University of Vermont

The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1791, UVM is the oldest university in Vermont and the fifth-oldest in New England. Roughly coinciding with Vermont's statehood, the plans for and development of the university date back to the days of the Vermont Republic, making it unique among public universities in the US to be at least planned and organized outside of an admitted state in the nation.

UVM comprises ten colleges and schools, including the Robert Larner College of Medicine, and offers more than 100 undergraduate majors along with various graduate and professional programs. The University of Vermont Medical Center, has its primary facility on the UVM campus. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities—Very high research activity".

In athletics, UVM's teams, known as the Catamounts, compete in NCAA Division I, primarily in the America East Conference and Hockey East Association.

History

18th century

The University of Vermont was founded as a private university in 1791, the same year Vermont became the fourteenth U.S. state. The university enrolled its first students ten years later.

19th century

Its first president, Daniel C. Sanders, was hired in 1800, and served as the sole faculty member for seven years. Instruction began in 1801, and the first class graduated in 1804. In 1865, the university merged with Vermont Agricultural College (chartered November 22, 1864, after the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862), emerging as the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College. The university was granted 150,000 acres, which it sold for $122,626. Much of the initial funding and planning for the university was undertaken by Ira Allen, who is honored as UVM's founder. Allen donated a 50-acre (20 ha) parcel of land for establishment of the university. Most of this land has been maintained as the university's main green, where stands a statue of Allen.

The citizens of Burlington helped fund the university's first edifice. When it was destroyed by fire in 1824, they also paid for its replacement. This building came to be known as "Old Mill" for its resemblance to New England mills of the time. The Marquis de Lafayette, a French general who became a commander in the American Revolution, while in Vermont laid the cornerstone of Old Mill, which stands on University Row along with Ira Allen Chapel, Billings Library, Williams Hall, Royall Tyler Theatre, and Morrill Hall. A statue of Lafayette stands at the north end of the main green.

UVM was the first American institution of higher education with a charter declaring that the "rules, regulations, and by-laws shall not tend to give preference to any religious sect or denomination whatsoever".

In 1871, UVM defied custom and admitted two women as students. It was the first American university to admit women (1875) and African Americans (1877) into Phi Beta Kappa, the country's oldest collegiate academic honor society.

Justin Smith Morrill, a U.S. Representative (1855–1867), and Senator (1867–1898) from Vermont, author of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act that created federal funding for establishing the U.S. land-grant colleges and universities, served as a trustee of the university from 1865 to 1898.

20th century

In 1924, UVM's WCAX, now called WVMT, sent out the first radio broadcast in Vermont. It was run by UVM students and faculty before being sold in 1931. WCAX is now the call sign of a commercial television station. A new radio station was set up in 1955, dubbed WRUV. It currently runs an FM broadcast at 90.1 MHz and an internet stream at wruv.org. The station, run by students, faculty, and local community members, dubs itself Burlington's Better Alternative. It is known for playing a wide range of music, boasting "the largest catalog in the State of Vermont" at over 50,000 albums.

Seal

The university first adopted an official seal in 1807. The seal depicts the sun rising over the Green Mountains with the original college edifice, now the remodeled Old Mill. It includes a diagram of Euclid's "windmill proof" of the Pythagorean theorem, a globe, and a sextant. It includes the motto "Universitas V. Montis. A.D. 1791" in the outer ring "Collegiumque Agriculturae" in the inner one, noting the establishment of the College of Agriculture in 1865.

Academics

Offering over 100 undergraduate majors, the university comprises seven undergraduate colleges, an honors college, a graduate college, and a medical college. The University of Vermont is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Bachelors, masters, and doctoral programs are offered through the Robert Larner College of Medicine, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Social Services, the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the Graduate College, the Grossman School of Business, and the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. The Patrick Leahy Honors College does not confer its own degrees; instead, students concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges.

Rankings and reputation

As of 2024, U.S. News & World Report's annual university rankings place UVM as tied for 61st among public universities and tied for 121st nationally.

In 2024, Forbes' America's Top Colleges list ranked UVM 181st overall out of 500 private and public colleges and universities in America, and also ranks it 79th among public universities and 129th among research universities.

The university was named a Public Ivy by Richard Moll in his 1985 book The Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities.

Undergraduate admissions

Undergraduate admissions are classified as "more selective", indicating that test score data for first-year students is in the 80th to 100th percentile of selectivity among all baccalaureate institutions.

For the class of 2026, UVM received 28,236 applications, accepting 16,947 (60.0%). Of those accepted, 2,896 enrolled, a yield rate of 17.1%. UVM's first-year retention rate is 88.25%, with 77.5% graduating within six years.

Of the 35% of the incoming first-year class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50% composite scores were 1270-1410. Of the 11% of enrolled first-years in 2023 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50% composite scores were between 29 and 32. The average high school GPA was 3.85.

Research

UVM is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities—Very high research activity". For the 2025 fiscal year, UVM attracted $266 million in research and development funding.

College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college, with the greatest number of students, faculty, and staff. The college also offers the bulk of the foundational courses to help ensure that students all over campus have the tools to succeed in all academic endeavors. It offers 45 areas of study in the humanities, fine arts, formal sciences, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Athletics

The athletic teams at UVM are known as the Catamounts. The university offers 18 varsity sports. Women's teams include basketball, cross country, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, swimming and diving, and track and field (indoor and outdoor). Men's teams include basketball, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, and track and field (indoor and outdoor). All teams compete at the NCAA Division I level. Most teams compete in the America East Conference. Men's and women's hockey teams compete in the Hockey East Association. The alpine and Nordic ski teams compete in the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association.

UVM's athletic teams won seven straight America East Academic Cups (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011) for the best overall combined GPA among its student-athletes. UVM is the first school in the America East Conference to win three straight years and four times overall.

Highlights of recent varsity athletic seasons include the men's hockey teams trip to the Frozen Four in 2009; the women's and men's basketball teams advancing to the 2010 NCAA Tournament following America East Tournament titles; the ski team winning its sixth NCAA National Championship in 2012 in Bozeman, Montana; in 2014, the men's hockey team earned its third trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2009 and the men's basketball team won the America East Regular Season title for the sixth time. The university has discontinued several major sports programs in its history, including football, softball and baseball. The softball and baseball programs were eliminated in 2009.

Thirty-six former UVM athletes have competed in 16 Olympic Games (13 winter, 3 summer) and combined have won six Olympic medals.

The UVM fight song was written in 1938 and is entitled "Vermont Victorious."

2024 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship

On December 16, 2024, the UVM men's soccer team defeated the Marshall University to win the 2024 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament. This is the first championship appearance and win by any UVM Division I sports team. It was also the first national championship for any America East team in history.

Club sports

UVM sponsors many club sports teams. The UVM sailing team was competitively ranked 8th in the nation as of November 15, 2009. UVM crew competes in the Head of the Charles Regatta and Dad Vail Regatta, winning bronze for the men's coxed four in the 2015 ACRA national club rowing championship. The cycling team competes against other collegiate varsity teams and has won multiple national titles.

Arts

UVM's School of the Arts sponsors instrumental and choral performances throughout the year. The Royall Tyler Theatre presents theatre productions on its mainstage. In addition to the Department of Theatre's approximately three mainstage shows each year, a group of student-directed one acts are also performed.

Notable mainstage shows in recent years have included Straight White Men and Bat Boy: The Musical (2022/2023); It's a Wonderful Life and She Kills Monsters (2021/2022); An Enemy of the People (2020/2021); The Wolves and The Normal Heart (2019/2020); Pippin (2018/2019); Sense and Sensibility and Peter and The Starcatcher (2017/2018); Spring Awakening (2016/2017); The 39 Steps and Noises Off (2015/2016); Much Ado About Nothing (2014/2015); The Mousetrap and Urinetown (2013/2014). From 1991-2018, the Theatre performed The Toys Take Over Christmas, a holiday tradition in Burlington.

The Lane Series, the university's public performing arts program, began in 1955. Presenting nationally and internationally-known artists, the series offers twenty-five events per academic year, including performances in classical, jazz, folk, chamber, and choral music, as well as theater, film, and dance. Most events are held at the UVM Recital Hall on the Redstone Campus.

The Fleming Museum of Art is the university's museum. Its permanent collection of 24,000 objects includes works of art as well as anthropological and ethnographic artifacts. The museum also features various visiting exhibits and special events.

The Vermont Mozart Festival, now defunct, developed at UVM, and its first festivals also were held at UVM. The festival was incorporated as an independent nonprofit organization in 1976 but retained ties to UVM throughout its existence.

Student life

Student clubs and organizations, totaling more than 250, span student interests and receive sponsorship from the Student Government Association. Clubs with longstanding history and the largest memberships include: Volunteers in Action, the UVM Outing Club, Ski & Snowboard Club. Hillel also has a strong presence on the UVM campus. UVM also is home to the oldest continually-active FeelGood chapter in the nation, started in 2007, with the chapter raising over $400,000 since its inception for the end of extreme poverty by 2030 through on-campus grilled cheese delis.

In 2015, the university launched a wellness program called the Wellness Environment (WE) a substance-free residential program that gives interested students access to fitness and nutrition coaches, has daily yoga instruction, round-the-clock meditation sessions, and a mentorship program that pairs them with a Burlington youth. In the fall of 2017, the Central Campus Residence Hall completed construction, and now houses nearly 700 residents in the Wellness Environment.

Thanks to an organization known as GIRT, or Gender Inclusive Restroom Taskforce, the University of Vermont has a growing number of single-occupancy, gender-neutral bathrooms for use by non-binary and gender non-conforming students, faculty, and visitors.

Outing Club

The UVM Outing Club was established in 1913 and is the largest outing club in the country. The club is student-run and offers kayaking, canoeing, hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, ice climbing, backcountry skiing, and Nordic skiing trips. The club has assisted with the formation of TREK, an outdoor pre-orientation student program that takes incoming freshman on 5 day excursions to connect them to the UVM community and the State of Vermont. Annually, the club runs the Catamountain Classic event, in which participants hike all 272 miles of the Long Trail in one weekend.

Events

UVM Program Board (UPB) is responsible for bringing campus events and activities to the UVM community. In recent years, UPB has organized events like the annual SpringFest featuring comedian Michelle Wolf, Two Door Cinema Club and Laverne Cox. It also runs battles of the bands, weekly pub quiz tournaments, and international film and food events.

Concerts

In addition to campus events, UPB organizes live musical entertainment event featuring acts from across the country as well as local bands. UPB is composed of four committees, one of which is a concerts committee. The concerts committee learns about various aspects of the music industry by putting on shows and working with local sound and production professionals. Students are in charge of choosing and booking bands and are responsible for all production aspects on the day of the show.

Sustainability

The University of Vermont has a long history of environmental sustainability on its campus. In 2024, The Princeton Review placed UVM in 16th place among the "Top 50 Green Colleges" in the country.

1990s

In 1995, the Environmental Council at UVM was established to fill a gap regarding a bridge between operations and academics on campus greening issues. The council's first project was to hear presentations from the various environmental programs on campus to provide a baseline scan of campus operation environmental impact. Greening UVM was published in 1998 by the council to establish a baseline on the environmental impact of the campus' operations. During the same year, a recycled paper policy was created and was implemented in 1999. As a community stakeholder in the Lab-XL project, the Environmental Council received an EPA grant to support the Tracking UVM project and publication to assess the relative environmental impact and community interest in laboratory chemical waste. Tracking UVM, a follow-up to the Greening UVM report, was published in 2002 and reported on the environmental progress of the university from 1990 to 2000. The University of Vermont's commitment to tracking its environmental performance was recognized in 2004 with Vermont's Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence for this 2002 environmental report card. Tracking UVM is one of the first report cards that track the environmental impact of campus operations in an institution of higher education.

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