Colleges and Universities, Est 1871
The University of Arkansas is a nationally competitive, student-centered, research university. Known for strong programs in agriculture and business, it offers 216 undergraduate and graduate degree courses. The main campus is situated on a former hilltop farm overlooking the Ozark Mountains to the south, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Additional campuses are situated in Monticello, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff. The University of Arkansas was founded in 1871, under the Morrill Act of 1862. It was called Arkansas Industrial University until 1899. The founding of the university satisfied the provision in the Arkansas Constitution of 1868 that the General Assembly "establish and maintain a State University." Citizens in Fayetteville and surrounding Washington County, raised $130,000 to secure the university in a statewide competition sparked by the General Assembly’s Organic Act of 1871. The institution is both the major land-grant university for Arkansas and the state university. Degree-granting academic divisions on the Fayetteville campus include the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, School of Human Environmental Sciences, School of Architecture, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, Sam Walton College of Business, College of Education and Health Professions, College of Engineering, the Bill Clinton School of Public Service, and School of Law. The University of Arkansas campus is graced with 130 buildings on 345 acres. Eleven buildings here are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A historical marker in the lobby of each of these buildings tells a fascinating history. The first building on the campus is “Old Main”, built in 1875. It is designed in the Second Empire style and modeled on after a building planned for the University of Illinois by Chicago architect John Mills Van Osdel. There is a bronze statue of Senator J. William Fulbright in the courtyard of Old Main. The Agricultural Building (completed in 1927), School of Human Environmental Sciences (the former Home Economics Building, completed in 1927), the Chemistry Building (completed in 1935), and Memorial Hall (the former Student Union Building, built in 1940) are among the few three-story stone masonry structures in a restrained interpretation of the Collegiate Gothic style. Other landmarks are the Chi Omega Greek Theater, a large elliptical amphitheater modeled on the ancient Dionysian theater in Athens, completed in 1930; Ozark Hall (the former Business Administration Building), a two-story stone and brick masonry building in the Collegiate Gothic style of 1940; the University Museum (the former Men's Gymnasium, built in 1937); and Vol Walker Hall (formerly the Vol Walker Library), which now houses the School of Architecture. The David W. Mullins Library, located at the center of campus, is the backbone of the university's libraries with 1.6 million volumes, 3.3 million microforms, 24,000 audio-visual items, and more than 17,000 periodical subscriptions. The college keeps two arboretums that feature a rich variety of trees and plantings. The campus is also the home of three state-of-the- art, interactive tributes to Razorback men's and women's athletics, which include Jim Lindsey/Jerry Jones Hall of Champions, Tommy Boyer Hall of Champions, and the Lady Razorback Museum. It has two radio stations - KUAF, a public radio station and NPR affiliate, and KXUA, an eclectic student-run station. The Arkansas Union here provides dining and shopping opportunities, as well as other services and amenites. Accredited by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the university has a total enrollment of about 16,000. The university is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Doctoral/Research University. It includes 11 branches and three other units including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. The University of Arkansas has 272 registered student organizations including special interest, religious, international and cultural organizations, and honorary and professional service groups.
|
