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Tulane University
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Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. 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.
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Encyclopedia
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. 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. In 1958 the university was elected to the Association of American Universities, an organization of leading research universities. Satellite campuses of its continuing education and MBA programs are located in Elmwood, LA; Covington, LA; Biloxi, MS; and Houston, TX.
History
Founding and early history – 19th century
The university dates from 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana. With the addition of a law department, it became The University of Louisiana in 1847, a public university. In 1851 the university established an "Academic Department."
The university closed for three years during the American Civil War. After reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges because of an extended agricultural depression in the South which affected all of the economy. 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. 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 Pembroke College and Barnard College.
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.
20th century
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.
In 1914, Tulane established a College of Commerce, the first business school in the South. In 1925 Tulane created the Graduate School. Two years later, the university set up a School of Social Work, the first in the Deep South.
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. 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, 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.
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!.
A record 34,000 students applied for admission to Tulane's class of 2012. The average SAT score of the class was 1365, marking a rise of approximately 30 points above the average of the class of 2011. In December 2008, the Tulane admissions office reported that, as of the Thanksgiving holidays, it had received more than 32,800 applications for the class of 2013, almost equaling the 34,000 received last year for the entire admissions period running through mid-January. Consequently, the admissions office expects the class of 2013 to be the strongest in the university's history, with an average SAT score approaching 1400.
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
As a result of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and its damaging 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 Houston, Texas for a year. Aside from student athletes attending college classes together on the same campuses, 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.
In 2009, democratic political analyst James Carville joined the faculty of Political Science and began teaching a course on a competitive application basis.
Notable firsts
- 1850 – J. Lawrence Smith invented the inverted microscope.
- 1851 – John L. Riddell invented the first practical microscope to allow binocular viewing through a single objective lens.
- 1884 – Tulane University reconfigures from a public institution to a private university. Tulane is the only school in the country to make this type of transfer (public to private).
- 1912 – Tulane School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is established, which became the first School of Public Health in the U.S.
- 1990 – Tulane becomes the first law school in the United States to mandate pro bono work as a graduation requirement.
- 2001 – The Tulane Center for Gene Therapy started as the first major center in the U.S. to focus on research using adult stem cells.
- 2006 – Tulane is the first Carnegie ranked “high research activity” institution to have an undergraduate public service graduation requirement.
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 the university president. See the complete, up-to-date .
There have been 14 presidents of Tulane since the establishment of the Tulane Education Fund in 1884.
Campuses
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 . 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. 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.
Other facilities of Tulane include:
- Tulane University Health Sciences campus, located in the downtown New Orleans Central Business District between the Louisiana Superdome and Canal Street in 18 mid/high-rise buildings, which houses the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and the main campus of the Tulane Medical Center;
- Tulane University Square, of space and of surrounding land, is located on Broadway and Leake Avenue adjacent to the Mississippi River.
- Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington, La., one of eight such centers funded by the National Institutes of Health;
- F. Edward Hebert Research Center, near Belle Chasse, La., which provides facilities for graduate training and research in computer science, bioengineering, and biology;
- Satellite campuses of the School of Continuing Studies, Tulane's open admissions university college, located in downtown New Orleans, Elmwood and in Biloxi, Ms.;
- Houston, Santiago, Chile, Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan where the business school offers an executive MBA program. Tulane also has signed an educational affiliation agreement with International University in Geneva.
Planned improvements
In late November 2008, the university announced that donors are funding the elimination of the street that runs through the middle of the Uptown New Orleans campus in an effort to transform the core of the campus "into a vibrant, pedestrian environment." The street will be replaced with a crushed-granite surface adorned with Japanese magnolias and irises. The project is scheduled for completion in October 2009. Coincidentally, in late November 2008 the City of New Orleans announced plans to add bicycle lanes to the St. Charles Avenue corridor that runs in front of campus.
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. Intitially 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.
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 17nd nationally and 24th internationally by AméricaEconomía magazine (August 2008). Its finance program was ranked 10th in the world by the Financial Times. The school ranked 13th nationally for entrepreneurship by Entrepreneur magazine (October 2006).
Law School
The Tulane University Law School, established in 1847, is the 12th oldest law school in the United States.
US News & World Reports 2009 edition ranked the School of Law 44th overall and 12th in environmental law.
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.
Gourman Report. Tulane's Department of Spanish and Portuguese is ranked second nationally.
- According to the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, Tulane's French program was ranked 6th in the country. This index ranks departmental faculty at research universities based on their awards, grants, and publications.
School of Medicine
The Tulane University 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 at 55th.
School of Public Health
The Tulane University 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 Reports 2007 edition ranked the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 13th among public health programs.
School of Science and Engineering
The Tulane University 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 Tulane University 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 the Tulane 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 twoclass 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 Advanced Placement (AP) exams or International Baccalaureate (IB) course credits, 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.
Tulane was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1958. Tulane also is designated by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with "very high research activity."
For 2007, Tulane reached the highest level of research funding in its history, exceeding $157.5 million. 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. The National Institutes of Health ranks funding to Tulane at 79th.
Rankings
Overall university rankings and ratings include:
- One of 195 U.S. universities recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching with a "community engagement" classification.
- US News & World Reports 2009 edition ranked Tulane's overall undergraduate program 51st among "national universities."
- Tulane is ranked 32nd nationally by Forbes magazine in a study conducted by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.
- Tulane holds four ratings from The Princeton Review: Great College Towns, Best in the Southeast, College With a Conscience, and Happiest Students.
- In Kaplan/Newsweek's 2008 edition, Tulane was again rated among the "hottest" schools in the nation.
Admission statistics
- 2009 undergraduate applications: 40,000
- 2009 freshman class size: 1,400
- SAT scores (middle 50%): 1880–2150
- ACT scores (middle 50%): 28–32
- Average SAT/ACT: 1365/31
- Acceptance rate: 27%
- 75% of Tulane's student body comes from more than away.
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 50 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.
Notable recipients include Sean M. Berkowitz, David Filo and Eric R. Palmer.
Scholar statistics
- Fulbright Scholars: 29
- Rhodes Scholars: 17
- Marshall Scholars: 23
- Goldwater Scholars: 27
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.
Tulane maintains 3,350 beds in 12 residence halls on its uptown campus for undergraduate students. Per the Renewal Plan instituted after Hurricane Katrina, Tulane requires all freshmen and sophomores to live on campus. Since freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus, housing is not guaranteed for juniors and seniors and options are very limited. Most upperclass students choose to move off campus instead of trying to secure housing on campus.
Athletics
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. 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, swimming, 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
Tulane is home to many outstanding alumni, who have contributed to 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. Five U.S. Supreme Court Justices have taught at Tulane, including Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Currently on the faculty are James Carville and Nick Spitzer.
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).
Notable alumni
Tulane 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. Also the uptown campus has been host to two movie premieres from 2006 to 2007.
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