Encyclopedia
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational
research university located in
New Orleans,
Louisiana. Founded as a public medical college in 1834, the school grew into a full university and eventually privatized under the endowments of
Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb in the late 19th century.
Tulane is a major American research university. Particularly noted are its programs in
architecture, international development,
philosophy, political economy,
Latin American studies and
economics, as well as its graduate schools of
law,
business and
medicine.
Campuses
Tulane's
uptown campus, established in the 1890s, occupies over 110 acres , facing
St. Charles Avenue directly opposite Audubon Park. The rear of the uptown campus reaches South Claiborne Avenue, and it is divided by Freret Street.
Loyola University New Orleans is directly adjacent to Tulane, on the downriver side. The uptown campus is known for its many large
live oak trees and architecturally historic buildings.
Other locations include:
...
, which provides facilities for graduate training and research in computer science,
bioengineering, and
biology;
The
Louisiana Superdome, often informally referred to simply as the
Superdome,
The Dome or...
to Canal Street in 18 mid/high-rise buildings, which houses the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine;
- the satellite campuses of the School of Continuing Studies, Tulane's open admissions university college, located in downtown New Orleans and in Biloxi, Mississippi;
- Houston, Texas, Santiago, Chile, Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan where the business school offers an executive MBA program.
Organization
Tulane is organized into schools centered around liberal arts, sciences and certain professions:
...
- A.B. Freeman School of Business
- Law School
- School of Liberal Arts
- School of Medicine
- School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
- School of Science and Engineering
- School of Social Work
All undergraduate students are enrolled in the Newcomb-Tulane College. The graduate programs are governed by individual schools. Tulane also offers continuing education courses and associate's degrees through its School of Continuing Studies with continuing education.
Statistics
The following statistics reflect some of the changes at Tulane between 1998 and 2004:
- Undergraduate applications received annually more than doubled, growing from 7,780 to 17,548. Most recently, in fall 2006, the university received a record 21,000 undergraduate applications.
- The average SAT scores for incoming students rose from 1278 to 1347.
- Application acceptances lowered from 79% of applicants to 44%. In 2006, the acceptance rate was even lower, at 33%.
- Funding for research and development nearly doubled, from $68 million to $130 million.
- The National Institutes of Health funding ranking rose from 96 to 78.
In 2003, Tulane's graduation rate for student-athletes was 79%, ranking 14th among Division I athletic programs.
Tulane is one of North America's top research universities; its status confirmed by it being one of 60 elected members of the
Association of American Universities. Tulane also is designated as a Carnegie research university/very high research activity, the highest classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Tulane was ranked 44th in the nation among "National Universities" by
US News & World Report in 2007, although the ranking has been skewed due to Tulane's inability to complete the survey in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and US News' subsequent use of 2006's survey information.
In the
US News and World Reports Best Grad Schools Guide, published in April 2006, the Tulane School of Medicine ranked No. 50 among the nation's top research schools; the School of Law ranked No. 43, with a ranking of No. 7 for its environmental law program; and the A.B. Freeman School of Business ranked No. 49.
History
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. 1851, saw the establishment of an Academic Department, the forerunner of the College of Arts and Sciences.
It closed for three years during the
Civil War; after reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges.
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 , 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, the predecessor to the Graduate School. One year later, gifts from Josephine Louise Newcomb totalling 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.
In 1894 a College of Technology formed, the forerunner to the College of Engineering. In the same year the university moved to its present-day uptown campus on St. Charles Avenue,
five miles by streetcar from downtown.
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.
1925 saw the formal establishment of the Graduate School. Two years later, the University set up a School of Social Work.
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. In the Fall of 2006, the School of Public Health will admit undergraduate students.
The student-run radio station of the university, WTUL-FM, began broadcasting on campus in 1971.
In 1998, the student body of Tulane University voted by referendum to split the Associate Student Body Senate into two separate houses, the Undergraduate Student Government and the Graduate and Professional Student Association . 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.
USG and GAPSA come together twice as 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.
The
Jambalaya, Tulane's yearbook, published annually since 1897, published its last edition in 1995, due to 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.
In 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.
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 and founder of
Netscape, and David Filo, a graduate of its School of Engineering and co-founder of
Yahoo!. The gifts had particular significance, since Tulane had had one of the lowest endowments among the 62 members of the
Association of American Universities. In the months following Hurricane Katrina, restrictions were removed from these gifts to ensure the continued financial health of the university.
Effects of Hurricane Katrina
As a result of the storm and its effects in New Orleans, Tulane University saw its second closing—-the first being during the Civil War.
Tulane began to publicly respond to the arrival of
Hurricane Katrina on August 27, 2005, with an initial plan to close the university until September 1. The following day, that date was extended to "no earlier than" September 7. University officials led a rare evacuation of nearly 400 students to
Jackson State University, all of whom remained safe after the hurricane's passage and have returned to their homes if they are from outside the gulf coast region. This was the second time Tulane's evacuation plan had been used, the first being in September 2004 during
Hurricane Ivan. In other recent hurricanes such as
Georges in 1998, Tulane simply used its larger dorms as shelters for students.
On August 30, the university reported that "physical damage to the area, including Tulane's campuses, was extensive" and conditions in the city were continuing to deteriorate. Power was out, water levels were rising, all city roads were blocked, and the "vast majority of our workforce" had left the parish in response to the mayor's mandatory evacuation order. By September 1 only a core group of public safety and facilities personnel remained on campus. Tulane president Scott Cowen and an "emergency team" relocated to
Houston, Texas to coordinate planning for recovery. Tulane reported that security was being maintained on campus and that students' belongings were safe in the dormitories, which are intact.
After the storm, Tulane University Hospital & Clinic lost power and received some special needs patients from the
Louisiana Superdome. Within five days the hospital had been completely evacuated via boats and helicopters. On February 14, 2006 it was the first hospital to reopen in downtown New Orleans after the hurricane.
On September 2, President Cowen announced that the University would cancel classes for the fall semester.
The American Council on Education and the
Association of American Universities urged their member institutions to help displaced students from Tulane and the area's other universities. Dozens of universities made provisions to allow Tulane students to enroll as "provisional students" for the fall semester. When the university reopened in the spring, Tulane transfered credits earned by students elsewhere. To further help students graduate on schedule, Tulane offered two academic semesters between January and June 2006. A regular spring term began January 17, with a seven-week "Lagniappe Semester" which ran from May 15 through the end of June.
Tulane School of Medicine relocated its students and essential teaching staff to
Houston, Texas, and continued its fall semester at
Baylor College of Medicine. This was aided in part by the support of
Michael DeBakey, pioneering heart surgeon, graduate of Tulane School of Medicine and chancellor emeritus at Baylor College of Medicine. Students taking the basic science medical courses used the facilities at Baylor, while 3rd and 4th year students did clinical rotations in several of the nearby teaching hospitals located in Houston, Galveston, and Temple. Tulane attempted to keep the medical students together, and discouraged transfer, except in the most extenuating of circumstances. Students were able to request transfers, but many medical schools supported Tulane's attempts to retain their student body and thus their school, although some students were successful in their appeals to transfer. The School of Medicine's stay in Texas ended, with the students and faculty returning to New Orleans in July 2006.
2005-06 Renewal Plan
Facing a budget shortfall, the Board of Administrators announced a on December 8, 2005 to reduce its annual operating budget and create a "student-centric" campus. At the end of January 2006, the administration reported an estimated $90 to $125 million shortfall for the 2005-06 year. Tulane laid off about 2,000 part-time employees in September and October 2005, 243 non-teaching personnel in November 2005, 230 faculty members in December 2005, and another 200 employees in January 2006.
Under the
Renewal Plan, Tulane eliminated six undergraduate and graduate programs in the Engineering School: mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, environmental engineering, and computer science, and also a bachelor's degree in exercise science. The university cut 27 of its 45 doctoral programs and suspended eight
NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic programs.
For spring 2006 the administration reported that "85 percent of all students" returned. By keeping the school smaller, officials said they will not have to lower admission standards.
The university
Renewal Plan created a single undergraduate
Newcomb-Tulane College in July 2006, discontinuing Tulane's liberal arts and sciences coordinate college system, comprised of Tulane College and the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College . On March 16, 2006, the board announced establishment of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute as an academic center "to enhance women's education at the university."
Critics of the
Renewal Plan charge the school administration of using Katrina as the excuse to push an agenda that would otherwise have been difficult to accomplish.
In response to cutting several engineering degree programs, students, faculty, and alumni started the campaign to reinstate the five engineering majors and the separate school. The expressed concern at the lack of meaningful faculty involvement in crafting the
Renewal Plan, as did many students.
Athletics
Tulane is a member of
Conference USA in athletics and fields
NCAA Division I teams in several sports.
Notable alumni and faculty
- List of Tulane University people
Alma maters
Tulane Alma MaterWe praise thee for thy past, O Alma Mater!
Thy hand hath done its work full faithfully.
The incense of thy spirit has ascended
And filled America from sea to sea!
Olive Green and Blue! we love thee!
Pledge we now our fealty true
Where the trees are ever greenest,
Where the skies are purest blue.
Hear us now, O Tulane, hear us,
As we proudly sing to thee!
Take from us our hearts' devotion,
Thine we are and thine shall be!
Newcomb Alma MaterWhere stars arise in Southern skies
And loyal love in laughter lies,
O Newcomb fair, we bring to thee
Our hearts' allegiance, bold and free.
We bring to thee, where e'er shall be
The Star of our ascendency --
CHORUS
O Alma Mater, Stand we nigh,
Thy daughters lift Thy flag on high!
Tulane University in Television
- In Sex and the City, Mr. Big's fiance, Natasha, went to Tulane University as an undergraduate student.
- In Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Burke attended Tulane University.
References
External links
