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from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan
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History
The University of Michigan (U-M or "Michigan") was
established in Detroit on August 26, 1817 as the Catholepistemiad,
or University of Michigania, by the governor and judges of Michigan
Territory. Judge Augustus B. Woodward specifically invited The
Rev. John Monteith and Father Gabriel Richard, a Catholic priest, to
establish the institution. Monteith became its first President and Richard
was Vice President. Concurrently, Ann Arbor had set aside 40 acres in the
hopes of being selected as the state capital. But when Lansing was chosen
the city offered the land for a university. What would become the
university moved to
Ann Arbor in 1837 thanks to Governor Stevens T. Mason. The first
classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a sophomore,
taught by two professors. Eleven students graduated in the first
commencement in 1845.
James B. Angell, who served as the university's president from 1871 to
1909, aggressively expanded U-M's curriculum to include professional
studies in dentistry, architecture, engineering, government, and medicine.
U-M also became the first American university to use the
seminar
method of study. From 1900 to 1920, the university constructed many
new facilities, including buildings for the dental and pharmacy programs,
chemistry, natural sciences, Hill Auditorium, large hospital and library
complexes, and two residence halls. The university became a favored choice
for bright Jewish students from New York in the 1920s and 1930s, when the
Ivy League schools had quotas restricting the number of Jews to be
admitted and because of its high standards, U-M gained the nickname
"Harvard of the West." After the WWII, enrollment expanded rapidly
and by 1950, it reached 21,000. As the Cold War took hold, U-M
received numerous government grants for strategic research and helped to
develop peacetime uses for nuclear energy. During the 1980s and 1990s, the
university devoted substantial resources to renovating its massive
hospital complex and improving the academic facilities on the North
Campus.
Campus
The Ann Arbor campus is divided into four main areas: the
North, Central, Medical and South campuses. The physical infrastructure
includes more than 500 major buildings with a combined area of more than
34 million square feet or 781 acres (3.16 km2). The
Central and South Campus areas are contiguous, while the North Campus area
is separated from them, primarily by the Huron River. There is also leased
space in buildings scattered throughout the city, many occupied by
organizations affiliated with the University of Michigan Health System.
Organization
The University of Michigan consists of a flagship campus in
Ann Arbor, Michigan with two regional campuses in
Dearborn and
Flint. The Board of Regents, which governs the university and was
established by the Organic Act of March 18, 1837, consists of eight
members elected at large in biennial state elections for overlapping
eight-year terms. The principal executive officer of the university
is the President --
Mark Schlissel, M.D., Ph.D. who is the 14th and current president
since July 2014. There are thirteen
undergraduate schools and colleges. By enrollment, the three largest
undergraduate units are the
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the
College of Engineering, and the
Ross School of Business. At the graduate level, the
Rackham Graduate School serves as the central administrative unit of
graduate education. Professional degrees are conferred by the
Schools of
Public Health,
Dentistry,
Law,
Medicine, and Pharmacy. The
Medical School is partnered with the
University of Michigan Health System, which comprises the university's
three hospitals, dozens of outpatient clinics, and many centers for
medical care, research, and education.
Endowment
While the University of Michigan is a state university its
funding is partially through endowment and grants. As of June 30,
2015, U-M's financial endowment was valued at $10.26 billion. The
endowment is primarily used according to the donors' wishes, which include
the support of teaching and research.
Research
The university is one of the founding members (1900) of the
Association of American Universities. With over 6,200 faculty members,
73 of whom are members of the
National Academy and 471 of whom hold an endowed chair in their
discipline, the university manages one of the largest annual collegiate
research budgets of any university in the United States, totaling about $1
billion in 2009. The Medical School spent the most at over $445
million, while the College of Engineering was second at more than $160
million.
UM Medical School
adapted from
UM Medical School history
The University of Michigan Medical School
opened its doors in 1850 as the university's first professional school.
It was the first medical school in the
United States to own and operate its own hospital, among the
first major medical schools to admit women and the first major medical
school to teach science-based medicine.
It also introduced the modern medical curriculum and the first clinical
clerkships. The U-M Medical School consistently ranks in the top of all
medical schools in the country. It also ranks near the top among all
medical schools in terms of National
Institutes of Health research awards. And the
Medical School is in good company.
U-M’s College of Engineering, Law School, School of Business
Administration, School of Dentistry, College of Pharmacy, School of
Nursing, School of Public Health and School of Social Work all rank in the
top ten nationally.
Alumni
As of 2012, the university has almost
500,000 living alumni. More than 250 Michigan graduates have served
as legislators as either a United States Senator or as a Congressional
representative. U-M's contributions to aeronautics include aircraft
designer
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of Lockeed Skunk Works, and several astronauts including the all-U-M crews of
both
Gemini 4 and
Apollo
15. U-M counts among its matriculants twenty-one billionaires including Google co-founder
Larry Page. Several U-M graduates contributed greatly to the
field of computer science, including
Claude Shannon,
Edgar Codd,
Stephen Cook,
Frances E. Allen,
Michael Stonebraker and Photoshop creator
Thomas Knoll.
Nobel Laureates who graduated from the University of Michigan are
David Politzer,
Samuel C.C. Ting,
Jerome Karle,
Richard Smalley,
Marshall Nirenberg,
Stanley Cohen,
Thomas Huckle Weller,
Robert J. Shiller. Other U-M students include
Donald Kohn of the Federal Reserve System,
Martha Minow Dean of Harvard Law School,
Bill
Ayers,
Tom
Hayden,
Charles Moore,
Raoul Wallenberg,
Clarence Darrow,
William Mayo,
Ben Carson,
Tom
Brady,
Michael Phelps,
Madonna. The university claims the only alumni
association with a chapter on the moon, established in 1971 when the crew
of
Apollo 15 placed a charter plaque for a new U-M Alumni Association on
the lunar surface.
University of Michigan photos
Please mouse click on any of the thumbnail photos
below to see an enlargement
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