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University of Arkansas
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The University of Arkansas, often shortened to U of A or just UA, is a public co-educational land-grant university. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Founded as Arkansas Industrial University in 1871, its present name was adopted in 1899 and classes were first held in February 1872. It is noted for its strong architecture, agriculture (particularly poultry science), creative writing and business programs. It is also noted for the fact that University of Arkansas engineering students won the 2006 world championship for solar-powered boats.
The University of Arkansas recently completed its "Campaign for the 21st Century," in which the university raised more than $1 billion for the school, used in part to create a new Honors College and significantly increase the university's endowment.
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The University of Arkansas, often shortened to U of A or just UA, is a public co-educational land-grant university. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Founded as Arkansas Industrial University in 1871, its present name was adopted in 1899 and classes were first held in February 1872. It is noted for its strong architecture, agriculture (particularly poultry science), creative writing and business programs. It is also noted for the fact that University of Arkansas engineering students won the 2006 world championship for solar-powered boats.
The University of Arkansas recently completed its "Campaign for the 21st Century," in which the university raised more than $1 billion for the school, used in part to create a new Honors College and significantly increase the university's endowment. Among these gifts were the largest donation given to a business school at the time ($50 million), and the largest gift given to a public university in America ($300 million), both given by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.
Enrollment for the fall semester of 2008 was 19,194, with 3,192 (16.6%) being graduate students, and 398 being Law School students. The University campus comprises more than 130 buildings on , including the Inn at Carnall Hall, which serves as an on-campus hotel facility. Academic programs are in excess of 200. The ratio of students to faculty is 17:1.
History
The University of Arkansas was founded in 1871 on the site of a hilltop farm that overlooked the Ozark Mountains, giving it the nickname "The Hill".
The University was established under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862. The University's founding also satisfied the provision in the Arkansas Constitution of 1868 that the General Assembly was to "establish and maintain a State University."
Initially, to found the University, $130,000 was raised by the citizens of Washington County. This was in response to the competition created by the Arkansas General Assembly's Organic Act of 1871, providing for the "location, organization and maintenance of the Arkansas Industrial University with a normal department [i.e., teacher education] therein." Classes started in February 1872.
Completed in 1875, Old Main, a two-towered brick building designed in the Second Empire style, was the primary instructional and administrative building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its design was based on the plans for the main academic building at the University of Illinois, which has since burned down. However, the clock and bell towers were switched at Arkansas. The northern taller tower is the bell tower, and the southern shorter tower is the clock tower. One legend for the tower switch is that the taller tower was put to the north as a reminder of the Union victory during the Civil War. A second legend is that the contractor accidentally swapped the tower drawings after having had too much to drink. Although the southern tower was designed with clock faces, it never held a working clock until 2006. The bell tower has always had some type of chime, initially a bell that was rung on the hour by student volunteers. Electronic chimes were installed in 1959. In addition to the regular chimes of the clock, the university's Alma Mater plays at 5 p.m. every day. Old Main housed many of the earliest classes taught at the university, and has served as the offices of every college within the university during its history. Today, in addition to hosting classes, it contains the restored Giffels Auditorium and historic displays, as well as the administrative offices of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences.
The lawn at Old Main serves as an arboretum, with many of the trees native to the state of Arkansas found on the lawn. Sitting at the edge of the lawn is Spoofer's Stone, a place for couples to meet and pass notes. Students play soccer, cricket and touch football on the lawn's open green.
Beginning with the class of 1876, the names of students at University of Arkansas are inscribed in "Senior Walk" and wind across campus for more than five miles (2.5 miles of sidewalk). The sidewalk is one of a kind nationally. More recently, the names of all the recipients of honorary degrees were also added.
One of the more unusual structures at Arkansas is the Chi Omega Greek Theatre, a gift to the school by the national headquarters of the sorority. It marked the first time in the history of Greek letter social organizations that a national sorority had presented a memorial of its foundation to the institution where it was founded. Chi Omega was organized on April 5, 1895, at the University of Arkansas and is the mother (Psi) chapter of the national organization. The theater has been used for commencements, convocations, concerts, dramas and pep rallies. The largest crowd ever assembled there – upwards of 6,000, according to professor Walter J. Lemke – was for a concert by the Army Air Corps Band during World War II. From 1934 to 1991, the space under the stage was used for a rifle range by the Army ROTC.
The University of Arkansas became the first major Southern public university to admit an African-American student without litigation when Silas Hunt of Texarkana, an African American veteran of World War II, was admitted to the university's School of Law in 1948. Roy Wilkins, administrator of the NAACP, wrote in 1950 that Arkansas was the "very first of the Southern states to accept the new trend without fighting a delaying action or attempting to . . . limit, if not nullify, bare compliance." Today the School of Law continues to receive national awards and recognition for its high degree of diversity.
Vitamin E was co-discovered by UA Agricultural Chemistry Professor Barnett Sure (1920-51). Sure, along with fellow professor Marinus C. Kik (1927-67) made major advances in nutrition science during their long tenures at the University of Arkansas. Sure co-discovered vitamin E, and extended knowledge of how vitamin E, amino acids and B-vitamins function on reproduction and lactation. Kik developed the process for parboiling rice (a major agricultural crop in the state) to increase retention of vitamins and shorten cooking time. He documented benefits of adding fish and chicken to rice and grain diets to provide adequate protein for a growing world population. Sure and Kik were Agricultural Experiment Station scientists and professors in the UA Department of Agricultural Chemistry, which merged in 1964 with Home Economics, now the School of Human Environmental Sciences.
In the 1920s, Loy Barnett, an engineering graduate student at the University of Arkansas, set forth the principle of high-level Class B plate modulation for radio transmission and developed the technology that allowed small- and medium-size AM radio stations to flourish across the United States. Barnett later joined RCA and continued research on broadcast technology into the 1960s.
The most widely-implemented automated mail sorting equipment in the world–the Wide Area Bar Code Reader–was developed by the University of Arkansas' College of Engineering. A $50,000 grant from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to Professors Dwight F. Mix and J.E. Bass in 1989 began the research and development effort. By 1999, more than 15,000 University of Arkansas bar code readers were located in every major USPS facility, increasing the efficiency of processing 20 billion pieces of mail a year at a savings of $200 million. This R&D effort has spawned four additional electronic systems to help the USPS "read the mail."
During the 1980s, Professors Allen Hermann and Zhengzhi Sheng of the Department of Physics were in the vanguard of research in superconductivity: the phenomenon whereby Direct Current (DC) electricity, once started, can flow essentially forever. The Thallium-based material they discovered at Arkansas held the world's record for high temperature, 125K, for five years (1988-93) and drew international attention to the University. Their work led to numerous patents and a manufacturing agreement, as well as further advances in high-density electronics.
University of Arkansas plant pathologists George Templeton, Roy Smith (USDA), David TeBeest and graduate student Jim Daniels conducted research in the early 1970s that led to COLLEGO, the first biological herbicide for weed control in a field crop. Other UA scientists and students worked on the project that resulted in EPA registration of COLLEGO by Upjohn in 1982 for control of northern jointvetch in rice and soybeans. The work provided a model used worldwide to develop biological herbicides. Leadership in this area helped the U of A obtain grants from the USDA and others for construction of the Rosen Center for Alternative Pest Control.
Campuses and academic divisions
Altogether, there are eleven branches and three other units in the University of Arkansas System, including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and a branch campus in Pine Bluff. Other branch campuses are in Monticello, Little Rock, and Fort Smith. Additionally, the UA System includes two year or community college campuses in Hope, Batesville, De Queen, Morrilton, and the Phillips Community College in Helena-West Helena. Units also under the UA System include the Clinton School of Public Service, the Criminal Justice Institute, the Arkansas Archaeological Survey, and the Division of Agriculture. The University maintains the most advanced secondary educational institution in Arkansas, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The following degree-granting academic divisions are located on the Fayetteville campus:
The University of Arkansas is also the home for the Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium (SECAC), where the twelve member schools of the Southeastern Conferences pool resources to assist each other academically.
Sam Walton College of Business
The Sam M. Walton College of Business is funded by and named after the founder of Wal-Mart, it has its own special tuition (as of the 2007–2008 academic year, the tuition was $17.45 more than the other colleges), its own Career Development Center and its own college seal. The Sam Walton College of Business is among the top 25 undergraduate business schools at public universities and ranked in the top fifty graduate business schools at public universities in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal, and Bachelor's graduates make in excess of $43,000 in their first job after college
Campus
The University of Arkansas campus sweeps across hilltops on the western side of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Among the 130 buildings on the campus, 11 buildings have been added to the National Register of Historic Buildings.
The Fine Arts Complex was designed by Fayetteville native Edward Durell Stone, who also designed Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The buildings are indicative of Stone's idiosyncratic modern style which included patterns of ornament. The recently demolished campus apartment complex
Carlson Terrace was also designed by Stone.
All computers with internet access on the University's campus have IP addresses beginning with 130.184. Also, all non-residence hall telephone numbers begin with 479-575 and most postal addresses include the zip code 72701.
Sports
The mascot for the University of Arkansas is the Razorback, a type of wild boar, and Arkansas teams are often referred to as the Hogs (shortened version of Razorbacks). The school competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in Division I of the NCAA. No school in the SEC has more total national championships than Arkansas, and only 4 schools nationwide (UCLA, Southern Cal, Stanford, and Oklahoma State) have more national titles than the Razorbacks.
From 1971 through 2007, Arkansas had completely separate men's and women's athletic departments. On January 1, 2008, the two departments merged, leaving fellow SEC school Tennessee and Texas as the only remaining NCAA Division I schools with separate men's and women's athletic programs.
Football
The team plays its home games either at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, located on the University of Arkansas campus, or at War Memorial Stadium, located in Little Rock. The football program won nine SWC titles, three SEC Western Division titles, and won a national title in 1964. During a stretch between December 1963 and January 1966, the Razorbacks won 22 straight football games. On December 11, 2007, former Louisville and Atlanta Falcons head coach, Bobby Petrino accepted an offer to become the Razorbacks head coach for the 2008 season.
Men's Basketball
The men's basketball team head coach is John Pelphrey (previously at South Alabama). Dana Altman was hired on April 2, 2007 for the head coaching job but decided to return back to Creighton University the following day. Altman would have replaced Stan Heath who was fired on March 26, 2007. The Razorbacks play their home games in Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas campus. The team won the 1994 National Championship under coach Nolan Richardson, who was later dismissed by the University following a steady decline in the program and a 14-15 season. Richardson claimed publicly and in court proceedings to have been the subject of racial discrimination. A federal judge in Little Rock, as well as the US Court of Appeals in St. Louis, sided with the U of A.
The school has been to six Final Fours (1941, 1945, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1995) and was named as the eighth-best program in history by Street and Smith's magazine.
Baseball
catcher Ryan Cisterna hits a home run against Nebraska.]]
The baseball team, under Dave van Horn, reached the 2004 College World Series. They have made five trips to the College World Series (1979, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2004), going as far as the championship game. The team plays home games in Baum Stadium, which finished several major renovations in 2004. Baum was once recognized by Baseball America magazine as being the top collegiate ball park in America. The stadium has recently undergone expansion, including 20 new skyboxes (34 in all) and seats behind the bullpen in left field. On May 5, 2007, a stadium record 10,541 fans saw Arkansas defeat LSU 5-0. The weekend series drew 29,931, which is the SEC all-time attendance record for a three-game series.
Track and field
The most successful program in NCAA history, the Arkansas men's track and field teams, led by head coach John McDonnell are the most decorated teams in the athletics department. The program has won 42 national titles in Cross Country and Track & Field. One of its most famous stars is recent graduate Alistair Cragg who competed for Ireland at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. Other Olympians have included Michael Conley, Daniel Lincoln, and Matt Hemingway. The team has a home indoor track at the Randal Tyson Track Center and outdoor field at John McDonnell Field, which is under renovation and expansion, and will host the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships.
The University of Arkansas has the unique honor of having the world's fastest man, Tyson Gay, and the world's fastest woman , Veronica Campbell as alumni.
Women's Athletics
The women's teams at the University of Arkansas are also referred to as Razorbacks. There are 11 varsity women's sports: basketball, cross country, indoor and outdoor track, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, and volleyball. Among the most successful women's teams are volleyball, with 11 SEC Western Division titles; cross country with more SEC championships than any member institution; basketball with 17 postseason appearances in 30 years, including the 1998 NCAA Final Four; track and field with six SEC titles and the first back-to-back women's SEC triple crowns; and gymnastics nationally-ranked since the start of the program in 2002 with two (soon three) NCAA appearances. Sprinter Veronica Campbell was the first Razorback woman to win a gold medal in the Olympics, with marathoner Deena Kastor bringing home a bronze medal in 2004.
Traditions
Senior Walk
The names of University of Arkansas students, starting with the first senior class of 1876, are carved into one of the concrete walkways or sidewalks on campus. This tradition was started by the 1905 graduating class of students, who drew their names into the walkway in front of Old Main, the oldest building on campus. Following classes added their names for more than a decade and then the university took over responsibility for adding new classes, as well as adding the names of students who graduated prior to 1905. Through most of the 20th century, the names were impressed in wet cement using brass letters. As the campus grew, and the graduating classes got bigger, the operation became unduly time-consuming. In 1986, the university's physical plant developed a special machine called the "Senior Sand Hog" to engrave the thousands of names required each year. School superstition states that it is bad luck to step on the Class of 1900; additionally it is said that if one steps on the name of the first graduating class, you will never graduate from the University of Arkansas.
"Calling the Hogs"
Fans of the University of Arkansas have been "Calling the Hogs" since the 1920s. This tradition, which refers to the school's most popular cheer at sporting events, is said to have begun when a group of farmers attending a game began issuing hog calls to encourage a lagging Razorback football team. The encouragement worked and the attending crowd took notice of the farmers' calling. By the next game, a group of men had organized to cry "Wooo, Pig, Sooie". The call has since become the school's best-known cheer.
Alma Mater
The current version of the University of Arkansas Alma Mater was written in 1909 by Brodie Payne, an alumnus of the University of Arkansas. He submitted his song to an ongoing competition that was trying to find a song for the university and won first prize. Henry D. Tovey, who was the director of the Glee Club at that time, set the song to music. In 1931, the University College Song Association in New York reviewed a collection of 500 college tunes, and the University of Arkansas Alma Mater was judged to be one of the twenty-five best college songs of the United States.
It is a student custom to point towards Old Main at the end of the verse when the words "we sing unto you" are sung.
Alma Mater
Pure as the dawn on the brow of thy beauty
Watches thy soul from the mountains of God
Over the Fates of thy children departed
Far from the land where their footsteps have trod.
Beacon of hope in the ways dreary lighted;
Pride of our hearts that are loyal and true;
From those who adore unto one who adores us—
Mother of Mothers, we sing unto you.
We, with our faces turned high to the Eastward,
Proud of our place in the vanguard of Truth,
Will sing unto thee a new song of thanksgiving—
Honor to God and the Springtime of Youth.
Shout of the victor or tear of the vanquished;
Sunshine or tempest thy heart is e'er true;
Pride of the Hills and the white-laden Lowlands—
Mother of Mothers, we kneel unto you.
Ever the Legions of Sin will assail us,
Ever the Battle in Cities afar;
Still in the depths will thy Spirit eternal
Beckon us on like a piloting Star.
Down in dim years do thy dead children call thee,
Wafted to Sleep while the Springtime was new;
We, of the Present, thy hope of the Future—
Mother of Mothers, we pray unto you.
Fight Song
The current version of the University of Arkansas Fight Song was written in the late 1920s. The fight song is usually played at all home Razorback sporting events.
Arkansas Fight Song Lyrics
Hit that line! Hit that line! Keep on going,
Move that ball right down the field!
Give a cheer. Rah! Rah! Never fear. Rah! Rah!
Arkansas will never yield!
On your toes, Razorbacks, to the finish,
Carry on with all your might!
For it's A-A-A-R-K-A-N-S-A-S for Arkansas!
Fight! Fight! Fi-i-i-ght!
School Colors and Mascot
The school color of cardinal red (Pantone # 199) was chosen as the official school color by a vote of the student body in 1895. The two color choices were cardinal and heliotrope. White was added as a complementary color at a later date.
The University of Arkansas mascot has not always been the Razorbacks. From 1894, when the football program began, until 1910, the official mascot was the Cardinals to complement the school color of cardinal red. In 1909, according to school lore, the head football coach Hugo Bezdek gave a speech to a large group of students at the Fayetteville train station after returning from a victory over LSU in 1909 during an undefeated season. Coach Bezdek informed the crowd that his team had performed "like a wild band of Razorback hogs." Although students had begun referring to the team as the Razorbacks as early as 1907, Bezdek's statement popularized the use of Razorback for the team. The Razorback, which is characterized by a ridged back and tenacious wild fighting ability, had long been associated with the backwoods of Arkansas. The students loved the comparison, and the nickname became increasingly popular. In 1910, the student body voted to change the official university mascot from the Cardinal to the Razorback.
The live mascot tradition dates back to the 1960s and a number of hogs have represented Arkansas through the years. Tusk, a 380-pound Russian boar that closely resembles a wild razorback hog, is the current official live mascot. He resides on a local farm and leaves his home to attend all Arkansas home football games, and other select events.
Additionally, the University of Arkansas has a family of uniformed mascots. "Big Red", (also known as the "Fighting Razorback"), is the traditional mascot for the university and attends all athletic events. "Sue E" is the female hog and "Pork Chop" is the kid mascot. "Boss Hog" is a nine-foot inflatable mascot that joined the mascot family during the 1998-99 football season.
Razorback Marching Band
The Razorback Marching Band, one of the oldest collegiate bands in the United States, was formed in 1874 as the Cadet Corps Band as part of the military art department. The band participated in all the formalities of the Military Art Department, as well as playing for football games, pageants, and commencement exercises. In 1947, following a steady post World War II growth, the Cadet Corp Band was divided into the three current bands, a football band, a concert band, and an R.O.T.C. band. In 1956, the band adopted the name "Marching Razorbacks". In 2006 the Razorback marching band was awarded the highest honor bestowed upon a collegiate marching band, the Sudler Trophy.
Clubs and organizations on campus
There are 272 registered student organizations (RSOs) including special interest, religious, international and cultural organizations, honorary and professional service groups, and more.
Arkansas is home of UATV, a student-run television station. The university is also home to two radio stations: KUAF, a public radio station and NPR affiliate, and KXUA, an eclectic student-run station.
The University of Arkansas Press is known for publishing works on local and Southern history, including several by former President Jimmy Carter and the former national poet laureate Billy Collins.
Greek Life
Sororities
Fraternities
Professional and Honorary
Cultural
- Bangladesh Student Organization, University of Arkansas
Notable people
Pictures from Campus
See Also
External links
- , official athletics site
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