| University of Minnesota Morris | |
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Seal of the Regents of the University of Minnesota |
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| Motto | A Renewable, Sustainable Education |
| Established | 1960[1] |
| Type | Public Liberal Arts College |
| Endowment | $8,173,097 |
| Chancellor | Jacqueline Johnson |
| Dean | Bart Finzel (interim)[2] |
| Students | 1,932[3] |
| Location | Morris, Minnesota |
| Campus | Rural |
| Colors | Maroon & Gold |
| Mascot | Pounce the Cougar |
| Affiliations | UMAC |
| Website | http://www.morris.umn.edu |
University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) is a public liberal arts college and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges located in Morris, Minnesota, United States. A part of the University of Minnesota system, it was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts degrees.
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Although UMM officially opened its doors in 1960, the history of what became the current institution reaches back further. In the 1887, the Morris Industrial School for Indians, an American Indian boarding school, was formed on the site and run by the Roman Catholic Church and later the US government.[4][5] The school closed in 1909 and the campus was transferred to the State of Minnesota under the agreement that American Indians would always be admitted free of tuition, the current UMM still follows this agreed policy. In 1910, the University of Minnesota (at the time only the Twin Cities campus), established a boarding school on the campus called the West Central School of Agriculture. In the 1950s, the University of Minnesota began phasing out its regional agricultural school and the people of the Morris region were able to convince the school to develop the campus into a liberal arts college. The current UMM opened in September 1960.[1]
Several historic buildings of the West Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[6][7] The Minority Resource Center, the oldest building on campus, dates back to 1899.[8] It was previously the Music Hall of the West Central School of Agriculture, and the boys' dormitory of the Morris Industrial School for Indians. Camden Hall, Spooner Hall, the Horse Barn, Welcome Center, Behmler Hall, Blakely Hall, Imholte Hall, Education Building, Pine Hall, and the Recycling Center all contribute to the Register. Most of these buildings were designed by Clarence H. Johnston Sr. in the Craftsman and Prairie School style.
Morris offers 35 majors and minors and eight pre-professional programs in education, the humanities, science and mathematics and social sciences.
According to U.S. News and World Report, the five most popular majors on campus are English language and literature, business administration and management, psychology, human services and political science and government.[9]
In 2011, Forbes ranked UMM 90th in the "America’s Top Colleges" list, and 16th in the "Best in the Midwest".[10] US News listed UMM at #6 in "Top Public Schools" for Liberal Arts Colleges.[11] In May 2011, Consumers Digest ranked UMM in the Top 5 Values in Public Colleges and Universities.[12][13] During the fall of 2010, both U.S. News and World Report and Forbes ranked UMM among their “Best College” lists.[14] Morris was ranked sixth in the Top Public Schools in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category and made the Top 100 list of Best Colleges: Most Students Studying Abroad in U.S. News.[15]
The music discipline provides performing opportunities such as choir, symphonic winds, jazz ensembles, and recitals.[16]
The annual jazz festival was founded by Jim "Doc" Carlson in 1979.[17] World-renowned jazz artists are invited to host clinics and master classes for high school, community, and college jazz ensembles . Each night of the festival concludes with performances by student jazz combos, ensembles, and the guest artists backed by Morris Jazz I.[18]
The following guest artists have performed at the Annual Jazz Festival:
In August 2009, Mother Jones Magazine chose the University of Minnesota Morris as one of its top 10 "cool schools" in the United States, stating that the school is great for alternative energy enthusiasts.[23]
UMM is known for its commitment to alternative sources of energy. In April 2005, a wind turbine was installed east of campus on a ridge over the Pomme de Terre river. The turbine currently provides about 60% of the campus' electricity (however the only building currently being supplied completely with this power is the new "Welcome Center"), in addition to providing a source for research.[24] The second wind turbine was just completed in April 2011. The two wind turbines now stand only a few hundred feet apart.[25] UMM has also completed the construction of a biomass plant for research and energy purposes which has been inefficient in its purpose.[24]
In addition, UMM has recently installed solar panels around campus.[25]
UMM's athletic teams have experienced varied success during the school's history. The 1970s were marked by success in basketball and football. Olympic wrestler, Dennis Koslowski, wrestled for the Cougars in the early 1980s. After a move in the early 1990s as a non-scholarship Division II and a brief experiment with athletic scholarships, Cougar athletics found a more appropriate home in NCAA Division III's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. They are the first member of the UMAC to be a public, state-supported institution - all other members over the years were private institutions, usually with a religious affiliation.
Under then-head-coach Ken Crandall, UMM ended a major college football losing streak on September 20, 2003, by defeating Principia College, a Division III team, in Elsah, Illinois 61-28. UMM holds the NCAA Division II record with 46 games lost consecutively, with the previous win before September 20, 2003 being November 14, 1998.
UMM was, in 1993, the first college in the United States to sponsor women's wrestling as an official varsity sport. The program was cut in 2003 due to budget constraints. In 2006, a new men's soccer team was announced.
In 2006, UM Morris opened a new football stadium named Big Cat Stadium, just south of the school's Regional Fitness Center. BCS is also used by the Morris Area High School Tigers. The new stadium replaced Cougar Field which had been used from 1970 to 2005. The school's first football field, named Miller Field, was used from 1961 to 1969.
In 2006, The Cougars captured their first UMAC championship in the Hubert H. Humphry Metrodome signaling the end of coach Ken Crandall's coaching career at UMM. The last conference title for the Cougar football program was the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) title in 1987, the second of two straight NIC titles. Over the next three years, the Cougars suffered losing records under coach Todd Hickman. In 2010 the team overcame their preseason rating (tied for last) to end the season with a winning record (5-4) and ending in a three way tie for 3rd in the conference.
The university operates the radio station " the U-90 alternative, the prairie's only alternative" 89.7 FM (KUMM), and produces at least three television programs that air on PBS stations in the state. Pioneer Public Television carries Prairie Yard and Garden,[26][27] Academic Challenge and Minnesota Rivers and Fields.[28] UMM also has a student-run publication: The University Register, a newspaper which is published weekly.
Since 2005, the university has held an annual film festival, referred to as the UMMys, in the spring. Past winners include: "The Amazing Adventures of Beeman", "Rumspringa: The Musical" (a story about the forbidden love between a young Amish girl and a robot), and "The Chancellor's Daughter".[29][30]
The residence halls on campus are
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