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This article is about the university in Florida. For the university in Ohio, see Miami University.
University of Miami
Seal of the University of Miami
Latin: Universitas Miamiensis
Motto
Magna est veritas (Latin)
Motto in English
Great is the truth
Established
1925
Type
Private
Endowment
$865.4 million [1][2]
Chairman
Stuart A Miller[3]
President
Donna Shalala
Provost
Thomas J. LeBlanc
Academic staff
3,027[4]
Administrative staff
10,437[4]
Students
15,657[5]
Undergraduates
10,368[5]
Postgraduates
5,289[5]
Location
Coral Gables, Florida, United States
Campus
Suburban
260 acres (1.1 km2)
Colors
Green, Orange and White[6]
Athletics
NCAA Division I – ACC
Nickname
Hurricanes
Mascot
Sebastian the Ibis
Affiliations
NAICU[7]
SURA
ORAU
Website
www
.miami
.edu
UM Visual Identity website
The University of Miami (informally referred to as UM, U Miami, Miami and The U)[8][9] is a private, nonsectarian university located in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. As of 2012, the university currently enrolls 15,613 students[10] in 12 separate colleges, including a medical school located in Miami's Civic Center neighborhood, a law school on the main campus, and a school focused on the study of oceanography and atmospheric sciences on Virginia Key. These colleges offer approximately 115 undergraduate, 114 master's, 51 doctoral, and two professional areas of study. Over the years, the University's students have represented all 50 states and close to 150 foreign countries.[11] With more than 13,000 full and part-time faculty and staff,[12] UM is the sixth largest employer in Miami-Dade County.[13]
Research is a component of each academic division, with UM attracting $346.6 million per year in sponsored research grants.[14] UM offers a large library system with over 3.1 million volumes and exceptional holdings in Cuban heritage and music.[15] UM also offers a wide range of student activities, including fraternities and sororities, a student newspaper and radio station. UM's intercollegiate athletic teams, collectively known as the Miami Hurricanes, compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association,[16] and its football team has won five national championships since 1983.[17]
History
A group of citizens chartered the University of Miami (UM) in 1925 with the intent to offer "unique opportunities to develop inter-American studies, to further creative work in the arts and letters, and to conduct teaching and research programs in tropical studies."[18] They believed that a local university would benefit their community. They were overly optimistic about future financial support for UM because the South Florida land boom was at its peak.[18] During the Jim Crow era, there were three large state-funded universities in Florida for white males, white females, and black coeds (UF, FSU, and FAMU, respectively); in this accord, UM was founded as a white, coeducational institution.
The University began in earnest in 1925 when George E. Merrick, the founder of Coral Gables, gave 160 acres (0.6 km2) and nearly $5 million,[19] ($67.2 million, adjusted for current inflation) to the effort.[20] These contributions were land contracts and mortgages on real estate that had been sold in the city.[21] The University was chartered on April 18, 1925[22] by the Circuit Court for Dade County.[23] By the fall of 1926, when the first class of 372 students enrolled at UM,[24] the land boom had collapsed, and hopes for a speedy recovery were dashed by a major hurricane.[25] For the next 15 years the University barely remained solvent. The construction of the first building on campus, now known as the Merrick Building, was left half built for over two decades due to economic difficulties.[25] In the meantime, classes were held at the nearby Anastasia Hotel, with partitions separating classrooms, giving the University the early nickname of "Cardboard College."[25][26][27]
In 1929, Walsh and the other members of the Board of Regents resigned in the wake of the collapse of the Florida economy. UM's plight was so severe that students went door to door in Coral Gables collecting funds to keep it open.[26] A reconstituted ten-member Board was chaired by UM's first president Bowman Foster Ashe (1926–1952). The new board included Merrick, Theodore Dickinson, E.B. Douglas, David Fairchild, James H. Gilman, Richardson Saunders, Frank B. Shutts, Joseph H. Adams, and J. C. Penney. In 1930, several faculty members and more than 60 students came to UM when the University of Havana closed due to political unrest.[25] UM filed for bankruptcy in 1932.[25][28] In July 1934, the University of Miami was reincorporated and a Board of Trustees replaced the Board of Regents. By 1940, community leaders were replacing faculty and administration as trustees.[23] The University survived this early turmoil. During Ashe's presidency, the University added the School of Law (1928),[29] the School of Business Administration (1929), the School of Education (1929), the Graduate School (1941), the Marine Laboratory (1943, renamed in 1969 as the Rosenstiel School), the School of Engineering (1947), and the School of Medicine (1952).[25]
Walkway leading to the Otto G. Richter Library on the campus of the University of Miami
During World War II, UM was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which offered students a path to a Navy commission.[30]
One of Ashe's longtime assistants, Jay F. W. Pearson, assumed the presidency in 1952.[31] A charter faculty member and a marine biologist by trade,[31] Pearson retained the position until 1962.[18] During his presidency, UM awarded its first doctorate degrees and saw an increase in enrollment of more than 4,000.[18][32]
The social changes of the 1960s and 1970s were reflected at UM. In 1961, UM dropped its policy of racial segregation and began to admit black students.[32][33] African Americans were also allowed full participation in student activities and sports teams.[34] After President Stanford pressed for minority athletes, in December 1966, UM signed Ray Bellamy, an African American football player. With Bellamy, UM became the first major college in the Deep South with a Black football player on scholarship.[35] UM established an Office of Minority Affairs to promote diversity in both undergraduate and professional school admissions.[36] With the start of the 1968 football season, President Henry Stanford barred the playing of "Dixie" by the University's band.[25]
Historically, UM regulated female student conduct more than men's conduct with a staff under the Dean of Women watching over the women. UM combined the separate Dean of Men and Dean of Women positions in 1971
Campus
Coral Gables campus
See also: Frost School of Music, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami School of Business Administration and University of Miami School of Law
The John C. Gifford Arboretum on the University of Miami campus
UM's main campus spans 260 acres (1.1 km2)[37] in Coral Gables, located immediately south of the city of Miami. Most of the University of Miami's academic programs are located on the main campus in Coral Gables, which houses seven schools and two colleges including the University of Miami School of Law. The campus has over 5,900,000 sq ft (550,000 m2) of building space valued at over $657 million.[38] Several other programs, including bilingual Continuing and International Education classes, are offered at the Koubek Center in Miami's Little Havana,[39] the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami,[40] and the South and Richmond campuses in southwest Miami-Dade county.
The university also has a campus theater, the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre, which is used for student plays and musicals.[41] The John C. Gifford Arboretum, a campus arboretum and botanical garden, is located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Coral Gables.[42] The Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center is the lecture hall and gallery of the School of Architecture that displays exhibitions focusing on architecture and design.[43][44]
The Coral Gables campus is served by the Miami Metrorail at the University Station.[45] The Metro connects UM to Downtown Miami, Brickell, Coconut Grove, and other Miami neighborhoods. The UM campus is about a 15-minute train ride from Downtown and Brickell.[46] The Hurry 'Canes shuttle bus service operates two routes on campus (as well as to the University Station) and weekend routes to various off-campus stores and facilities during the school year; an additional shuttle route provides service to the RSMAS campus on Virginia Key and Vizcaya Station. Miami also has a Zipcar service.
Student housing
UM residence halls[47]
Year built
Room capacity
Apartment Area[48]
1948
est. 500
Eaton Residential College
1954
400
Mahoney Residential College
1958
750
Pearson Residential College
1962
750
Hecht Residential College
1968
900
Stanford Residential College
1968
900
University Village
2006
800
Total
4,500 (29% of UM students)
The Coral Gables campus houses 4,500 enrolled students. This group is disproportionately freshmen (84% of new freshmen live on campus compared with 43% of all degree undergraduates).[15] UM's on campus housing consists of five residential colleges and one apartment-style housing area available only to undergraduate degree seeking students. The residential colleges are divided into two dormitory-style residence halls and three suite-style residence halls. The McDonald and Pentland Towers of Hecht Residential College[49] and the Walsh and Rosborough Towers of Stanford Residential College[50] are commonly referred to as the "Freshman Towers", as the single-sex by floor (with shared bathroom facilities) co-ed dormitories generally house new students. Eaton Residential College, which originally housed only women,[51] and the Mahoney/Pearson Residential Colleges[52][53] have suite-style housing with every two double-occupancy rooms connected by a shared bathroom.
In addition to these five residential colleges, Miami also has an area called the University Village[54] which consists of seven buildings with apartment-style annual contract housing, fully furnished with kitchen facilities. The University Village is only open to juniors and seniors, but was previously open to graduate students and students of the School of Law up until July 31, 2009; after this date, there has been no housing available for any graduate students on the Coral Gables campus.[55][56] The University of Miami also has a series of fraternity houses, opposite the intramural fields on San Amaro Drive, dubbed "Fraternity Row"; the sororities do not possess any such facilities.
Miami previously had a series of seven buildings set aside for student residences called the Apartment Area, consisting of the oldest dormitories on campus which were originally built to house married veterans and their families.[57] These buildings also featured fully furnished apartments with kitchen facilities, but were not leased to students as in the University Village. These residences were closed at the end of the Spring 2010 semester,[48] although several others of these original dormitories continue to be used as office space for departments such as the Office of Student Employment, the Air Force ROTC Detachment 155, and the Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Education PIER 21.
The University of Miami does not offer housing for students with children or for married students.[58] UM abolished its separate dorms for athletes in 1990.[59]
Medical campus
Main article: Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
See also: Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and UM Department of Community Service
The Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine campus, located in Miami city proper in Civic Center, trains 1,000 students in various health-related programs.[60] It consists of 68 acres (280,000 m2) within the 153 acres (620,000 m2) University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center complex. The medical center includes three UM-owned hospitals: University of Miami Hospital, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital. Jackson Memorial Hospital, Holtz Children's Hospital, and the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center are also a part of the medical center and are affiliated with UM, but are not owned by UM.[61] The heart of this campus is "The Alamo" – the original City of Miami Hospital, which opened in 1918, that is on the National Register of Historic Places.[60][62] In 2006, UM opened the 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m2), 15-story Clinical Research Building and Wellness Center.[60] In 2009, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, nine-story Biomedical Research Building, a 182,000 sq ft (16,900 m2) laboratory and office facility, opened to house the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute and the Miami Institute for Human Genomics.[63] UM has started to build a 2,000,000 sq ft (190,000 m2) UM Life Science Park adjacent to the UM medical campus.[64] These additional Gold LEED certified buildings are being built by Wexford Science & Technology, a private developer, on land leased from UM.[65] The Medical campus is connected to UM's main campus by the Miami Metrorail with direct stations at University Station for the main campus, and Civic Center Station for the medical campus.
On December 1, 2007, the University purchased the Cedars Medical Center, renaming it as the University of Miami Hospital. Situated in the Miami Health District, the hospital is close to the Jackson Memorial Hospital, which has been used by the UM students and faculty to provide patient care for many years.[66]
Starting in 2004, the Miller School began offering instruction on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. MD candidates were admitted to either the Miami or Boca Raton programs and spent the first two years studying on the selected campus and the last two on the main campus in Miami.[67] In April 2005, the Boca Raton program was expanded to include a third clinical year in Palm Beach County. In 2010, when Florida Atlantic University made plans to establish their own medical school, no future classes of the regional campus were accepted. The last class to complete the first three years of training in Boca Raton is the Class of 2013.[68]
There is no on campus housing for students of the Miller School of Medicine in Miami or Boca Raton.[69] The Miami and Boca Raton campuses charge identical tuition, with a lower tuition for in-state students.[70]
Virginia Key campus
Main article: Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
The Applied Marine Physics Building at UM's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key
In 1945, construction began on the Rickenbacker Causeway to make Virginia Key accessible by car. The county offered to give UM a part of the island adjacent to the Miami Seaquarium in exchange for UM operating the aquarium.[71] However, the aquarium construction was delayed when a bond referendum failed, so UM leased the land in 1951. In 1953, UM built classroom and lab buildings on a 16 acre (65,000 m²) campus to house what would become the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Additional buildings were added in 1957, 1959 and 1965.[71] The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory is located across the Rickenbacker Causeway from the campus. From 1947 to 1959, the State of Florida funded the UM Marine Lab on Virginia Key until the State built a separate marine lab in St. Petersburg.[71] In 2009, UM received a $15 million federal grant to help construct a new $43.8 million, 56,500 square feet (5,250 m2) Marine Technology and Life Sciences Seawater Research Building.[72]
There is no housing on the Virginia Key campus. As part of its campus-wide free shuttle service, UM operates a route from the Coral Gables campus to the Virginia Key campus, which includes stops at the Vizcaya Metrorail station on weekdays.[56][73]
South Campus
Main articles: JMWAVE and Richmond Naval Air Station
In 1946, UM acquired the former Richmond Naval Air Station, in southwestern Miami, located 12 mi (19 km) south of the main campus in order to accommodate the post-war increase in students. Its six buildings provide 63,800 sq ft (5,930 m2)[61] to currently house: the Global Public Health Research Group, Miami Institute for Human Genomics, Forensic Toxicology Laboratory (for analysis of DUI suspect blood samples), and Microbiology and Immunology.[74] The campus was acquired immediately following World War II and provided classrooms, housing, and other amenities for about 1,100 students (mostly freshmen) for two academic years. In 1948 it was repurposed as a research facility.[75] In the 1960s, some of the buildings were leased to the Central Intelligence Agency. The South Campus Grove was a 350 acres (1,400,000 m2) plot for agricultural research and horticultural studies that was established in 1948.[24][75] For 20 years, UM used radioactive isotopes in biological research on the South Campus, and buried materials, included irradiated animals on the site. In August 2006, UM agreed to reimburse the Army Corps of Engineers $393,473 for clean-up costs under the Superfund law.[76]
The Richmond campus is a 76 acres (310,000 m2) site near South Campus that was formerly the United States Naval Observatory Secondary National Time Standard Facility, which already had buildings and a 20M antenna used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).[77] The Rosenstiel School's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) and Richmond Satellite Operations Center (RSOC) have research facilities located on a portion of the new campus.
Sustainability
Since 2005, UM has a "Green U" initiative which includes LEED certification for buildings and the use of biofuels by the campus bus fleet.[78] UM established the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy.[79] As a part of the Abess Center, UM launched the R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program to educate students on the importance of protecting the marine environment.[80] In 2008, UM replaced the chiller plant on its Virginia Key campus to improve its carbon footprint.[81] UM also planted mangroves, sea grape trees, and other dune plants on Virginia Key to protect its sand dunes and to protect the campus from storm damage.[82] UM received a "C+" grade on the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card[83] and a "B-" for 2010[84] for its environmental and sustainability initiatives.
Student body
University of Miami demographics
Ethnic enrollment, 2013[85]
Undergraduates
Graduates
Black
8%
7%
Asian
12%
16%
Hispanic (of any race)
27%
24%
non-Hispanic White
50%
50%
Total
100%
100%
In 2011, UM received 28,000 applicants for only 2,150 available openings in its freshman class. Nearly 75 percent of new freshmen admitted to the university graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class with an average GPA of 4.2 and an average SAT score of 1319.[86]
In 2010, undergraduates were composed of: 32% from the Greater Miami area, 12% from other parts of Florida, 44% from other U.S. states, and 11% were foreign students. Graduates were composed of: 34% from the Greater Miami area, 16% from other parts of Florida, 37% from other U.S. states, and 13% were foreign students.[5]
As of 2002, UM graduation rates had 64.1% graduating within 4 years, 75.1% graduating within 5 years, and 76.8% graduating within 6 years.[87] Male student athletes have a 52% 4-year graduation rate, and 72% of female student athletes graduate within 4 years.[88][89]
Academics
Fall freshman statistics[10][90]
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
Applicants
27,757
27,745
25,895
21,845
21,774
Admits
11,020
10,635
10,157
8,411
7,527
% Admitted
39.7
38.3
39.2
44.4
38.6
This table does not account deferred
applications or other unique situations.
There are currently 2,580 full-time faculty members, 91% of whom hold doctorates or terminal degrees in their field.[91] UM has a student-faculty ratio of 11:1.[91] The University of Miami is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and 23 additional professional and educational accrediting agencies. It is a member of the American Association of University Women, the American Council on Education, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Association of American Colleges and Universities,[92] the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities, the Independent Colleges & Universities of Florida,[93] and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.[94]
Organization
UM is led by a Board of Trustees, which holds two meetings each year.[23] The Board has 48 elected members, 3 alumni representatives, 23 senior members, 4 national members, 6 ex officio members, 14 emeriti members, and 1 student representative. Ex officio members, who serve by virtue of their positions in the University, include the President of the University, the President and Immediate Past President of the Citizens Board, and the President, President-Elect, and Immediate Past President of the Alumni Association.[23] Since 1982, the Board has eleven visiting committees, which include both Trustees and outside experts, to help oversee the individual academic units.[23]
UM's President is the university's chief executive officer with a 2012 salary of $1.16 million,[95] and each academic unit is headed by a Dean.
The University of Miami announced on April 13, 2015 that Dr. Julio Frenk will be the University’s 6th president. Dr. Frenk previously served as Dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Mexico’s Minister of Health.[96]
2012-2013 Tuition[97]
School
Tuition
Total Cost
Undergraduate
$39,980
$57,542
Graduate School
$39,840
$57,402
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