University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Definition

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is a public coeducational university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the oldest and main campus of the University of Michigan, which also includes branches University of Michigan-Dearborn and University of Michigan-Flint. It usually referred to simply as the University of Michigan, UM, or U of M (which may also refer to the University of Minnesota, the University of Missouri, the University of Montana, and the University of Maryland).

History

The University of Michigan was established in 1817 by the Michigan Territorial legislature as one of the United States' first public universities on 1,920 acres (8 km²) of land ceded by the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi people "…for a college at Detroit." The school moved from Detroit to Ann Arbor in 1837, only 13 years after the latter city had been founded.

Academics

The University of Michigan boasts of one of the largest health care complexes in the world, one of the best university library systems in the country, and some of the best computer access for students and faculty of any campus in the world. Michigan's teaching and research staff is highly distinguished, including an astronaut, distinguished world authorities, Pulitzer Prize winners, internationally acclaimed performing artists and composers, Supreme Court Justices, and best-selling novelists, artists, and filmmakers. Michigan has more than 100 named endowed chairs. Most of its academic departments, graduate, and professional schools (including its law, medical, and business schools) are highly ranked. Furthermore, the university is the largest pre-law and pre-medicine university in the country and has the largest yearly research expenditure of any public university in the United States.

Founded in 1853, the College of Engineering extensively supports numerous engineering and science related degree programs. The Aerospace Engineering program at the University of Michigan was the nation's first in 1914 and maintains strong relationships with Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The College of Engineering is noted for its Solar Car team (http://www.umsolar.com)

The University of Michigan Health System includes C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, University Hospital, and Women's Hospital, as well as nearly 150 clinics and MCare, an HMO. The university opened the first university-owned hospital in the United States in 1869. The EKG, gastroscope, and Jonas Salk's polio vaccine were invented at the university.

The University is also home to the National Election Studies and one of the nation's most watched economic index, the University of Michigan's Consumer Confidence Index.

The students at the University of Michigan come from all 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. Almost 50 percent of undergraduates come from the top five percent of their graduating high school class and most are in the top tenth of their class.

In 2003 two lawsuits involving the school's affirmative action admissions policy reached the U.S. Supreme Court (Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger). President George W. Bush took the unusual step of publicly opposing the policy before the court issued a ruling, though the eventual ruling was mixed. In the first case, the court upheld the Law School admissions policy while in the second, it ruled against the university's undergraduate admissions policy.

Campus

The campus of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is composed of three main areas: North Campus, Central Campus and South Campus. North Campus contains most of the engineering facilities as well as the school of music and the school of art and architecture. The College of Literature, Science and the Arts occupies Central Campus, while South Campus supports mainly athletic programs. Central and North campuses differ notably in architecture; while the buildings in the former appear rather classical or gothic, the North Campus has a much more modern architectural look. Each campus' (except South) unique bell tower indicates this clearly. Ten of the buildings on Central Campus were designed by Detroit-based architect Albert Kahn between 1904 and 1936. The most notable of the Kahn-designed buildings are the prominent Burton Memorial Tower and nearby Hill Auditorium.

Athletics

Michigan has a huge rivalry with Ohio State, considered one of the biggest college rivalries in sports, especially in football. The game against Ohio State is almost always the last game of the regular season and has provided many memorable games, such as the "Snow Bowl" of 1950. Michigan also has a rivalry with Michigan State, and the schools compete for the Paul Bunyan Trophy on a regular basis. The Wolverines also have a long-standing rivalry with Minnesota; the two schools battle for the Little Brown Jug, a five-gallon jug with the respective schools' "M" on either side and the scores of previous games down the middle. The Little Brown Jug is the oldest trophy in Division 1-A football, first appearing in 1903. Finally, the University of Michigan has a long-standing rivalry with the University of Notre Dame. According to popular history, the Michigan football team taught the students of Notre Dame the game of football while spending the afternoon in South Bend, Indiana (location of N.D.) awaiting a train to the University of Chicago. This game usually takes place early in the season, and has seen both schools play competitive football.

The school fight song is "The Victors," and was declared by John Philip Sousa as "the greatest college fight song ever written." The School song is "The Yellow and Blue." A common rally cry at Michigan football games is "Go Blue."

Student government

Housed within the Michigan Union, the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) is the central student government of the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus. With representatives from each of the University's colleges and schools, the MSA represents the voice of students, and manages student funds on the campus. The Michigan Student Assembly is a member of the state-wide Association of Michigan Universities.

Within each college and school, there are also student governance bodies. These bodies represent the needs of their respective college or school.

The two largest colleges at the University of Michigan are the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LS&A) and the College of Engineering. Students in the LS&A are represented by the LS&A Student Government. The University of Michigan Engineering Council (UMEC) manages student government affairs for the College of Engineering.

Alumni

Famous alumni of the University of Michigan include:

• Nancy Kassebaum Baker, former U.S. senator from Kansas.
• Selma Blair, actress.
• Louis Borders, co-founded Borders, with brother Tom.
• Tom Brady, football player and 2-time Super Bowl MVP
• Ann Coulter, conservative author and attorney, graduated from University of Michigan Law School in 1988.
• George Crumb, composer, completed his doctorate in music there in 1959
• Clarence Darrow, Leopold and Loeb lawyer, defense attorney for John T. Scopes
• Thomas Dewey, politician and presidential candidate.
• Thomas Dolan, 1996 (Atlanta) and 2000 (Sydney) Summer Olympics gold medalist and former world record holder in swimming.
• Tony Fadell, "father" of the Apple iPod.
• Gerald R. Ford, 38th U.S. president, studied economics and political science. He played center on two national-championship American football teams and was the team's most valuable player in 1934. He received his B. A. degree in 1935.
• Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt, Former United States House Minority Leader, graduate of UM Law School.
• David Alan Grier, actor.
• Cathy Guisewite, author, creator of Cathy comic strip
• Sanjay Gupta, CNN anchor, reporter and senior medical correspondent.
• Tom Harmon, football player and 1940 Heisman Trophy winner
• Robert Hayden, poet
• Tom Hayden, author of Port Huron Statement, member of Chicago Seven
• Karl G. Henize, astronaut.
• Desmond Howard, football player and 1991 Heisman Trophy winner. 1997 Super Bowl MVP.
• James Irwin, astronaut.
• James Earl Jones, actor.
• Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, founder of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
• Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems.
• Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber), earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Michigan in 1967.
• Lawrence Kasdan studied creative writing and won four Hopwood Awards
• Jack Kevorkian received a medical degree with a specialty in pathology in 1952
• Thomas and John Knoll, Co-Creators of Adobe Photoshop.
• Christine Lahti, actress.
• Lucy Liu, actress.
• Jack Lousma, astronaut.
• Madonna, singer and actress; attended only briefly; did not graduate.
• Strother Martin, actor, member of the diving team.
• William Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic.
• James McDivitt, astronaut.
• Arthur Miller, playwright, author of Death of a Salesman, The Crucible.
• Thomas Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza.
• Marvin Olasky, conservative pundit
• Larry Page, co-founder of Google Inc.
• Iggy Pop, rock star; did not graduate.
• Gilda Radner, actress / comedian.
• Claude E. Shannon, "father of information theory".
• Carole Simpson, ABC News correspondent.
• Samuel C. C. Ting, physicist, awarded Nobel Prize in 1976 for discovering the J/psi particle. Earned a Ph.D in physics in 1962.
• Chris Van Allsburg, author/illustrator.
• Charles Walgreen, founder of Walgreens drugstores.
• Mike Wallace, TV journalist, longtime host of 60 Minutes.
• Raoul Wallenberg, rescuer of Jews in World War II. Class of '35, Architecture
• Edward White, astronaut; first American to walk in space.
• Alfred Worden, astronaut
• Charles Woodson, football player and 1997 Heisman Trophy winner
• Al Montoya, hockey goalie sensation

External links

• Unversity of Michigan Home Page (http://www.umich.edu/)
• UM Alumni Association (http://alumni.umich.edu/)
• University of Michigan Athletics Site (http://www.mgoblue.com/)
• The Michigan Daily, independent student newspaper (http://www.michigandaily.com/)
• The Michigan Review, another independent student newspaper (http://www.michiganreview.com/)

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