The university was founded in 1817 in Detroit as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, about 20 years before the Michigan Territory officially became a state. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 onto 40 acres (16 ha) of what is now known as Central Campus. Since its establishment in Ann Arbor, the university has physically expanded to include more than 500 major buildings with a combined area of more than 29 million square feet (664 acres or 2.69 km²), and transformed its academic program from a strictly classical curriculum to one that includes science and research. During the 20th century and early 2000s, UM was the site of much student activism and was a focal point in the controversy over affirmative action within higher education admissions.
Reputation
Today, the university is a major research institution and is considered one of the original eight Public Ivies. In the most recent edition of World University Rankings, the university was ranked the 18th best university worldwide. Having graduated the largest number of living alumni at 460,000, the university is alma mater to the late U.S. President Gerald Ford and a number of heads of states around the world. UM owns the renowned University of Michigan Health System and has one of the largest research expenditures of any American university. Its athletic teams, called the Wolverines, are members of the Big Ten Conference and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The athletic program is known for its success in ice hockey and football, the latter of which plays in Michigan Stadium, the largest college football-only stadium in the world.
History
The University of Michigan was established in Detroit in 1817 as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, by the governor and judges of Michigan Territory. The Rev. John Monteith was one of the university's founders and its first President. Ann Arbor had set aside 40 acres (16 ha) that it hoped would become the site for a new state capitol, but it offered this land to the university when Lansing was chosen as the state capital. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. The original 40 acres (160,000 m2) became part of the current Central Campus. 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.
By 1866 enrollment increased to 1,205 students, many of whom were Civil War veterans, and women were first admitted in 1870. James B. Angell, who served as the university's president from 1871 to 1909, aggressively expanded UM's curriculum to include professional studies in dentistry, architecture, engineering, government, and medicine. UM also became the first American university to use the seminar method of study.
During World War II, UM's research grew to include U.S. Navy projects such as proximity fuzes, PT boats, and radar jamming. By 1950, enrollment had reached 21,000, of whom 7,700 were veterans supported by the G.I. Bill. As the Cold War and the Space Race took hold, UM became a major recipient of government grants for strategic research and helped to develop peacetime uses for nuclear energy. At present, much of that work, as well as research into alternative energy sources, is pursued via the Memorial Phoenix Project.
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 29 million square feet (664 acres or 2.69 km²). The Central and South Campus areas are contiguous, while the North Campus area is separated from them, primarily by the Huron River. There are also leased space in buildings scattered throughout the city, many occupied by organizations affiliated with the University of Michigan Health System. An East Medical Campus has recently been developed on Plymouth Road, with several university-owned buildings for outpatient care, diagnostics, and outpatient surgery.
Academics
With more than 70% of UM's 200 major programs, departments, and schools ranked in the top 10 in the United States, UM's academic reputation has led to its inclusion on Richard Moll's list of Public Ivies. The university routinely has led in the number of Fulbright Scholars in the late 1990s and 2000s, and has also matriculated 26 Rhodes Scholars.
A concern about academics at UM is the high level of educational expenses for a public institution, especially for out-of-state undergraduate students, who pay between US $31,301 and $36,352 annually for tuition alone. In 2005, out-of-state tuition at UM was the most expensive in the United States for a public college or university. Conversely, in-state undergraduate students paid between US $10,447 and $14,442 annually. Notwithstanding the quoted tuition levels, the university is attempting to increase financial aid availability to students. To that end, the university has built, as part of its larger university campaign, a greater than $1.4 billion endowment in order to support aid to students.
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 451 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 $775 million per annum from 2004 to 2005, and $797 million in 2006, $823 million as of year end 2007, and $876 million as of the academic year 2007/8. The Medical School spent the most at over US $333 million, while the College of Engineering was second at more than $131 million. UM also has a technology transfer office, which is the university conduit between laboratory research and corporate commercialization interests.
The UM library system comprises 19 individual libraries with 24 separate collections—roughly 8.27 million volumes, growing at the rate of 177,000 volumes a year. UM was the original home of the JSTOR database, which contains about 750,000 digitized pages from the entire pre-1990 backfile of ten journals of history and economics. The university recently initiated a book digitization program in collaboration with Google. As of August 31, 2006, UM has rolled out the first phase of the Google archive retrieval.
UM recently joined the Michigan State University and Wayne State University to create the University Research Corridor. This effort was undertaken to highlight the capabilities of the state's three leading research institutions and drive the transformation of Michigan's economy.
Schools, Colleges, & Departments
Architecture & Urban Planning
Art & Design
Business
Dentistry
Education
Engineering
Graduate Studies, Rackham School of
Information, School of
Kinesiology
Law
Literature, Science, and the Arts
Medicine
Music, Theatre & Dance
Natural Resources & Environment
Nursing
Officer Education Programs
Pharmacy
Public Health
Public Policy
Social Work
University of Michigan was ranked 18th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
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