The History of
the University of Michigan
(Taken from the U of M
site)
The University of Michigan was founded in 1817 as one of
the first public universities in the nation. It was first
established on 1,920 acres of land ceded by the Ojibwa,
Ottawa, Potawatomi and Shawnee people "...for a
college at Detroit." The school moved from Detroit
to Ann Arbor in 1837, when Ann Arbor was only 13 years
old. The city had a booming population of 2,000, a
courthouse and jail, a bank, four churches and two mills.
It had been established in 1824 by two Easterners, John
Allen and Elisha Rumsey. The town was named to honor the
wives of the founders, Mary Ann Rumsey and Ann Allen, and
the natural arbor created by the massive oaks in the area.
It took four years to build the necessary facilities for
the new campus in Ann Arbor. The buildings consisted of
four faculty homes and one classroom-dormitory building.
(One of the homes is still standing and is now the
President's house.) Cows owned by the faculty grazed over
much of campus. As late as 1845 the campus was covered in
the summer with a crop of wheat, grown by a janitor as
part of his remuneration. Faculty families harvested
peaches from the orchard of the old Rumsey farm, and a
wooden fence ran along the edge of campus to keep
University cows in and city cows out.
In its first year in Ann Arbor, the University had two
professors and seven students. There were more Regents (nineteen)
than faculty and students combined. The reorganized
University did not have a president, but the faculty
elected a presiding officer each year from their own
ranks.
Freshmen entering in 1841 (women were not admitted to the
University until 1870) took admissions examinations in
mathematics, geography, Latin, Greek, and other subjects.
They also had to furnish "satisfactory testimonials
of good moral character." Students paid an initial
admissions fee of ten dollars but no tuition.
Twenty-five years after the move to Ann Arbor, in 1866,
the University of Michigan became the largest university
in the country, with 1205 enrolled students. In 1867, the
enrollment reached an all-time high of 1255 students. At
that time, the University was comprised of the Medicine
Department, with 525 students; the Law Department, with
395 students; and the Literary Department, with 335
students. There were 33 faculty members.
Today, the University of Michigan remains one of the most
distinguished universities in the world and a leader in
higher education. It is one of only two public
institutions consistently ranked in the nation's top ten
universities, with over 51,000 students and 5,600 faculty
at three campuses. The University of Michigan boasts of
one of the largest health care complexes in the world,
the best university library system in the country, and
the most computer access for students and faculty of any
campus in the world. Over 5,500 undergraduate courses are
taught each term in over 100 programs. Undergraduate,
graduate and professional students have a choice of 17
separate schools and colleges, 588 majors, over 600
student organizations, 350 concerts and recitals every
year, as well as hundreds of speakers, symposia, films,
and readings.
The students at the University of Michigan come from all
50 states and over 100 foreign countries from Afghanistan
to Zimbabwe. Almost 50 percent come from the top five
percent of their graduating high school class and 66
percent are in the top tenth of their class. U-M is the
largest pre-med and pre-law university in the country;
more Michigan students are accepted into U.S. medical
schools than are students from any other undergraduate
campus in the nation.
Michigan's teaching and research staff is considered one
of the top five faculties in the country. They include an
astronaut, distinguished world authorities, Pulitzer
Prize winners, internationally acclaimed performing
artists and composers, Supreme Court Justices, best-selling
novelists, artists, and filmmakers. Michigan has more
than 100 named endowed chairs.
Michigan receives over $374 million in research
expenditures annually, the largest research expenditure
for any university in the country. The diversity of the
University's research activities, from medical to social
to cultural, is a major contributor of Michigan's
capacity for growth and development. And, through their
teachers, Michigan students are often among the first to
learn the applications of such research findings.
The University of Michigan's size, complexity and
academic strength, its impressive array of resources and
opportunities, the quality of its faculty and research
institutes
All these elements contribute to the rich environment
where students learn and challenge themselves as they
come into contact with people, cultures and ideas from
all over the world.
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