The University of Texas at Austin (also referred to as the University of Texas, UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university located in Austin, Texas, United States, and is the flagship institution of The University of Texas System. The main campus is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Texas State Capitol. UT Austin was named one of the original eight Public Ivy institutions. Founded in 1883, the university has had the fifth-largest single-campus enrollment in the nation as of fall 2007 (and had the largest enrollment in the country from 1997–2003), with over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 16,500 faculty and staff. It currently holds the largest enrollment of all colleges in the state of Texas.
The university operates various auxiliary facilities aside from the main campus, including the J. J. Pickle Research Campus. UT Austin is a major center for academic research, annually exceeding $400 million in funding. In addition, the university's athletic programs were recognized by Sports Illustrated as "America's Best Sports College" in 2002.
History
The first mention of a public university in Texas can be traced to the 1827 constitution for the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. Although an article promised to establish public education in the arts and sciences, no action was ever taken by the Mexican government. After Texas obtained its independence from Mexico in 1836, the Congress of Texas adopted the Constitution of the Republic, which included a provision to establish public education in republic, including two universities or colleges. On January 26, 1839, the Congress of Texas agreed to eventually set aside fifty leagues of land towards the effort; in addition, 40 acres (160,000 m2) in the new capital of Austin were reserved and designated "College Hill."
In 1846, Texas was annexed into the United States. The state legislature passed the Act of 1858, which set aside $100,000 in United States bonds towards construction of a university. In addition, the legislature designated land, previously reserved for the encouragement of railroad construction, toward the universities' fifty leagues. However, Texas's secession from the Union and the American Civil War prevented further action on these plans.
After the war, the 1862 Morrill Act facilitated the creation of Texas A&M University, which was established in 1876 as the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas. The Texas Constitution of 1876 mandated that the state establish a university "at an early day," calling for the creation of a "university of the first class", styled "The University of Texas." It revoked the endowment of the railroad lands of the Act of 1858 but appropriated 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2) in West Texas. In 1883, another two million were granted, with income from the sale of land and grazing rights going to The University of Texas and Texas A&M.
The first presidential library on a university campus was dedicated on May 22, 1971 with former President Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson and then-President Richard Nixon in attendance. Constructed on the eastern side of the main campus, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum is one of twelve presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration.
UT has experienced a wave of new construction recently with several significant buildings. On April 30, 2006, UT opened a new 155,000-square-foot (14,400 m2) facility on the university's campus named the Blanton Museum of Art. The museum is the largest university art museum in the United States and is home to more than 17,000 works from Europe, the United States and Latin America. In August, 2008, the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center opened for conferences, seminars and continuing and executive education programs. The hotel and conference is part of a new gateway to the university extending the South Mall. Later the same month, after three-years of renovations were completed, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium became the largest stadium by capacity in the state of Texas. In addition to numerous improvements, DKR now seats 94,113 from the previous 85,123.
Campus
UT property totals 850 acres (340 ha), comprised of the 350 acres (140 ha) for the main campus and other land for the J. J. Pickle Research Campus in north Austin and the other properties throughout Texas.
One of the university's most visible features is the Beaux-Arts Main Building, including a 307-foot (94 m) tower designed by Paul Philippe Cret. Completed in 1937, the Main Building is located in the middle of campus. The tower usually appears illuminated in white light in the evening but is lit orange for various special occasions, including athletic victories and academic accomplishments; it is conversely darkened for solemn occasions. At the top of the tower is a carillon of 56 bells, the largest in Texas. Songs are played on weekdays by resident carillonneur Tom Anderson, in addition to the usual pealing of Westminster Quarters every quarter hour between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. The tower went through a few periods of being closed to the public (due to the 1966 Whitman Massacre and multiple suicide jumps); however, in 1998, after the installation of security and safety measures, the observation deck reopened to the public indefinitely for weekend tours.
Museums and Libraries
The university is home to 7 museums and 17 libraries, which hold over eight million volumes. The holdings of the university's Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center include one of only 21 remaining complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible and the first permanent photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras, taken by Nicéphore Niépce. The newest museum, the Blanton Museum of Art, opened in April 2006 and hosts approximately 17,000 works from Europe, the United States, and Latin America.
Academic Reputation
In 2004, the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) ranked UT as the 15th best school in the world. The only public American school to rank ahead was University of California, Berkeley. More recently, UT Austin placed 70th and 51st in the THES rankings in 2008 and 2007, respectively.
The university has ranked #12 among public schools (U.S. News & World Report, 2008), #19 nationally (The Washington Monthly, 2007), and #38 in an academic ranking of world universities (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2007). Seven UT Austin doctoral programs ranked in the top 10 in the nation for 2008, with 22 departments also in the top 25.
The McCombs School of Business was ranked first in undergraduate and graduate accounting programs, the #3 undergraduate and graduate MIS programs, the #2 undergraduate marketing program, the #4 management research productivity, the #10 overall-undergraduate business program (#3 among public universities), and the #18 (full-time) MBA program. A 2005 Bloomberg survey also ranked the school #5 among all business schools and #1 among public business schools for the largest number of alumni who are S&P 500 CEOs. Similarly, a 2005 USA Today report ranked the university as "the number one source of new Fortune 1000 CEOs".
While UT Austin does not have a medical school, it houses medical programs associated with other campuses and allied health professional programs, which has contributed to the College of Pharmacy's #2 2008 national ranking by U.S. News and World Report. Other programs highly ranked by U.S. News and World Report include the #10 College of Education, the #10 Cockrell School of Engineering, and the #15 School of Law. Additionally, the university's library system—its main campus library the Perry-Castañeda Library—ranks #6 among academic libraries in the nation.
Endowment
The university has an endowment of $7.2 billion, out of the $16.11 billion (according to 2008 estimates) available to the University of Texas. This figure reflects the fact that UT Austin has the largest endowment of any public university in the nation.
30% of the university's endowment comes from Permanent University Fund (PUF), with nearly $15 billion in assets as of 2007. Proceeds from lands appropriated in 1839 and 1876, as well as oil monies, comprise the majority of PUF. At one time, the PUF was the chief source of income for Texas's two university systems, The University of Texas System and the Texas A&M University System; today, however, its revenues account for less than 10 percent of the universities' annual budgets. This has challenged the universities to increase sponsored research and private donations. Privately funded endowments contribute over $2 billion to the University's total endowment value.
The university is one of only two public universities in the U.S. that have a triple-A credit rating from all three major credit rating agencies, along with the University of Virginia.
Colleges and schools
The university contains sixteen colleges & schools and two academic units, each listed with its founding date:
Cockrell School of Engineering (1894)
College of Communication (1965)
College of Education (1905)
College of Fine Arts (1938)
College of Liberal Arts (1883)
College of Natural Sciences (1883)
College of Pharmacy
Continuing Education (1909)
Graduate Studies (1910)
Jackson School of Geosciences (2005)
LBJ School of Public Affairs (1970)
McCombs School of Business (1922)
School of Architecture (1951)
School of Information (1948)
School of Law (1883)
School of Nursing (1976)
School of Social Work (1950)
School of Undergraduate Studies (2008)
The University of Texas at Austin (UT) was ranked 70th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
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