Quinnipiac University

Quinnipiac University
Motto "Qui Transtulit Sustinet"[1]
Motto in English
"He who transplants, sustains"[1]
Type Private
Established 1929 (87 years ago)
Endowment $348.9 million (2014)[2]
President John L. Lahey
Academic staff
350 full-time
Students 9,000
Undergraduates 6,500
Postgraduates 2,500
Location Hamden, North Haven, Connecticut, USA
Campus Suburban
Colors Blue and Gold          [3][4]
Athletics NCAA Division IMAAC ECAC Hockey
Sports 21 Varsity Teams [5]
Nickname Bobcats
Mascot Boomer the Bobcat
Affiliations NAICU
NEASC
Website quinnipiac.edu

Quinnipiac University /ˈkwɪnpæk/ is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in Hamden, Connecticut, United States at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences; School of Business and Engineering; School of Communications; School of Health Sciences; School of Law; School of Medicine; School of Nursing and School of Education. Quinnipiac is home to the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

History

The Mount Carmel campus, from atop Sleeping Giant, April 2009.

What became Quinnipiac University was founded in 1929 by Samuel W. Tator,[6] a business professor and politician. Judge Phillip Troup, a Yale College graduate, was another founder, and became its first president[6] until his death in 1939. Tator's wife, Irmagarde Tator, a Mount Holyoke College graduate, also played a major role in the fledgling institution's nurturing as its first bursar. Additional founders were E. Wight Bakke, who later became a professor of economics at Yale, and Robert R. Chamberlain, who headed a furniture company in his name.[6]

The new institution was conceived in reaction to Northeastern University's abandonment of its New Haven, Connecticut program at the onset of the Great Depression. Originally, it was located in New Haven and called the Connecticut College of Commerce. On opening its doors in 1929, it enrolled under 200, and its first graduating class featured only eight students. At the time, it awarded only associate's degrees. In 1935, the college changed its name to the Junior College of Commerce.

From 1943 to 1945, the college closed, as nearly its entire student body was drafted into World War II. Upon re-opening, the college's enrollment nearly quadrupled to approximately 800 students.

In 1951, the institution was renamed Quinnipiac College, in honor of the Quinnipiac Indian tribe that once inhabited Greater New Haven. That same year, Quinnipiac began to confer bachelor's degrees. In 1952, Quinnipiac expanded rapidly, both physically and in terms of curriculum, relocating to a larger campus in New Haven, and also assuming administrative control of Larson College, a private women's college.

In 1966, after having outgrown its campus in New Haven, Quinnipiac moved to its current campus in the Mount Carmel section of Hamden, Connecticut, at the foot of Sleeping Giant Park. During the 1970s, Quinnipiac began to offer master's degrees in a variety of disciplines.

Until the 1990s, Quinnipiac remained primarily a commuter college with only a regional reputation; however, that changed during the next decade. In 1995, three major events occurred: the University of Bridgeport's law school migrated to Quinnipiac; the American Bar Association accredited Quinnipiac to award the Juris Doctor degree; and the Quinnipiac School of Law Center was dedicated. Also, during the mid-1990s, Quinnipiac's communications and business programs, respectively, built state-of-the-art facilities and attracted nationally respected professors.

Quinnipiac's Arnold Bernhard Library and clock tower, focus of main campus quadrangle, August 2008.

On July 1, 2000, the school officially changed its name to Quinnipiac University — to reflect its relatively new breadth in academic offerings. That same year, Quinnipiac University received accreditation by AACSB.

Currently, Quinnipiac offers 58 undergraduate majors, 20 graduate programs, and a JD program. Quinnipiac's Physician's Assistant (PA) program is ranked 11th nationally by U.S. News & World Report.[7] Its Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine admitted 60 students to its first class in 2013.[8] Quinnipiac's Polling Institute is noted for excellence and accuracy by national and international news organizations, and is often cited during election campaigns.

The university operates several media outlets, including a professionally run commercial radio station, WQUN, founded by journalist and Quinnipiac professor Lou Adler. The university also operates a student-run FM radio station WQAQ, which concurrently streams on the Internet. A student-run television station, Q30, can be viewed only on campus. Also, a student-produced newspaper, The Chronicle, established in 1929, publishes 2,500 copies every Wednesday. Students also run a literary magazine, The Montage, a yearbook, The Summit, the Quinnipiac Bobcats Sports Network (an online sports-focused broadcast), and The Quinnipiac Barnacle[9] (a parody news organization). Unaffiliated with the school, but run by students, is also an online newspaper, The Quad News.[10]

Quinnipiac is home to one of the world's largest collections of art commemorating the Great Irish Famine. The collection is contained in Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum (Músaem An Ghorta Mhóir) just off the Mount Carmel Campus.[11]

In May 2014, Quinnipiac laid off 16 full-time but non-tenured faculty, with 11 of those from the College of Arts and Sciences, with no advance notice of the staff reduction. The cuts followed several years of a "stalled hiring" and a faculty salary freeze. The layoffs were mostly in departments that had experienced reduced enrollment in recent years, and enrollment is expected to be down by 12 percent in the fall 2014 term.[12]

Campuses

Quinnipiac University consists of three campuses, the Mount Carmel and York Hill campuses in Hamden and North Haven Campus in North Haven, just north of New Haven, Connecticut.

The oldest of these campuses is the Mount Carmel campus, at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park. The Arnold Bernhard Library, Carl Hansen Student Center, university administration, and many of the student residences may be found on this campus.

York Hill, located on a hill about a half-mile from the Mount Carmel campus, began with the development of the TD Bank Sports Center. In 2010 this was joined by a new student center as well as expanded parking and residence facilities as part of a $300 million expansion of the 250-acre (1.0 km2) campus.[13] York Hill is a "green" campus, making use of renewable energy and environmentally friendly resources, including one of the first major wind farms integrated into a university campus.[14]

In 2007, Quinnipiac acquired a 100-acre (0.40 km2) campus in North Haven, Connecticut from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, and has been gradually converting it for use by graduate programs at the university.[15]

Quinnipiac University opened the Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine in 2013.[16]

Admissions

Class of 2013 For the undergraduate class of 2013, Quinnipiac admitted 6,223 (67.2%) of the 13,828 total applicants who applied.[17] 1,640 (26%) of the admitted enrolled for the Fall 2009 semester. 22% ranked in the top tenth of their high school class; 55% in the top quarter and 90% in the top half. The majority of this class hail from the American Northeast with 26% from New York State, 21% from Connecticut, 20% from New Jersey and 19% from Massachusetts. One percent (1%) of the 2013 class is international. About 78% consider themselves to be Caucasian and 12% are minorities. The remaining 10% did not declare a race or are multi-racial. The female count is 62% and 38% for male. 70% received some form of financial aid.

Generally, Quinnipiac's Office of Admissions seeks the following characteristics in undergraduate applicants: a 3.3/4.0 GPA and an average SAT score of 1677 for the incoming class.[18]

Quinnipiac Polling Institute

Quinnipiac's Polling Institute receives national recognition for its independent surveys of residents throughout the United States. It conducts public opinion polls on politics and public policy as a public service as well as for academic research.[19] The poll has been cited by major news outlets throughout North America and Europe, including The Washington Post,[20] Fox News,[21] USA Today,[22] The New York Times,[23] CNN,[24] and Reuters.[25]

The polling operation began informally in 1988 in conjunction with a marketing class.[19] It became serious in 1994 when the university hired a CBS News analyst to assess the data being gained.[19] It subsequently focused on the Northeastern states, gradually expanding during presidential elections to cover swing states as well.[19] The institute receives funding from the university,[19] with its phone callers generally being work study students or local residents. The polls have been rated highly by Fivethirtyeight.com for accuracy in predicting primary and general elections.[26]

Greek life

Quinnipiac is home to seven fraternities and eight sororities.[27]

Fraternities

Sororities

The National Panhellenic Conference is an umbrella organization which was created in 1902 for 26 women's sororities. The National Panhellenic Conference at Quinnipiac University serves as an advocate for the sororities involved in the conference with the campus an community. The Panhellenic Conference at Quinnipiac University includes Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Sigma Sigma, Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Delta, and Chi Omega.

Campus buildings and landmarks

Campus and Lender School of Business Center, with Sleeping Giant in background, April 2005.

Carl Hansen Student Center – Commonly called "The Student Center," the facility serves as the home to Student Government, WQAQ-FM, The Chronicle and many student organizations. The student bookstore, main dining hall, U.S. Post Office, and a branch of TD Bank are located here as well. Renovated and expanded in 2012, and is now home to a number of new meeting, multipurpose, and media rooms for use of student organizations and fraternity and sorority life members.

Arnold Bernhard Library – The library is named for Arnold Bernhard, the founder and former chief executive officer of Value Line, Inc. Bernhard's son made the library renovation project possible by donating $1 million for the library project and an additional $3 million for the University's endowment in 1997. The donation was the largest in University history. The signature clock tower was replaced during the renovation which changed the icon of the school, which was a futuristic looking rocket ship spire, to a more conservative, modern tower. The Computer Help Desk has recently been relocated to the library. The Learning Center, renamed the Learning Commons, which includes a student tutoring program to help fellow peers in a variety of subjects is located here.

Ed McMahon Mass Communications Center – Named for the television announcer/sidekick, who was a long-term financial supporter of school,[28] the center is a media production facility equipped with up-to-date technology for hands-on training in all aspects of radio, television, journalism and multimedia production. The HDTV studio provides students with a professional environment for creating quality television programming.

Clarice L. Buckman Center and Theater - Commonly called "Buckman Center," the building houses a theater used for drama and music performances, classrooms, rehearsal space for theater students, as well as science laboratories.

Echlin Center – Echlin Center is home to the offices of undergraduate admissions, and financial aid. The Second floor houses faculty offices, and two programs in the School of Health Sciences; Athletic Training and Biomedical Science

Lender School of Business Center – Fully accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the longest standing, accrediting agency for business programs in the world. The School of Business was also included in the 2011 edition of Princeton Review's "Best 300 Business Schools" and in Bloomberg Businessweek's "Top 100 Undergraduate Business Schools" for 2011. Quinnipiac has the added distinction of being ranked first among northern universities with master's degree programs as having made the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, campus or facilities. The ranking appeared in U.S. News & World Report's annual America's Best Colleges issue.

Tator Hall – Part of the Student Center and has multiple classrooms and labs, including the new Department of Engineering classrooms.

The Dean Robert W. Evans College of Arts and Sciences Center - Commonly called "The College of Arts and Sciences" or "CAS," the center is composed of three separate building surrounding a quad. CAS 1 and CAS 3 are both three floors and contain classrooms, seminar rooms, and faculty offices. CAS 2 houses classrooms, offices, rehearsal space, as well as a black box theater for drama productions.

Athletics

The Quinnipiac Bobcats, previously the Quinnipiac Braves, comprise the school's athletic teams. They play in NCAA Division I in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, except for the men's and women's ice hockey teams, which are part of ECAC Hockey, and the women's field hockey team, which will join the Big East Conference starting with the upcoming 2016 season.[29]

There are seven men's varsity sports and 14 women's varsity sports.[30] There is no football team.[30]

The team with the largest following on campus and in the area is the men's ice hockey team under established coach Rand Pecknold,[31] which has been nationally ranked at times; during the 2009–2010 season they entered the top ten of the national polls for the first time.[32] The team was the number-one nationally ranked hockey program for parts of the 2012-2013 season, reaching the Frozen Four for the first time in the program's history. They advanced to the national championship, ultimately falling to rival Yale.

The Quinnipiac women's ice hockey program had their most successful season in the 2009–10 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season. Quinnipiac University added a women's golf and women's rugby team in the 2010–11 academic year.[30]

Tricia Fabbri, head coach women's basketball

In the late 2000s the men's basketball team gained a greater following than before under new head coach Tom Moore, a disciple of UConn Huskies men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun.[31] Both men's and women's ice hockey and basketball teams play at the $52 million, 2007-opened TD Bank Sports Center.[31] The women's lacrosse team has also been quite strong. The athletics program has been under pressures common to other universities, and at the close of the 2008–2009 academic year, men's golf, men's outdoor track and women's volleyball were dropped as a cost-cutting measure, although the last of these was restored (as a result of a Title IX suit[33]).

Title IX discrimination case

On July 21, 2010, a federal judge ruled that Quinnipiac violated Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to provide equal treatment to women's athletic teams. The judge, Stefan Underhill, determined that Quinnipiac's decision to eliminate the women's volleyball team as well as its attempt to treat cheerleading as a competitive sport and its manipulation of reporting with regard to the numbers of male and female athletes amounted to unlawful discrimination against female students. Underhill ruled competitive cheerleading is currently too underdeveloped and unorganized and then ordered that the school maintain its volleyball program for the 2010-11 season.[34][35]

Student journalism controversy

Quinnipiac has been at the center of controversy over the university's control over student publications and students' speech. The conflict has drawn national attention.

The problems began in the Fall 2007 semester, when junior Jason Braff, then editor of the Quinnipiac Chronicle, the official newspaper of the school, openly criticized a university policy that forbade the Chronicle from publishing news online before the content was published in the weekly print edition. Braff wrote an editorial about the policy and also gave an interview to the local Waterbury paper, Republican-American criticizing it. Manuel Carreiro, Quinnipiac's vice president and dean of students, then sent a letter to Braff in November, telling him that his public disagreement with school policies "will seriously place your position and organization at risk with the university." Braff received an $8,000 annual stipend for his position, and the university said that its employees have more of a responsibility than other students to uphold policies. But Lynn Bushnell, QU's vice president for public affairs, denied threatening to fire Braff for disagreeing with school policies. Braff and the Chronicle staff were also openly critical of a public relations policy requiring all news media inquiries and questions (including those from the Chronicle) for administrators to be sent, via e-mail, to the university's public relations department.[36]

Quinnipiac officials agreed to discuss the policies with students, and eventually decided that making the Chronicle independent from the university would be the best idea. The school set forth a plan of action, which included the university appointing editors for the 2008–2009 academic year. Angry with this plan, Braff and other staff agreed to leave the Chronicle at the end of the spring 2008 semester, and all applicants for the editor positions withdrew their applications.

Former Chronicle staffers came back in Fall 2008 with Quad News, an independent newspaper with only a website and no print edition. Plans are to incorporate Quad News as its own business venture run on advertising revenue. Quad News immediately faced opposition from the university. Staffers learned in September that university officials had instructed all varsity coaches, staff and athletes not to speak to Quad News reporters. Shortly after, officials threatened to shut down the university's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), claiming that they violated school policy by using their meetings as a cover for Quad News meetings. The Quad News staff had used two SPJ meetings to meet,[37] after the university took away Quad News meeting reservation, citing the fact that the organization was not a university-recognized club. Quad News promptly stopped their meetings with SPJ.[38] The move prompted a public letter from national SPJ leaders, expressing concern over the university's actions. Both staffs recognize the other publication as legitimate and have wished each other luck in their friendly competition.[39]

Notable alumni

Accolades

References

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  2. As of June 30, 2014. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2013 to FY 2014" (PDF). National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund Institute. 2015.
  3. "Quinnipiac University Graphic Standards Manual 2014" (PDF). Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  4. "PMS Color Chart". Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  5. "Schools". NCAA.com. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  6. 1 2 3 "Catalog for Day and Evening Divisions, 1946–1947" (PDF). The Junior College of Commerce. 1946. p. 14.
  7. Quinnipiac University. "Quinnipiac University | Best Health School | US News". Grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  8. Archived July 21, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Archived January 29, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Archived February 20, 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Ireland's Great Hunger Museum, Quinnipiac University, 2012, retrieved 2013-04-28
  12. Flaherty, Colleen (2014-05-14). "Jobless in Two Days". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2014-05-14.
  13. "York Hill Campus Expansion | New York Construction | McGraw-Hill Construction". New York Construction. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  14. "School Colors: Green and Greener". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  15. Archived May 17, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  16. "School of Medicine | Quinnipiac University Connecticut". Quinnipiac.edu. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  17. "Quinnipiac University | Best College | US News". Colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  18. "Who Studies at Quinnipiac? | Quinnipiac University Connecticut". Quinnipiac.edu. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 Lapidos, Juliet (2008-10-16). "What's With All the "Quinnipiac University" Polls? How an obscure school in Connecticut turned into a major opinion research center.". Slate.
  20. "Polls: Menendez Leads Kean in N.J. Race". The Washington Post. 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  21. "Poll: Lieberman Leads Challenger Lamont in Connecticut Senate Race". Fox News. 2006-08-17.
  22. Kapochunas, Rachel (2007-07-13). "Poll Tests ‘New York-New York-New York' Race in Ohio". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  23. Jeremy Diamond (2015-02-03). "Poll: Clinton sweeps GOP foes save Bush tie in Florida". CNN. Retrieved 2015-04-06.
  24. "Obama leads in four battleground states: poll". Reuters. 2008-06-26.
  25. Silver, Nate (2008-05-28). "Pollster Ratings". Fivethirtyeight.com. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  26. "Verification | Quinnipiac University Connecticut". Quinnipiac.edu. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  27. "'Tonight Show' sidekick Ed McMahon dies at 86". Nhregister.com. 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  28. "BIG EAST Adds Liberty, Quinnipiac For Field Hockey" (Press release). Big East Conference. December 8, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  29. 1 2 3 QuinnipiacBobcats.com. "Quinnipiac University's Official Athletics Site". Quinnipiac University. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  30. 1 2 3 Weinreb, Michael (2007-12-26). "New Quinnipiac Coach Is Expected to Build a Winner". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  31. QuinnipiacBobcats.com (November 23, 2009). "Men's Ice Hockey Ranked In Top 10 Nationally For First Time In Program History" (Press release). Quinnipiac University.
  32. Archived July 24, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  33. "A Title IX decision that discounts competitive cheerleading as a sport at Quinnipiac University is strong evidence that it's time to change the law". Sports.espn.go.com. 2010-07-27. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  34. "QUINNIPIAC TITLE IX CASE: School must maintain women's volleyball program (document)". Nhregister.com. 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  35. Holtz, Jeff (2007-12-02). "A Student Editor Finds Himself at the Center of the News". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  36. Archived October 19, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  37. "The Quinnipiac Student Journalism Showdown". US News. 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  38. Hevesi, Dennis (2012-03-22). "Murray Lender, Who Gave All America a Taste of Bagels, Dies at 81". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  39. 1 2 "Student Organizations | Quinnipiac University Connecticut". Qu.edu. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  40. 1 2 "Best 380 Colleges 2016 | College Rankings". The Princeton Review. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  41. Archived April 8, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  42. "Schweitzer Institute Mailing List Request Response | Quinnipiac University Connecticut". Quinnipiac.edu. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  43. Archived August 14, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  44. "#9 Quinnipiac University". PC Magazine. 2006-12-20.
  45. "School of Law | Quinnipiac University Connecticut". Law.quinnipiac.edu. 2014-10-11. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  46. Archived August 2, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  47. Archived November 22, 2010 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Coordinates: 41°25′13″N 72°53′40″W / 41.42014°N 72.89454°W / 41.42014; -72.89454

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