University of Notre Dame

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The University of Notre Dame du Lac (or simply Notre Dame) (IPA: /ˌnoʊtɚˈdeɪm/) is a Catholic private university located in Notre Dame, Indiana. It was founded in 1842 by Father Edward Sorin, CSC, who was also the school's first president. Although it began as a male-only school, it became co-educational in 1972. The school's religious identity can be seen around campus with a basilica and many religious paintings and statues around campus.

The university is organized into five colleges and one professional school, the oldest of which awarded degrees as early as 1849. Many of the colleges' academic programs have been ranked highly in national publications, with the university as a whole ranked as the 19^th best university by U.S. News and World Report. Many of the graduate programs participate in research endeavors, with a stated goal by the university president, Father John I. Jenkins, CSC, to become a pre-eminent research institute. Additionally, the university's library system is one of the top-100 largest in the United States.

Over 11,000 students are enrolled in the university, with approximately 60% living on campus. Undergraduates on campus live in one of 27 single-sex residence halls, each of which field teams for a number of intramural sports. With over 90% of students identifying as Christian, and approximately 20% of students family of alumni, the university has been criticized for its lack of diversity. Even so, Notre Dame's alumni are located around the world and number near 100,000.

Notre Dame may be most famous for its sports program, especially its college football team. The sports teams are members of the NCAA Division I, and are known collectively as the Fighting Irish a name it adopted in the 1920s. The football team, an Independent, has accumulated multiple national championships, Heisman Trophy winners, and members in the College Football Hall of Fame. Additionally, other sport teams, most members of the Big East Conference, have won 14 national championships throughout the years.

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

The university was found in November of 1842 by Father Edward Sorin, CSC. Sorin used land that was bought by Reverend Stephen Badin to be used for a school in Indiana.^[5] Historical studies have shown that the Potawatomi Indians, partly because of the strong faith of Leopold Pokagon, also played an integral role in the founding of Notre Dame, with Pokagon appealing the bishop to send him a Catholic priest to help convert his tribe.^[6] Sorin began the school using Badin's old log chapel to house his priests and students, and slowly began to build his own additions to the university. The school received its official charter from the Indiana General Assembly on January 15, 1844 after a push by State Senator John Defrees.^[7] Under the charter the school is officially named the University of Notre Dame du Lac, which means University of Our Lady of the Lake. Though the word Lac is singular, the university's campus actually contains two lakes. According to a legend, when Sorin arrived at the school, everything was frozen. He thought there was only one lake and named the university accordingly.^[8] Although the university was originally only for male students, the female-only, Saint Mary's College was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Cross near Notre Dame in 1844.^[9]

[edit] Early history

More students began to attend the college and the first degrees were awarded in 1849.^[10] Additionally, the university began to be expanded with new buildings being built, allowing students and faculty to live, study, and eat at the university.^[7] With each new president, new academic programs were offered and new buildings were built to accommodate these programs. The "Main Building" was built by 1865 to house the university's administration, classrooms, and dormitories. This replaced the original, smaller, main building built by Sorin just after he arrived. This Main Building was destroyed by a fire in April of 1879, however, was rebuilt before the next school year.^[11] Beginning in 1873, a library collection was started by Father Lemonnier. By 1879 it had grown to ten thousand volumes that were housed in the Main Building, and were subsequently destroyed in the fire. The library collection was rebuilt and stayed housed in the new Main Building for years afterwards.^[12] Around the time of the fire, a Music Hall was opened. Eventually becoming known as Washington Hall, it hosted plays and musical acts put on by the school.^[13] By 1880, a science program was established at the university, and a Science Hall was built in 1883. The hall housed multiple classrooms and science labs needed for early research at the university.^[14] By 1890, individual residence halls were being built to house the increasing number of students.^[15]

[edit] Co-educational institute

Notre Dame continued to grow over the years adding more colleges, programs, and even sports teams. By 1921, with the addition of the College of Commerce,^[16] Notre Dame had grown from just one college to five and a professional law school.^[17] The university continued to expand and add new residence halls and buildings with each subsequent president until 1972. At that time, then-president. Father Theodore Hesburgh, helped to make the decision to admit women into the university.^[18] Two of the male residence halls were converted to be used for the newly admitted female students that first year,^[19][20] while two others were converted for the next school year.^[21][22] The first female student, a transfer from St. Mary's College, graduated in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in marketing.^[18]

[edit] Modern

Currently Notre Dame is led by Father John I. Jenkins, the 17^th president of the university, who oversees the overall administration of the university.^[23] Jenkins took over the position from Father Edward Malloy, on July 1, 2005.^[24] In his inaugural address, Jenkins described his goals of making the university a leader in research that recognizes the ethics of such research and to build the connection between faith and studies.^[25] In addition to Jenkins' leadership, the university is governed by two groups, Fellows of the University and a Board of Trustees.^[26] These groups help to maintain the bylaws of the university and also elect officials for the university.^[27] Finally, the provost of the university, currently Dr. Thomas Burish, works under the president to oversee many of the academic activities and functions of the university.^[28]

[edit] Campus

Notre Dame's campus is located in Notre Dame, Indiana, an unincorporated community in north Indiana, just north of South Bend and four miles (6 km) from the Michigan state line.^[29] Development of the campus began in the spring of 1843 when Father Sorin and some of his congregation built the "Old College", a building used for dormitories, a bakery, and a classroom. A year later, after an architect arrived, a small "Main Building" was built allowing for the launch of the college.^[7] Today the campus lies on 1,250 acres (510 ha) just south of the Indiana Toll Road and includes 137 buildings located on quads throughout the campus.^[30]

[edit] Places on campus

A number of buildings from the original campus that Father Sorin built still stand on the campus, while others have been replaced. The Old College building has become one of two seminaries on campus run by the Congregation of the Holy Cross.^[31]The current Basilica of the Sacred Heart is located on the spot of Sorin's original church which became too small for the growing college and the Main Building, after a fire destroyed parts of it, has become home to Notre Dame's administration. There are two lakes located on campus, and near the lakes is the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, which was built in 1896 as a replica of the original in Lourdes, France.^[32]

[edit] New buildings

The university continues to expand and add new building each year. Since 2004, many buildings have been built and used on campus, with some of the most prominent being the Debartolo Performing Arts Center,^[33] the Guglielmino Complex,^[34] and the Jordan Hall of Science.^[35] Additionally, a new male residence hall, Duncan Hall, began construction on March 8, 2007,^[36] and a new engineering building, Stinson-Remick Hall, was started in November of 2007.^[37]

[edit] Academics

Notre Dame has a student body population of 11,603 total students, with 8,352 undergraduates and 3,251 graduate and professional students. Although 37% of students come from the Midwestern United States, the student body represents all 50 states and 100 countries.^[4] Notre Dame has 1241 full-time faculty members and another 166 part-time members to give a student/faculty ratio of 13:1.^[3] Named by Newsweek as one of the "25 New Ivies".^[38] it is an Oak Ridge Associated University.^[39]

[edit] Rankings

See also: College and university rankings

Notre Dame ranked 19^th overall in the United States in U.S. News and World Report's best colleges.^[40] The report also listed Notre Dame Law School as 29^th overall and the Mendoza College of Business graduate school as 39^th overall in their respective categories.^[41][42] Additionally, The Washington Monthly ranked the university 13^th nationally in its 2006 edition.^[43] BusinessWeek also ranked the undergraduate business program as 7^th nationally.^[44] The Philosophical Gourmet Report ranked Notre Dame's graduate philosophy program as 13^th nationally,^[45] while ARCHITECT Magazine, ranked the undergraduate architecture program as 12^th nationally.^[46] Additionally, the study abroad program ranks sixth in highest participation percentage in the nation, with 57.6% of students choosing to study abroad in 17 countries.^[47]

[edit] Research

Notre Dame has a long history of scientific research. In 1882, Professor Albert Zahm built the first wind tunnel used to compare lift to drag of aeronautical models. Around 1899, Professor Jerome Green became the first American to send a wireless message. Also, in 1931, Father Julius Nieuwland performed early work on basic reactions that was used to create neoprene.^[48] Additionally, nuclear physics study at the university began with the building of a nuclear accelerator in 1936.^[49]

Today, research continues in many fields, as the current university president, Father Jenkins, described his hope that Notre Dame would become "one of the pre–eminent research institutions in the world" in his inaugural address.^[25] The university has many multi-disciplinary institutes devoted to research in varying fields, including the Medieval Institute, the Kroc Institute for International Peace studies, and the Center for Social Concerns.^[50] Recent research includes work on genome mapping,^[51] the increasing trade deficit of the United States with China,^[52] studies in fluid mechanics,^[53] and marketing trends on the internet.^[54]

[edit] Endowment

Notre Dame's financial endowment was started in the early 1920s by then-president of the university, Father James Burns, and increased to $7 million by 1952 when Father Hesburgh became president. By the 1980s it reached $150 million, and in 2000 it returned a record 57.9% investment.^[55] For the 2007 fiscal year, the endowment had grown to approximately $6.5 billion, putting the university in the top–15 largest endowments in the country.^[2]

[edit] Studies

[edit] Colleges

All of Notre Dame's undergraduate students are a part of one of the five undergraduate colleges at the school or are in the First Year of Studies program. The College of Arts and Letters was established as the university's first college in 1842 with the first degrees given in 1849.^[10] The university's first academic curriculum was modeled after the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum from Saint Louis University.^[56] Today the college, housed in O'Shaughnessy Hall,^[57] includes 21 departments in the areas of fine arts, humanities, and social sciences, and awards Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees in over 40 majors, making it the largest of the university's colleges. There are around 2,500 undergraduates and 750 graduates enrolled in the college.^[58]

The College of Science was established at the university in 1865 by then-president Father Patrick Dillon. Dillon's scientific courses were six years of work, including higher-level mathematics courses.^[59] Today the college, housed in the newly-built Jordan Hall of Science,^[60] includes over 1,200 undergraduates in five departments of study, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and pre-professional studies, each awarding Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees.^[61] According to university statistics, its science pre-professional program has one of the highest acceptance rates to medical school of any university in the United States.^[62]

The School of Architecture was established in 1899,^[63] although degrees in architecture were first awarded by the university in 1898.^[64] Today the school, housed in Bond Hall,^[65] offers a five year undergraduate program leading to the Bachelor of Architecture degree. One year of study is completed in Rome by all students enrolled in the school.^[66]

The College of Engineering was established in 1920,^[67] however, early courses in civil and mechanical engineering were a part of the College of Science in the 1870s.^[68] Today the college, housed in the Cushing Hall of Engineering,^[69] includes five departments of study in aerospace and mechanical engineering, chemical and biomolecular engineering, civil engineering and geological sciences, computer science and engineering, and electrical engineering, with eight B.S. degrees offered. Additionally, the college offers five year dual degree programs with the Colleges of Arts and Letters and of Business awarding additional B.A. and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees, respectively.^[70]

The Mendoza College of Business was established by Father John F. O'Hara in 1921, although a foreign commerce program was launched in 1917.^[71] Today the college offers degrees in accountancy, finance, management, and marketing and enrolls over 1,600 students.^[72]

The First Year of Studies program was established in 1962 to guide incoming freshmen in their first year at the school before they have declared a major. Each student is given an academic advisor from the program who helps them to choose classes that give them exposure to any major in which that they are interested.^[73] The program also includes a Learning Resource Center which provides time management, collaborative learning, and subject tutoring.^[74] This program has been recognized previously, by U.S. News & World Report, as outstanding.^[75]

[edit] Graduate and professional schools

The University first offered graduate degrees, in the form of a Master of Arts (MA), in the 1854–1855 academic year. The program expanded to include Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Civil Engineering in its early stages of growth, before a formal graduate school education was developed with a thesis not required to receive the degrees. This changed in 1924 with formal requirements developed for graduate degrees, including offering Doctorate (Ph.D.) degrees.^[76] Today each of the five colleges offer graduate education. Most of the departments from the College of Arts and Letters offer Ph.D. programs, while a professional Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program also exists. All of the departments in the College of Science offer Ph.D. programs, except for the Department of Pre-Professional Studies. The School of Architecture offers a Master of Architecture, while each of the departments of the College of Engineering offer Ph.D. programs. The College of Business offers multiple professional programs including MBA and Master of Science in Accountancy programs.^[77] Additionally, the Alliance of Catholic Education program offers a Master of Education program where students study at the university during the summer and teach in elementary schools across the Southern United States for two school years.^[78]

In addition to the programs offered by each of the colleges, the Notre Dame Law School offers a professional program for students. Established in 1869, Notre Dame became the first Catholic university in the United States to have a law program.^[17] Today the program has consistently ranked among the top law schools in the nation according to US News and World Report.^[41] The Law School grants the professional Juris Doctor degree as well as the graduate LL.M. and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees.^[77]

[edit] Libraries

The library system of the university is divided into the main library and each of the colleges and schools. The main building is the fourteen-story Theodore M. Hesburgh Library, which is the third building to house the main collection of books.^[79] The front of the library is adorned with the Word of Life mural. This mural is popularly known as "Touchdown Jesus" because of its proximity to Notre Dame Stadium and Jesus' arms appearing to make the signal for a touchdown.^[80][81] The library system also includes branch libraries for Architecture, Chemistry & Physics, Engineering, Law, the Life Sciences, and Mathematics as well as information centers in the Mendoza College of Business and the Kellogg/Kroc Institute for Peace Studies, and a slide library in O'Shaughnessy Hall.^[82] The library system holds over three-million volumes and is one of the top–100 largest libraries in the country.^[83]

[edit] Students

The Notre Dame student body consists of 11,603 students,^[4] with 21–24% being children of alumni.^[84] The Princeton Review ranks the school as the fifth highest "dream school" for parents to send their children.^[85] While the school has been criticized for a lack of diversity,^[86] The Princeton Review ranks the university highly in schools in which "Alternative Lifestyles [are] Not an Alternative",^[87] others have ranked it highly, such as Hispanic Magzine ranking the university ninth on its list of the top–25 colleges for Latinos.^[88] With 6,000 participants, the university's intramural sports program has been named by Sports Illustrated as the best program in the country,^[89] while The Princeton Review named it as the top school where "Everyone Plays Intramural Sports".^[90] The annual Bookstore Basketball tournament is the largest outdoor five-on-five tournament in the world with over 500 teams participating each year,^[91] while the Notre Dame Boxing Club hosts the annual Bengal Bouts tournament that raises money for Bangladesh.^[92]

[edit] Residence halls

Main article: List of Female Dorms at Notre Dame

Main article: List of Male Dorms at Notre Dame

About 80% of undergraduates and 20% of graduate students live on campus.^[4] The majority of the graduate students on campus live in one of four graduate housing complexes on campus, while all on-campus undergraduates live in one of the 27 residence halls.^[93] Because of the religious affiliation of the university, all residence halls are single-sex, with 14 male dorms and 13 female dorms.^[94] The university enforces a visitation policy (known as parietals) on those students who live in dormitories, specifying times when members of the opposite sex are allowed to visit, however, most residence halls have 24 hour social spaces in which parietals are not enforced. There are no fraternities or sororities at the university, but many students live in the same residence hall for all four years fostering a strong sense of community. Some intramural sports are based on residence hall teams, where the university offers the only non-military academy program of full-contact American football.^[95]

[edit] Religious life

With the university affiliated with the Congregation of the Holy Cross, its Catholic identity permeates into student life. More than 93% of students identify as Christian, while over 80% are Catholics.^[96] The Basilica of the Sacred Heart is on campus and each residence hall has a chapel where Mass is celebrated over 100 times each week.^[95] There are multitudes of religious statues and artwork around campus, most prominent of which are the statue of Mary on the Main Building, the Notre Dame Grotto, and the mural on Hesburgh Library depicting Christ as a teacher. Additionally, every classroom displays a crucifix.^[86] There are many religious clubs at the school, including Council #1477 of the Knights of Columbus, who operate a charitable concession stand during every home football game.^[97]

[edit] Student-run media

Like most universities, Notre Dame's students run a number of media outlets. The eight student-run outlets include a number of newspapers, both a radio and television station, and three magazines. The three newspapers have varying publication interests, with The Observer published daily and mainly reporting university and other news.^[98] In 1987, when some students believed that The Observer began to show a conservative bias, a liberal newspaper, Common Sense began to be published. Likewise, in 2003, when other students believed that the paper showed a liberal bias, the conservative paper Irish Rover went into production. Neither paper are published as often as The Observer, however, all three are distributed to all students.^[99] The television station, NDtv, grew from one show in 2002 to a full channel with original programming by September 2006.^[100] The radio station, WVFI, began as a partner of WSND-FM, however, has since begun airing independently on the internet.^[101] Begun as a one-page journal in September 1876,^[102] the Scholastic magazine is issued twice monthly and claims to be the oldest continuous collegiate publication in the United States. The other magazine, The Juggler, is released twice a year and focuses on student literature and artwork.^[99]

[edit] Alumni

Main article: List of University of Notre Dame alumni

Notre Dame alumni number near 100,000,^[103] and are members of 275 alumni clubs around the world.^[104] Many alumni give yearly monetary support to the university, with a school-record 53.2% giving some donation in 2006.^[105] Many buildings on campus are named for those whose donations allowed their building, including residence halls,^[106][107] classroom buildings,^[108] and the performing arts center.^[33]

Notre Dame alumni work in various fields. Alumni working in political fields include state governors,^[109] members of the United States Congress,^[110] and current United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.^[111] A number of university heads are alumni, including Notre Dame's current president, Rev. John Jenkins.^[112] Additionally, many alumni are in the media, including talk show hosts Regis Philbin and Phil Donahue,^[113][114] and television and radio personalities such as Mike Golic and Hannah Storm.^[115][116] With the university having high profile sports teams, a number of alumni became a part of sports teams, including professional baseball, basketball, and football players, such as Joe Montana,^[117] Megan Duffy,^[118] and Jeff Samardzija,^[119] current collegiate head football coaches, such as Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis,^[120] and former football coaches, such as Knute Rockne.^[121] Other notable alumni include prominent businessman Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. and astronaut Jim Wetherbee.^[122][123]

[edit] Athletics

Main article: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame's NCAA Division I teams are known as the Fighting Irish. This name was used in the early 1920s with respect to the football team and was popularized by alumnus Francis Wallace in his New York Daily News columns.^[124] Today the sports teams are led by athletic director Kevin White, who has been in the position since 2000.^[125] The university offers 13 varsity sports for both men and women.^[126] 21 of these teams compete in the Big East Conference,^[127] while football is Independent,^[128] both fencing teams are in the Midwest Fencing Conference,^[129] the hockey team is in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association,^[130] and the men's lacrosse team is in the Great Western Lacrosse League.^[131] The university marching band plays at home games for most of the sports. The band, which was begun in 1846 and has a claim as the oldest university band in continuous existence in the United States, was honored by the National Music Council as a "Landmark of American Music" during the United States Bicentennial.^[132] The band regularly plays the school's fight song the Notre Dame Victory March, which was named as the most played and most famous fight song by Northern Illinois Professor William Studwell.^[133]

[edit] Football

Main article: Notre Dame Fighting Irish football

The Notre Dame football team has a long history, first beginning when the Michigan Wolverines football team brought football to Notre Dame in 1887 and played against a group of students.^[134] In the long history since then, 13 Irish teams have won consensus national championships (although the university only claims 11),^[126] along with another nine teams being named national champion by at least one source.^[135] Additionally, the program has the most members in the College Football Hall of Fame,^[136][137] are tied with the University of Southern California(USC) and the Ohio State University with the most Heisman Trophies won,^[138] and have the second highest winning percentage in NCAA history.^[139] With the long history, Notre Dame has accumulated many rivals, and its annual game against USC for the Jeweled Shillelagh has been named by some as the second greatest college football rivalry ever.^[140]

Today the team competes in Notre Dame Stadium, an 80,795 seat stadium on campus.^[141] The team is coached by Charlie Weis who was named as coach on December 12, 2004,^[120] and is currently signed to coach until 2015.^[142] After three years coaching the Irish, Weis accumulated a 22–15 record,^[143] and led his team to two Bowl Championship Series bowl games.^[144] However, the 2007 team had the most losses ever for the school.^[145] The football team generates a lot of revenue for the university, with $22.1 million retained from the team's profits for academic use. Forbes named the team as the most valuable in college football, worth a total of $101 million in 2007.^[146]

[edit] Men's basketball

Main article: Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball

The men's basketball team has over 1,600 wins, one of only 12  schools who have reached that mark, and have appeared in 28 NCAA tournaments.^[147] Former player, Austin Carr, holds the record for most points scored in a single game of the tournament with 61.^[148] Although the team has never won the NCAA Tournament, they were named by the Helm's Foundation as national champions twice.^[147] The team has orchestrated a number of upsets of number one ranked teams, the most notable of which was ending UCLA's record 88 game winning streak in 1974.^[149] The team has beaten an additional eight number one teams, and those nine wins rank second, to UCLA's 10, all-time in wins against the top team.^[147] Currently, the team plays in the 11,418 seat, Edmund P. Joyce Center.^[150] The team is coached by Mike Brey, who, as of the 2006–07 season, his seventh, has achieved a 142–78 record.^[151]

[edit] Other sports

See also: Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey

Notre Dame has been successful in other sports besides football, with an additional 14 national championships in various sports. Three teams have won multiple national championships with the fencing team leading them with seven,^[152] followed by the men's tennis and women's soccer teams each with two.^[153][154] Also, the men's cross country,^[155] men's golf,^[156] and women's basketball teams each won one in their histories.^[157] Additionally, the 21 teams that compete in the Big East Conference have combined for a total of 46 conference championships and another 18 regular season championships.^[158]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Notre Dame, Our Mother

[edit] External links

• http://www.nd.edu — Official university site
• http://und.cstv.com — Official Notre Dame athletics site
• University of Notre Dame Online

• University of Notre Dame is at coordinates 41°42′11″N 86°14′20″W / 41.702995, -86.238972Coordinates: 41°42′11″N 86°14′20″W / 41.702995, -86.238972

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