University of Kansas

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The University of Kansas
Motto Videbo visionem hanc magnam quare non comburatur rubus (I will see this great vision in which the bush does not burn)
Established 1865
Type Public
Academic term Semester
Endowment US $1.049 billion (2006) [1]
Chancellor Robert Hemenway
Provost Richard Lariviere
Staff 5,500
Undergraduates 21,912
Postgraduates 5,963
Location Lawrence, Kansas, USA
Campus 1,000 acres (4 km²)
Yearbook Jayhawker Yearbook
Colors Crimson and Royal Blue           
Nickname Jayhawks
Website www.ku.edu

The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. The main campus resides atop Mount Oread. The University was founded in 1865 by the citizens of Lawrence under a charter from the Kansas Legislature. It also received assistance from former Kansas Governor Charles Robinson and his wife Sara, who donated 40 acres (160,000 m²) of Mount Oread land, and philanthropist Amos Adams Lawrence, who made sizable monetary donations.

The University's Medical Center and Hospital are located in Kansas City, Kansas. The KU Edwards Campus is in Overland Park, Kansas in the Kansas City metro area. There are also educational/research sites in Parsons, Topeka and a branch of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita.

Enrollment at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses was 25,106 students; an additional 2,769 students were enrolled at the KU Medical Center for a total enrollment of 27,875 students across the three campuses (Spring, 2007). The Lawrence campus and KU Medical Center combined employ 2,201 faculty members.[2][3]

KU is home to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, the Beach Center on Disability, and radio stations KANU and KJHK. Kansas Public Radio station KANU was one of the first public radio stations in the nation. KJHK, the campus radio has roots back to 1952 and is completely run by students. The university is host to several notable museums including the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, the KU Museum of Anthropology, and the Spencer Museum of Art. The University is one of 60 members of the prestigious Association of American Universities.

The chancellor of the University of Kansas is Robert Hemenway. He has served as chancellor since 1995. He has taken an active approach towards improving academics.

Contents

[edit] Academics

The University is a large state sponsored university. In addition to a large liberal arts college, it has schools of Allied Health, Architecture and Urban Design, Business, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Journalism and Mass Communication, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Welfare. (The study of academic sociology originated at the University in 1890.) The University also operates a selective Honors Program, with approximately 300 undergraduate students admitted each year, offering classes in many of these areas.

The most recent edition of Peterson's Guide to Competitive College calls KU "one of America's premier universities." For more than a decade, The Fiske Guide to Colleges has awarded KU a four-star rating for academics, social life, and overall quality of university life.

In 2007, U.S. News & World Report ranked KU as tied for 88th place in its ranking of the Best National Universities.[4] In 2006, the Report ranked Kansas as tied for 45th place in Public Universities. The Report surveys over 1,400 institutions of higher education in the United States.

[edit] Law School

Main article: University of Kansas School of Law

The University of Kansas School of Law, in Lawrence, Kansas, is the top law school in the state according to the 2008 U.S. News & World Report, which ranked the school 66th overall in its rankings of the best law schools.[5] Classes are held in Green Hall, which is named after former dean James Green.

[edit] Medical Center

The University of Kansas Medical Center, in Kansas City, Kansas, treats over 19,000 patients per year.[6] KU Med, as it is commonly known, is comprised of four basic schools: The KU School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Allied Health, and a second School of Graduate Studies. As of the Spring 2007 semester, there were 2,769 students enrolled at KU Med.[7] The Medical Center also offers third and fourth year students an opportunity to do rotations at the Wichita campus.

[edit] Edwards Campus

KU's Edwards Campus is in Overland Park, Kansas. Established in 1993, its goal is to provide adults with the opportunity to complete college degrees. About 2,100 students attend the Edwards Campus, with an average age of 32.[8] Programs available at the Edwards Campus include developmental psychology, public administration, social work, systems analysis, engineering management and design.

[edit] Notable faculty

[edit] Computing innovations

KU's B-School launched interdisciplinary management science graduate studies in operations research during Fall Semester 1965. This innovative program provided the foundation for decision science applications supporting NASA Project Apollo Command Capsule Recovery Operations.

KU's academic computing department was an active participant in setting up the Internet and is the developer of the seminal Lynx text based web browser. Lynx itself provided hypertext browsing and navigation prior to Tim Berners Lee's invention of HTTP and HTML.[18]

[edit] Student Activities

[edit] Athletics

Main article: Kansas Jayhawks

The school's sports teams, wearing crimson and royal blue, are called the Jayhawks. They participate in the NCAA's Division I (I-A for football) and in the Big 12 Conference. KU has won nine NCAA National Championships: two in men's basketball, three in men's indoor track and field, three in men's outdoor track and field, and one in men's cross country.

KU football dates from 1890, and has played in the Orange Bowl twice: 1948 and 1968. They are currently coached by Mark Mangino, who was hired in 2002. The team plays at Memorial Stadium, one of the oldest NCAA football stadiums west of the Mississippi River.

The KU men's basketball team, who have fielded a team every year since 1898, currently coached by Bill Self, is a perennial national contender, whose last national championship was in 1988. The basketball program the third winningest in college basketball history with an overall record of 1,905-781. The team plays at Allen Fieldhouse, one of the most historic basketball facilities in the NCAA. Kansas has counted among its coaches Dr. James Naismith (the inventor of basketball and only coach in Kansas history to have a losing record), Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Phog Allen ("the Father of basketball coaching"), Roy Willams of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and former world Champion Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown. In addition, legendary University of Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp played for KU's 1922 and 1923 Helms national championship teams and legendary University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith played for KU's 1952 NCAA championship team. Both Rupp and Smith played under Phog Allen.

In 2004, the KU Men's Bowling Team won the Intercollegiate Bowling Championships. The Women's Team placed 5th that same year.

Lew Perkins, previously at Connecticut, replaced Al Bohl as the university's athletic director in 2003. Under Perkins's administration, the department's budget has increased from $27.2 million in 2003 (10th in the conference) to $40.8 million (projected) in 2005 thanks in large part to money raised from a new priority seating policy at Allen Fieldhouse, a new $26.67 million eight-year contract with Adidas replacing an existing contract with Nike, and a new $40.2 million seven-year contract with ESPN Regional Television. The additional funds have brought improvements to the university, including:[19]

  • a Hall of Athletics addition to Allen Fieldhouse;
  • new offices and lounges for the women's basketball program;
  • a new scoreboard and batting facility for the baseball field;
  • a new $35 million football facility adjacent to Memorial Stadium.

[edit] Student publications

The school newspaper of the University of Kansas is The University Daily Kansan, which placed first in the Intercollegiate Writing Competition of the prestigious William Randolph Hearst Writing Foundation competition, often called "The Pulitzers of College Journalism" in 2007. The KU Department of English publishes the Coal City Review, an annual literary journal of prose, poetry, reviews and illustrations. The Review typically features the work of many writers, but periodically spotlights one author, as in the case of 2006 Nelson Poetry Book Award-winner Voyeur Poetry by Matthew Porubsky. [20] [21]

[edit] Distinguished alumni

[edit] Nobel laureates

[edit] Honorary alumni

[edit] Politics, government, and education

[edit] Media and the arts

[edit] Science and technology

[edit] Business

[edit] Sports

For athletes and coaches, see the relevant section in Kansas Jayhawks

[edit] Tuition and costs

The University of Kansas is repeatedly listed as one of the best buys in higher education by such publications as Kiplinger’s, the Fiske Guide to Colleges, Kaplan’s and the Princeton Review. Tuition at KU is 13 percent below the national average, according to the College Board, and the University remains a best buy in the region. Its 2004-05 in-state tuition and fees of $4,737 were lower than the University of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and most other public universities.

Beginning in the 2007-2008 academic year, first-time freshman at KU will pay a fixed tuition rate for 48 months according to the Four-Year Tuition Compact [22] passed by the Kansas Board of Regents. According to the compact, tuition will be $213 per credit hour for in-state freshman and $560 for out-of-state freshmen. For students who do not take part in the compact, current per-credit-hour tuition is $194.80 for in-state undergraduates and $511.70 for out-of-state undergraduates[23]; these rates are subject to annual increases. The schools of architecture, business, engineering, fine arts, journalism, law, and pharmacy charge additional fees.[24]

[edit] Gallery













[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ KU Endowment Annual Report. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
  2. ^ Kansas Board of Regents. Board of Regents Announces 2007 Spring Enrollment. Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  3. ^ KU at a Glance. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  4. ^ US News Ranking National Universities.
  5. ^ US News 2008 Ranking of Law Schools.
  6. ^ KU Medical Center. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
  7. ^ KU Medical Center Enrollment.
  8. ^ About KU Edwards Campus. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
  9. ^ John Bricke, Ph.D. Curriculum Vite.
  10. ^ KU Distinguished Professors: Stephen A. Epstein.
  11. ^ African and African American Studies.
  12. ^ KU Distinguished Professors: Don W. Green.
  13. ^ Knovel Library.
  14. ^ James Gunn Biography.
  15. ^ KU: Department of Classics.
  16. ^ TH&F Assoc. Professor Kevin Willmott.
  17. ^ C.S.A. The Movie Website.
  18. ^ Early Lynx. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
  19. ^ King, Jason. "Hawk Market", The Kansas City Star (June 11, 2006), pp. C1, C14.
  20. ^ "Poet well-versed in voyeurism" ~ Lawrence.com, December 2, 2006
  21. ^ 2006 Award Winner Reviews ~ Kansas Authors Club
  22. ^ Tuition at KU. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
  23. ^ 2007-2008 Tuition & Fees. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
  24. ^ Fall 2007 Special Rates. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.

[edit] Further reading

  • University of Kansas Traditions: The Jayhawk
  • Kirke Mechem, "The Mythical Jayhawk", Kansas Historical Quarterly XIII: 1 (February 1944), pp. 3–15. A tongue-in-cheek history and description of the Mythical Jayhawk.

[edit] External links

Official sites
General

Coordinates: 38°57′13″N, 95°15′36″W

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