Loading AI tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Motto | see blue. |
---|---|
Type | Flagship Public University Land-grant |
Established | 1865 |
Endowment | $992 million[1] |
President | Eli Capilouto |
Provost | Tim Tracy |
Students | 29,385 (2013-14)[2] |
Undergraduates | 21,441 (2013-14)[3] |
Postgraduates | 6,994 (2013-14)[3] |
Location | , , |
Campus | Urban, 784 acres (3.17 km2)[4] |
Colors | Blue and White ¦[5] |
Nickname | Wildcats |
Affiliations | APLU ORAU SURA |
Mascot | "The Wildcat," "Scratch"[5][6] |
Website | www |
![]() | This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. For guidance on developing this draft, see Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
![]() | It has been suggested that this page be merged into University of Kentucky. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2021. |
The University of Kentucky (UK) is a public co-educational university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky,[7] the university is one of the state's two land-grant universities, the largest college or university in the state, with 29,385[2] students as of Fall 2013, and the highest ranked research university in the state according to U.S. News and World Report.[4][8]
The institution comprises 16 colleges, a graduate school, 93 undergraduate programs, 99 master programs, 66 doctoral programs, and four professional programs.[9] The University of Kentucky has fifteen libraries on campus. The largest is William T. Young Library, a federal depository, hosting subjects related to social sciences, humanities, and life sciences collections. In recent years, the university has focused expenditures increasingly on research, following a compact formed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1997. The directive mandated that the university become a Top 20 public research institution, in terms of an overall ranking to be determined by the university itself, by the year 2020.[10]
Following the Civil War, Kentucky University of Harrodsburg and Transylvania University of Lexington had suffered a fire and financial disruption respectively; to aid in recovery, the institutions merged and reorganized into several constituent colleges.[11] As part of this reorganization, in 1865, John Bryan Bowman founded the Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) College of Kentucky under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.[12] He purchased the Ashland and Woodland estates in Lexington for the newly established school.[11] Four years later, James Kennedy Patterson became presiding officer of A&M and eventually the first President of the successive university.[12]
Amid concerns regarding a religious university presiding over a federal land-grant college, A&M College separated from Kentucky University in 1878.[13] Lexington donated a 52-acre park on the then-outskirts of the city for the new school to build a campus.[12][14] On February 15, 1882, the first three buildings were dedicated and occupied; of these three, only the Main Building remains.[12][15] The land donation and Main Building today form the core of UK’s campus.[12]
Campus life quickly took shape and students formed a football team in 1892; from that early team came both the school’s official colors (“blue like Dick Stoll’s necktie”) and mascot (as the team “fought like wildcats.”) Coeducational from its early days, the institution first admitted women in 1880 and the first female student graduated eight years later.[12]
To reflect its growth and expansion, A&M College became State University, Lexington, Kentucky, in 1908. Eight years later, the state legislature again changed the school’s name to the University of Kentucky.[12]
Patterson Hall, the school's first women's dormitory, was constructed in 1904. Residents had to cross a swampy depression, where The Student Center now stands, to reach central campus.[7] Four years later, the school's name was changed to the "State University, Lexington, Kentucky" upon reaching university status, and then to the "University of Kentucky" in 1916.[7] The University led to the creation of the College of Home Economics in 1916, and Mary E. Sweeney was promoted from chair of the Department of Home Economics to Dean of the College. (Later renamed the College of Human Environmental Sciences, this educational unit was folded into the College of Agriculture in 2003 as the School of Human Environmental Sciences). The College of Commerce was established in 1925, known today as the Gatton College of Business and Economics.[16]
In 1929, Memorial Hall was completed, dedicated to the 2,756 Kentuckians who died in World War I.[17] This was followed up by the new King Library, which opened in 1931 and was named for a long-time library director, Margaret I. King.[17] The university became racially integrated in 1949 when Lyman T. Johnson, an African American, won a lawsuit to be admitted to the graduate program.[18][19]
In 1939, Governor Happy Chandler appointed the first woman trustee on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, Georgia M. Blazer of Ashland.[20] She served from 1939 to 1960. In 1962, Blazer Hall was opened as the Georgia M Blazer Hall [dormitory] for Women in tribute to her twenty-one years of service as a University of Kentucky trustee.[21][22]
Ground was broken for the Albert B. Chandler Hospital in 1955,when Governor of Kentucky Happy Chandler recommended that the Kentucky General Assembly appropriate $5 million for the creation of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and a medical center at the university.[23] This was completed after a series of studies were conducted that highlighted the health needs of the citizens, as well as the need to train more physicians for the state. Five years later, the College of Medicine and College of Nursing opened, followed by the College of Dentistry in 1962.[16]
Nine years after the founding of The Northern Extension Center in Covington, representing the Ashland Independent School Board of Education,[24] Ashland attorney Henderson Dysard and Ashland Oil & Refining Company founder and CEO Paul G. Blazer presented a proposal to President Dickey and the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees for the University to take over the day-to-day operations and curriculum of the Ashland [municipal] Junior College, creating the Ashland Center of the University of Kentucky in 1957.[25] University of Kentucky Extension Centers in Fort Knox (1958), Cumberland (1960), and Henderson (1960) followed.
In 1959, the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce opened and began training professionals at the masters and doctoral level for careers in international affairs. The program was the vision of UK's first president James Kennedy Patterson who had identified the need for the United States to develop a cadre of professionals to advance its diplomatic and commercial interests around the globe. Patterson bequeathed his entire estate to establish this entity.
Authorized by the Kentucky General Assembly and signed by Governor Bert Combs on March 6, 1962, a mandate was placed upon the University of Kentucky to form a community college system.[17] Two years later, the Board of Trustees implements the legislation and established the Community College System, creating centers in Covington, Ashland, Fort Knox, Cumberland, Henderson and Elizabethtown. In 1969, the Patterson Office Tower was completed, currently the tallest building on campus.
In May 1970, students at the university began protesting the shootings at Kent State University.[17][26] In response, Governor Louie Nunn deferred to the National Guard in an attempt to disperse the protesters. An outdated ROTC building was destroyed by fire. The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries has 13 oral history interviews with participants in the protests, university officials as well as former governor Nunn. Nine years later, the Singletary Center for the Arts opened, named in honor of former university president Otis Singletary.[17] In 1979, the University of Kentucky hosted the first Kentucky Women Writers Conference, which is now the longest-running conference of its kind. The Kentucky Women Writers Conference is now in its 31st year.[when?]
In 1997, the Kentucky General Assembly reorganized the community college system, withdrawing the university's jurisdiction from all but the Lexington Community College.[17] The other colleges were merged with the Kentucky Technical College system and were placed under a separate board of control.
On April 3, 1998, work began on the William T. Young Library, which was the largest university project at the time of completion.[27] The six-level William T. Young Library was constructed on south campus and the largest book endowment among all public university libraries in the country.[28] Nine-years later, on April 13, 2007, an entire city block of neighborhood homes were demolished and ground was broken for the Biological Pharmaceutical Complex Building, the largest academic building in the state of Kentucky, and one of the largest in the United States.[29]
The Biological Pharmaceutical Complex Building complements the adjacent Biomedical Biological Science Research Building, and is expected to be part of the new university research campus.[30] Other recent announcements include the construction of the new $450 million Albert B. Chandler Hospital, which will was one of the largest projects in the state's history in terms of size and economic impact.[23]
In 1997, the Kentucky General Assembly formed a compact with the university. The Top 20 Plan mandates that the University of Kentucky becomes a Top 20 public research university by 2020.[10] According to the compact, states with "Top 20" universities feature higher average household incomes, higher education attainments, healthier lives and more financial security.[31] As a result, fewer citizens live in poverty and as a result, fewer public dollars are spent on health care.[10] The plan would also spur technological advancements due to university-based research and increase the marketability of the state to investors.
As part of the "Top 20" plan, the university plans to,[10]
The "Top 20" plan has already produced results,[31]
In 2000, to help finance the "Top 20" plan, the university launched "The Campaign for the University of Kentucky", a $600 million fundraising effort that was used to "enhance facilities, academic programs, public service, and scholarships."[28] It passed that goal and the effort was raised to $1 billion. In March 2007, $1.022 billion was raised, months before the fundraising effort was set to end.[33]
According to the Statewide Facilities Condition Assessment Report released on April 4, 2007, the University needs $12.5 billion to complete the 1997 mandate to become a "Top 20" institution.[34]
The University of Kentucky currently has an endowment of $831.8 million, as of 2007.[35] Prior endowments were $538.4 million in 2005 and $195.1 million in 1997, the rapid increases partially attributed to the "Top 20" Plan.[31] Currently, the William T. Young Library book endowment is the largest among public universities in the United States.[28] The University of Kentucky hosts the annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference. The 2008 conference (April 17–19) was the 61st annual.
Academic rankings | |
---|---|
National | |
Forbes[36] | 257 |
U.S. News & World Report[37] | 129 |
Washington Monthly[38] | 206 |
Global | |
ARWU[39] | 250 |
QS[40] | 401-450 |
THE[41] | 301-350 |
Students are divided into 16 colleges, a graduate school, 93 undergraduate programs, 99 master programs, 66 doctoral programs, and four professional programs.[9] The University of Kentucky has fifteen libraries on campus. The largest is William T. Young Library, a federal depository, hosting subjects related to social sciences, humanities and life sciences collections. In recent years, the university has focused expenditures increasingly on research, following a compact formed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1997. The directive mandated that the university become a Top 20 public research institution, in terms of an overall ranking to be determined by the university itself, by the year 2020.[10]
Students are divided into several colleges based on their interests and specializations:
Students enrolled at the University who have no affiliation with a particular college are assigned to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and the advising unit, Undergraduate Studies, in the Division of Undergraduate Education.
Other colleges no longer in existence at the University of Kentucky include the College of Library Science (separating out of the College of Arts & Sciences in 1968 and incorporated in 2003 into what is now the College of Communication and Information) and the College of Home Economics (created in 1916 and whose founding dean was Mary E. Sweeney) now a School of Human Environmental Sciences located within the College of Agriculture.[43]
The Honors Program at the University of Kentucky began in 1961. It offers interdisciplinary, seminar-style classes of 15-20 students each as well as "H-section" classes that accelerate common course offerings such as chemistry, biology, and physics. The program is intended to supplement the individual interests of the students. Students are offered priority registration, dedicated advising, the opportunity to engage in undergraduate research from their first semesters on campus, and are directed to other honorific programs of excellence, including the Chellgren Fellows program, the Gaines Fellowship in the Humanities, the University Scholars Program (which allows simultaneous undergraduate and graduate study), and external scholarship opportunities. Additionally, students are offered assistance with fellowship applications, scholarship applications, study abroad opportunities, and/or service learning interests, among other things.[44]
The University of Kentucky is a member of the SEC Academic Consortium. Now renamed the SECU, the initiative was a collaborative endeavor designed to promote research, scholarship and achievement amongst the member universities in the Southeastern conference. The SECU formed its mission to serve as a means to bolster collaborative academic endeavors of Southeastern Conference universities. Its goals include highlighting the endeavors and achievements of SEC faculty, students and its universities and advancing the academic reputation of SEC universities.[45][46]
In 2013, the University of Kentucky participated in the SEC Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia which was organized and led by the University of Georgia and the UGA Bioenergy Systems Research Institute. The topic of the Symposium was titled, the "Impact of the Southeast in the World's Renewable Energy Future."[47]
In fall 2013, the University of Kentucky boasted record high new student enrollment with 4,619 first-year students with an average ACT Composite score of 25.3. Also at a record high is the number of African-American, Hispanic, international and out-of-state students.[48] The University of Kentucky strives for a diverse and international student population, with a selective admissions process.
The University of Kentucky Student Government Association (UKSGA) represents all undergraduate, graduate and professional students enrolled at the University in several critical ways. UKSGA exists to increase student influence over academic policy and to provide many helpful, creative and necessary student services. UKSGA also exists to protect and expand student substantive and procedural rights with the University and surrounding municipalities. Finally, UKSGA exists to better represent the student body in relations with faculty, administration, Board of Trustees and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.[49]
Several of their current programs include:
Several distinguished Student Body Presidents include Governor Steve Beshear,[59] Supreme Court winning attorney Carson Porter,[60] and Board of Trustees Chair Britt Brockman.[61]
The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department was the home of one of the earliest college amateur radio stations in the United States, beginning with W4JP that began continuous operation prior to World War I.[62] In 1927, the station was relicensed as 9JL (later W9JL).[63]
Students currently run two independent FM stations. The first, 91.3 FM WUKY, is an Triple-A station and was the first university-owned FM radio station in the United States and Kentucky's first public radio station.[64] The operations started on October 17, 1940 as WBKY out of Beattyville, although the station moved five years later to Lexington.[64]
In 1971, WBKY was one of the first to carry NPR's "All Things Considered" and helped debut National Public Radio, changing its call letters to WUKY in 1989 to better reflect its affiliation with the university. In 2007, it became the first Lexington radio station to broadcast in high-definition digital radio.[64] The second is 88.1 FM WRFL which has been in operation since 1988.[65] WRFL is operated by students and broadcasts live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and features music that is spread across most genres.
The campus is also served by the Kentucky Kernel, a student-run, financially independent daily newspaper, with the first issue published in 1915.[66][67] The official yearbook of the University of Kentucky is the Kentuckian, first published in 1906.[17] The Kentuckian was preceded by at least one previous book, the Echo.
Nineteen sororities and twenty-five fraternities serve the university, representing over 3,000 students with a budget of $3.2 million per year.[68] The governing bodies include the National Pan-Hellenic Council, an organization for nine historically black organizations, international Greek assemblies, the National Panhellenic Conference for sororities and the Interfraternity Council for the fraternities.[69]
Fraternities | Sororities | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
University of Kentucky student-athletes compete as the Wildcats under colors Kentucky blue and white.
Beginning in the 1890s, students at the A&M scheduled football games with neighboring colleges.[70] In 1902, the women's basketball program began on campus,[70] and the men's team was added one year later. The "Wildcats" became associated with the university shortly after a football victory over Illinois on October 9, 1909.[5] The then-chief of the military department, Commandant Carbuiser, stated that the team had "fought like wildcats." The slogan was later adopted by the university, and a costumed mascot debuted in 1976.[5]
UK also boasts of a cross country national team championship (women's, 1988), eight individual championships in gymnastics, an Olympic medalist in track and field, and 19 national championships in cheerleading.[28] After defeating number-one ranked Oklahoma 13-7 in the Sugar Bowl under legendary coach Bear Bryant, Kentucky is also an NCAA-recognized co-national champion for the 1950 season.
Other athletic programs sponsored at the varsity level include baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country running, football, men's and women's golf, women's gymnastics, the coeducational sport of rifle, men's and women's soccer, women's softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field and women's volleyball.[71] The school also has a popular club-level men's ice hockey team and a rugby program that competes at the Division 1 level.
The University of Kentucky football coach is Mark Stoops, named the successor to Joker Phillips, who was the first African American football coach in Kentucky's history.
Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement, convocation and athletic games is the University of Kentucky fight song: On, On, U of K.[72] Additionally, the song Kentucky Fight[72] is played before games.
The men's basketball team first formed in 1903. In 1930, Adolph Rupp was hired as a basketball coach for the university, a position he held for 42 years. During his tenure, he led the team to four NCAA championships in 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958. Furthermore, in 1969, Kentucky became the first college team to win 1,000 games. The Wildcats later won a fifth championship under Joe B. Hall in 1978, another in 1996 under Rick Pitino, and the seventh under Orlando "Tubby" Smith in 1998. The current head coach, John Calipari, was hired on April 1, 2009. Since then, he has coached the team to its 2,000th win in 2009 (the first NCAA team to achieve such) and its eighth national title in 2012.[73]
The University of Kentucky cheerleading squad has won the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) National Championship an unrivaled twenty times: 1985, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014. They also hold the record for the most consecutive titles earned with eight (1995-2002) — no other school has more than two — and have finished in the top ten every year of the UCA National Championship. Furthermore, beyond their success in competition, the Kentucky squad has performed at halftimes of both Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat games.[74]
The University of Kentucky offers seven main dining facilities, 23 residence halls, and numerous recreation facilities spread between three distinct campuses: north, south, and central. It is also home to more than 250 student-run organizations. The annual cost per student to reside in the dormitories at the University of Kentucky in 2012 was $4,135.[75]
The university campus is home to numerous notable structures, such as Main Building, a four-story administration building dating to 1882,[17] which was gutted by fire on May 15, 2001. The cause of the blaze was attributed to a welders torch during repairs to the building's roof. Total costs for reconstruction after the fire exceeded $17 million. The Patterson Office Tower is the tallest building on campus. The university is also home to several major construction projects, including the Albert B. Chandler Hospital expansion.
The University of Kentucky once operated 14 community colleges with more than 100 extended sites, centers and campuses under the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, but relinquished control under the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997.[76] The network of community colleges is now known as the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Adjoining Lexington Community College, despite the reorganization of the community colleges, remained integrated with the university, but separated from the University of Kentucky in 2004 and became a part of KCTCS.
The College of Engineering currently operates a satellite campus in Paducah, located on the campus of West Kentucky Community and Technical College.[77]
The University of Kentucky is home to 15 campus libraries.[78] Among them is the William T. Young Library, which houses the university's social sciences, humanities and life sciences collections; the library also acts as a federal depository and a public library for the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
The University of Kentucky has several noteworthy landmarks:
The university has over 140,246 alumni in the state of Kentucky,[79] 216,737 in the United States,[80] and 1,119 internationally.[81] The University of Kentucky Alumni Association is the primary affiliation for former students and faculty, and is located at the corner of Rose Street and Euclid Avenue. The building, dedicated in 1963, is named for Helen G. King, the first permanent director of the association and was former "Miss University of Kentucky". The association also meets at Spindletop Hall, a large mansion along Iron Works Pike, which serves as a central alumni gathering point.[82]
The University of Kentucky boasts seven governors, including current Governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear, former Governor of Ohio Ted Strickland, former Governor of North Carolina Beverly Perdue, and former governors Ernie Fletcher, Paul E. Patton and Tom Jefferson Terral, and former governor, U.S. Senator and Commissioner of Major League Baseball Albert "Happy" Chandler. It also claims Ken Lucas, a former U.S. representative from the commonwealth's fourth congressional district, United Methodist Bishop Alfred W. Gwinn, current U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Carol Gatton, an automobile dealer executive and donor of the largest gift ever to the university, and Paul Chellgren, Chairman and CEO of Ashland Inc..[83] The university was also the home of Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan, a scientist and winner of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and William Lipscomb, 1976 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[17]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.