley, Currier, and Mayflower), the Iowa Memorial Union, the Pappajohn Business Building, Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences, the Lindquist Center (home of the College of Education), Phillips Hall (the foreign language building), Van Allen Hall (home to physics and astronomy), the English-Philosophy Building, and the buildings for biology, chemistry, geology & environmental sciences, psychology, communications, and journalism. The Main Library can also be found on the east side.
The Colleges of Law, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Public Health are on the western side of the Iowa River, along with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the Theatre Building, and Voxman Music Building. Additionally, five residence halls (Hillcrest, Slater, Reinow, Quadrangle, and Parklawn), Kinnick Stadium, and Carver-Hawkeye Arena are located on the west campus.
The Oakdale Campus, which is home to some of the university's research facilities and the driving simulator, is located north of Interstate 80 in adjacent Coralville.
The flood of 2008 had a major impact on a number of campus buildings, forcing many buildings to temporarily close. The Iowa Memorial Union was closed for a period of time, and the ground floor of this building is still closed as it undergoes renovation. The arts campus, which includes Hancher, Voxman, Clapp Recital Hall, and the Theatre Building, was hit especially hard. The theatre building has since reopened, but the music facilities have not. Music classes were for a short time held in temporary trailers, and now music classrooms are spread throughout campus. Recently, a University task force suggested to state regents that Hancher be rebuilt near its current site on the West bank of the Iowa River and Voxman and Clapp be built nearer to the main campus on South Clinton Street.
The Pentacrest is sometimes referred to as the center of academic life at the University, especially for Liberal Arts students. It comprises five buildings: the Old Capitol and the four lecture halls Schaeffer, Macbride, MacLean, and Jessup. A variety of classes are held in these four buildings, mostly relating to the Liberal Arts. Macbride Hall and the Old Capitol also contain museums of natural history and Iowa state history, respectively.
The University of Iowa is one of the EPA's Green Power Partners,[35] burning oat hulls instead of coal and reducing coal consumption by 20%.[36] In May 2004 the university joined the Chicago Climate Exchange,[37] and in April 2009 a student garden was opened.[38]
Much of the student night-life in Iowa City is centered around the pedestrian mall ("ped mall"), which contains numerous restaurants, local shops/boutiques, and over thirty bars. A popular university event that draws both students and also residents from the entire midwest is home football games. A related activity that many students engage in is tailgating, often beginning early in the morning. The University of Iowa is well known for its party and social scene: it was given the rank of 10th-best party school in the United States by Playboy magazine in 2010, and in 2011 The Princeton Review ranked Iowa in the #4 spot on its annual Top Party Schools survey. [39] The university has appeared on similar top ten lists of several other publications over the years. In addition, there are hundreds of student organizations, including groups focused on politics, sports, games, lifestyles, dance, song, and theater, and a variety of other activities. The University also tries to sponsor events that give students an alternative to the typical drinking scene.[40] In 2004 the University established an annual $25,000 contract with the newly reopened Iowa City Englert Theatre to host concerts and performances for as many as 40 nights a year.[41]
Students also participate in a variety of student media organizations. Students edit and manage The Daily Iowan newspaper (often called the DI), which is printed every Monday through Friday while classes are in session. An early editor of the DI was noted pollster George Gallup. Daily Iowan TV, KRUI Radio, Student Video Productions, Off Deadline magazine and Earthwords magazine are other examples of student-run media.
The school's sports teams, the Hawkeyes, participate in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big Ten Conference. The athletics department is headed by Gary Barta, who was previously athletic director at the University of Wyoming. Herky the Hawk (pictured right) has been Iowa's mascot since 1948.
Iowa's football team plays its home games at Kinnick Stadium, named after former Iowa football player Nile Kinnick who won the Heisman Trophy in 1939. Kinnick Stadium hosts 70,585 fans. The stadium unveiled a new look in 2006 with the completion of a $90 million renovation. The renovation included new stands in the south endzone, a new press box, and a statue of Kinnick.
Kirk Ferentz has been the head coach of the football program since 1999, when he replaced longtime coach Hayden Fry. Under Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have enjoyed national success, making eight bowl games in the last nine years, including a Bowl Championship Series victory in the FedEx Orange Bowl over Georgia Tech in 2010. The program has also finished in the Top 10 four times and shared two Big Ten championships in the Ferentz era.
Iowa battles Iowa State University annually for the Cy-Hawk Trophy, a traveling award. Iowa also has a traditional rivalry with Minnesota. The two schools' football teams meet yearly to battle for Floyd of Rosedale, a traveling trophy in the shape of a bronzed pig. In 2004, Iowa and Wisconsin unveiled the Heartland Trophy, a bronze bull, to be played for in their rivalry. However, since the Big Ten has expanded to 12 teams, Iowa will only play Wisconsin 6 times every 10 years while the Floyd of Rosedale series remains an annual matchup. A new rivalry is in the making with Nebraska, with the teams competing for the Heroes Trophy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Iowa has produced more Division I college-football coaches than any other school in the U.S.[42]
Iowa is famous for its extremely successful collegiate wrestling program. Through 2010, the Hawkeyes wrestling team has won 23 national titles and 34 Big Ten titles. Coach Dan Gable's Gang won nine straight NCAA team championships (1978 to 1986) and three times won three in a row (1991 to 1993, 1995 to 1997, and 2008 to 2010). Iowa's 51 NCAA Champions have won a total of 77 NCAA individual titles, crowning six three-time and 15 two-time champions. Furthermore, Iowa's 132 all-Americans have earned all-America status 269 times, including 16 four-time, 29 three-time and 34 two-time honorees. Sports Illustrated named the Iowa program one of the top sports dynasties of the 20th century.[43] Tom Brands, a four-time All-American and Olympic gold medalist, is the current head wrestling coach.
The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team currently plays in 15,500-seat Carver-Hawkeye Arena, along with the school's women's basketball, wrestling, and volleyball teams.
Throughout history, the Hawkeyes have enjoyed the successes of eight Big Ten regular season conference championships, the last coming in 1979. More recently, Iowa has won the Big Ten tournament twice, in 2001 and 2006. Iowa also has 22 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament appearances, including three Final Fours, reaching the semifinals in 1955 and 1980 and playing in the championship game against the University San Francisco in 1956.
The team experienced success in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s under head coaches Lute Olson and Tom Davis. Fran McCaffery is the current head men's basketball coach.
The Iowa Hawkeye women's basketball team experienced great success in the 1980s and early 1990s under coach C. Vivian Stringer. In 1985, the Hawkeyes became the first women's basketball team in history to sellout in advance.[44] During Stringer's tenure, the Hawkeyes appeared in 10 Women's NCAA Tournaments, including 9 consecutive berths from 1985–86 through 1993–94. Additionally, the Hawkeyes appeared in the 1993 Women's Final Four, losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the semifinals. Stringer's successor at Iowa, Angie Lee, took Iowa to an additional 3 NCAA tournaments, including a Sweet Sixteen appearance during the 1995–96 season. Current coach Lisa Bluder has taken the Hawkeyes to five NCAA tournaments and two WNIT berths, including an appearance in the WNIT semifinals during the 2004–2005 season. Most recently, the women were Big 10 Champions (tying with Ohio State) in 2008.
Other sports at the university include field hockey, baseball, softball, gymnastics, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, cross country, rowing and soccer. In addition, UI has many club teams that compete in fencing, water polo, baseball, rugby, lacrosse, volleyball, crew, soccer, ultimate, ice hockey, cricket and other sports. There is also a women's flag football team.
Many prominent athletes, actors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and technological innovators have attended the University of Iowa. From its Iowa Writers' Workshop, the University boasts a number of Pulitzer Prize winners (most recently Writer's Workshop faculty member Marilynne Robinson for her novel Gilead in 2005), as well as numerous National Book Awards and other major literary honors.
Iowa's faculty includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, five former clerks to U.S. Supreme Court justices, and numerous members of the nation’s most prestigious scholarly academies:
Iowa's most recent presidents have left to become presidents at several of the most prestigious colleges and universities of the United States: Dartmouth College (James O. Freedman in 1987), the University of Michigan (Mary Sue Coleman in 2002), and Cornell University (Hunter R. Rawlings III in 1995 and David Skorton in 2006).
About Iowa – The University of Iowa http://www.uiowa.edu/homepage/about-UI/index.html
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