Tulane University

The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it became a comprehensive public university as the University of Louisiana in 1847. The institution became private under the endowments of Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1884 and 1887. The Tulane University School of Law and the Tulane University School of Medicine are, respectively, the 12th oldest law school and 15th oldest medical school in the United States.

Tulane has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1958 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Alumni include 12 governors of Louisiana; 1 Chief Justice of the United States; members of the United States Congress, including a Speaker of the House; 2 Surgeons General of the United States; 23 Marshall Scholars; 18 Rhodes Scholars; 15 Truman Scholars; 155 Fulbright Scholars; 4 living billionaires; and a former President of Costa Rica. Two Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university.

History

Founding and early history – 19th century

The university was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 partly as a response to the fears of smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera in the United States. The university became the second medical school in the South, and the 15th in the United States at the time. In 1847, the state legislature established the school as the University of Louisiana, a public university, and the law department was added to the university. Subsequently, in 1851, the university established its first academic department. The first president chosen for the new university was Francis Lister Hawks, an Episcopal priest and prominent citizen of New Orleans at the time.

The university was closed from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. After reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges because of an extended agricultural depression in the South which affected the nation's economy. Paul Tulane, owner of a prospering dry goods and clothing business, donated extensive real estate within New Orleans for the support of education. This donation led to the establishment of a Tulane Educational Fund (TEF), whose board of administrators sought to support the University of Louisiana instead of establishing a new university. In response, through the influence of former Confederate general Randall Lee Gibson, the Louisiana state legislature transferred control of the University of Louisiana to the administrators of the TEF in 1884. This act created the Tulane University of Louisiana. The university was privatized, and is one of only a few American universities to be converted from a state public institution to a private one.

Paul Tulane's endowment to the school specified that the institution could only admit white students, and Louisiana law passed in 1884 reiterated this condition.

In 1884, William Preston Johnston became the first president of Tulane. He had succeeded Robert E. Lee as president of Washington and Lee University after Lee's death. He had moved to Louisiana and become president of Louisiana State University in 1880.

In 1885, the university established its graduate division, later becoming the Graduate School. One year later, gifts from Josephine Louise Newcomb totaling over $3.6 million, led to the establishment of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College within Tulane University. Newcomb was the first coordinate college for women in the United States and became a model for such institutions as Pembroke College and Barnard College. In 1894 the College of Technology formed, which would later become the School of Engineering. In the same year, the university moved to its present-day uptown campus on historic St. Charles Avenue, five miles (8 km) by streetcar from downtown New Orleans.

Campus

Uptown

Tulane's primary campus is located in Uptown New Orleans on St. Charles Avenue, directly opposite Audubon Park, and extends north to South Claiborne Avenue through Freret and Willow Street. The campus is known colloquially as the Uptown or St. Charles campus. It was established in the 1890s and occupies more than 110 acres (0.45 km2) of land. The campus is known both for its large live oak trees as well as its architecturally historic buildings. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. The campus architecture consists of several styles, including Richardsonian Romanesque, Elizabethan, Italian Renaissance, Mid-Century Modern, and contemporary styles. The front campus buildings use Indiana White Limestone or orange brick for exteriors, while the middle campus buildings are mostly adorned in red St. Joe brick, the staple of Newcomb College Campus buildings. Loyola University is directly adjacent to Tulane, on the downriver side. Audubon Place, where the President of Tulane resides, is on the upriver side. The President's residence is the former home of "banana king" Sam Zemurray, who donated it in his will.

The centerpiece of the Gibson Quad is the first academic building built on campus, Gibson Hall, in 1894. The School of Architecture is also located on the oldest section of the campus, occupying the Richardson Memorial Building. The middle of the campus, between Feret and Willow Streets, and bisected by McAlister Place and Newcomb Place, serves as the center of campus activities. The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, Devlin Fieldhouse, McAlister Auditorium, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, and most of the student residence halls and academic buildings populate the center of campus.

The Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is located on Freret Street. It was under construction from 2013 to 2016, but it now has two additional floors, as well as a Rare Books room. The facilities for the Freeman School of Business line McAlister Place and sit next to the Tulane University Law School. The center of campus is also home to the historic Newcomb College Campus, which sits between Newcomb Place and Broadway. The Newcomb campus was designed by New York architect James Gamble Rogers, noted for his work with Yale University's campus. The Newcomb campus is home to Tulane's performing and fine arts venues.

The back of campus, between Willow Street and South Claiborne, is home to two residence halls (Aron Residences and Décou-Labat Residences), Reily Recreation Center, and Turchin Stadium, and in January 2013, ground was broken on Tulane's Yulman Stadium between Reily Recreation Center and Turchin Stadium. Tulane Green Wave football had played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome since Tulane Stadium's demolition in 1980. They now play in Yulman Stadium, which opened in September 2014.

Organization and administration

Tulane University, as a private institution, has been governed since 1884 by the Board of Tulane (also known as the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund) that was established in 1882. There have been 15 presidents of Tulane since then. The board comprises more than 30 regular members (plus several members emeriti) and the university president. In 2008, Tulane became one of 76 U.S. colleges and the only Louisiana college to maintain an endowment above $1 billion.

Tulane is organized into 10 schools centered around liberal arts, sciences, and specialized professions. All undergraduate students are enrolled in the Newcomb-Tulane College. The graduate programs are governed by the individual schools. Newcomb-Tulane College serves as an administrative center for all aspects of undergraduate life at Tulane, while individual schools direct specific courses of study.

The first architecture courses at Tulane leading to an architectural engineering degree were offered in 1894. After beginning as part of the College of Technology, the Tulane School of Architecture was separately formed as a school in 1953.

The A.B. Freeman School of Business was named in honor of Alfred Bird Freeman, former chair of the Louisiana Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and a prominent New Orleans philanthropist and civic leader. The business school is ranked 44th nationally and 28th among programs at private universities by Forbes magazine. U.S. News & World Report's Best Graduate Schools 2015 edition ranked the MBA program 63rd overall.

The Tulane University Law School, established in 1847, is the 12th oldest law school in the United States. In 1990, it became the first law school in the United States to mandate pro bono work as a graduation requirement. U.S. News & World Report's 2015 edition ranked the School of Law 46th overall and 6th in environmental law, while the 2022 edition ranked the School of Law 60th overall. "The Law School 100" ranks Tulane as 34th, relying on a qualitative (rather than quantitative) assessment. The 2010 Leiter law-school rankings put Tulane at 38th, based on student quality, using LSAT and GPA data. The Hylton law-school rankings, conducted in 2006, put Tulane at 39th. The school's maritime law program is widely considered to be the best in the United States, with the Tulane Maritime Law Journal being the paramount admiralty law journal of the country. In May 2007, Tulane Law announced a Strategic Plan to increase student selectivity by gradually reducing the incoming JD class size from a historical average of 350 students per year to a target of 250 students per year within several years.

Academics

As part of the post-Hurricane Katrina Renewal Plan, the university initiated an extensive university-wide core curriculum. Several major elements of the university core include freshman seminars called TIDES classes, a two-tier writing course sequence, and a two-tier course sequence for public service. Many other course requirements of the core curriculum can be certified through Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exam scores, or placement exams in English and foreign languages offered by the university before course registration. Some schools' core requirements differ (e.g., students in the School of Science and Engineering are required to take fewer language classes than students in the School of Liberal Arts).

Research

Tulane was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1958. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and had research expenditure of $258.439 million in fiscal year 2023.

In 2008, Tulane was ranked by the Ford Foundation as the major international studies research institution in the South and one of the top 15 nationally. The National Institutes of Health ranks funding to Tulane at 79th. The university is home to various research centers, including the Amistad Research Center.

• Fulbright Scholars: 155
• Rhodes Scholars: 17
• Marshall Scholars: 23
• Goldwater Scholars: 31
• Truman Scholars: 13
• National Science Foundation Fellows: 33

Rankings

Overall university rankings and ratings include:

One of 195 U.S. universities recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching with a "community engagement" classification.

The 2027 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Tulane tied for 59th among U.S. national universities. In addition, U.S. News & World Report ranked Tulane tied for 113th in "Best Undergraduate Engineering Program", 5th in "Service Learning" and 100th for "Best Value" among national universities.

Tulane held multiple rankings from The Princeton Review in 2023: Best Quality of Life (#7), Best-Run Colleges (#22), Happiest Students (#1), Lots of Beer (#4), Lots of Hard Liquor (#5), Most Engaged in Community Service (#2), Their Students Love These Colleges (#6).

Forbes magazine ranked Tulane 106th in 2019 out of 650 U.S. universities, colleges and service academies.

Admissions

According to U.S. News & World Report Tulane is deemed a "Most Selective" university. Tulane is the only institution in Louisiana to have that distinction. The school accepts the Common Application for admission. Tulane has the second lowest percentage of Pell Grant recipients in the United States, only after Fairfield University. It is need-blind for domestic applicants.

Student life

The student body of Tulane University is represented by the Associated Student Body (ASB). In 1998, the students of Tulane University voted by referendum to split the Associated Student Body (ASB) Senate into two separate houses, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA). USG and GAPSA came together twice a semester to meet as the ASB Senate, where issues pertaining to the entire Tulane student body were discussed, presided over by the ASB President. However, starting in 2021, Tulane students and administrators collaborated to create a new student governance model. The USG was dissolved, and in its place, the Tulane Undergraduate Assembly (TUA) was formed.

Tulane maintains 3,600 beds in 14 residence halls on its uptown campus for undergraduate students. First year residence halls include Warren House, Sharp Hall, Monroe Hall, Paterson Hall, Josephine Louise Hall, Wall Hall, and Butler Hall. Sophomore residence halls include Aron Residences, Décou-Labat Residences, Greenbaum Hall, Lake Hall, River Hall, and Weatherhead Hall. Per the Renewal Plan instituted after Hurricane Katrina, Tulane requires all freshmen and sophomores to live on campus, except those who are from surrounding neighborhoods in New Orleans. Due to the increasing size of incoming classes, Tulane has allowed a small number of rising sophomores to reside off campus instead of being required to remain in campus housing. Housing is not guaranteed for juniors and seniors.

Student media

The Tulane Hullabaloo is the university's weekly student-run newspaper.

Athletics

Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Conference (The American). The university was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference, in which it competed until 1966. Just before leaving the SEC, it had notably become the first conference school to field a black athlete when Stephen Martin, who was on an academic scholarship, played on the baseball team in the 1966 season. Tulane, along with other academically oriented, private schools had considered forming the "Southern Ivy League" (Magnolia Conference) in the 1950s. Tulane's intercollegiate sports include football, baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, men's and women's track, men's and women's tennis, and cross country, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, women's golf, women's bowling, and women's beach volleyball. Tulane's graduation rate for its student-athletes consistently ranks among the top of Division I athletics programs.

Notable people

Tulane is home to many alumni who have contributed to both the arts and sciences and to the political and business realms. For example, from television: Jerry Springer and Ian Terry, from literature: John Kennedy Toole, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces, Shirley Ann Grau, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, and conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart, who later criticized his education at Tulane for what he perceived as its inadequacy; from business: David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo!, Ashley Biden, daughter of Jill Biden and Joseph R. Biden and Neil Bush, economist and brother of President George W. Bush; from spirituality: Joan Halifax, Zen Buddhist teacher and author of several books on Buddhism and spirituality; from entertainment: Lauren Hutton, film actor and supermodel, and Paul Michael Glaser, TV actor of Starsky and Hutch; from fine arts: Sergio Rossetti Morosini, artist and conservator, and internationally renowned glass artist Mitchell Gaudet; from music: conductor and composer Odaline de la Martinez, who was the first woman to conduct at a BBC Proms concert in London; from government: Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House who famously coordinated the first Congressional Republican majority in 40 years, Perry Chen, founder of Kickstarter and Luther Terry, former U.S. Surgeon General who issued the first official health hazard warning for tobacco; from medicine: Michael DeBakey and Dr. Regina Benjamin, President Obama's Surgeon General; from science: A. Baldwin Wood, inventor of the wood screw pump and Lisa P. Jackson, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator under President Obama; from sports: Bobby Brown, former New York Yankees third baseman and former president of the American League. A former graduate residence hall on campus was also named for Engineering graduate Harold Rosen, who invented the geosynchronous communications satellite. Douglas G. Hurley, NASA astronaut and pilot of mission STS-127, became the first alumnus to travel in outer space in July 2009.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)