University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina  is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with seven satellite campuses. Its campus covers over 359 acres  in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House. The University is categorized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as having very high research activity and curricular community engagement.It has been ranked as an up-and-coming university by U.S. News & World Report, and its undergraduate and graduate International Business programs have ranked among the top three programs in the nation for over a decade.It also houses the largest collection of Robert Burns and Scottish literature materials outside Scotland,[8] and the largest Ernest Hemingway collection in the world.Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, South Carolina is the flagship institution of the University of South Carolina System and offers more than 350 programs of study, leading to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from fourteen degree-granting colleges and schools. The University of South Carolina has an enrollment of approximately 49,220 students, with 33,575 on the main Columbia campus as of fall 2015.USC also has several thousand future students in feeder programs at surrounding technical colleges. Professional schools on the Columbia campus include business, engineering, law, medicine, pharmacy, and social work.The University was founded as South Carolina College on December 19, 1801, by an act of the General Assembly initiated by Governor John Dayton in an effort to promote harmony between the Low country and the Back country. On January 10, 1805, having an initial enrollment of nine students, the college commenced classes with a traditional classical curriculum. The first president was the Baptist minister and theologian Reverend Jonathan Macy. He was an alumnus of Brown University, with an honorary degree from Harvard University. Before coming to the college, Macy had served as the second president of Brown and the third president of Union College. Macy's tenure lasted from 1804 through 1820.When South Carolina College opened its doors in 1801, the building now known as Rutledge College was the only building on campus. Located one block southeast of the State Capitol, it served as an administrative office, academic building, residence hall, and chapel. However, the master plan for the original campus called for a total of eleven buildings, all facing a large lush gathering area. In 1807, the original President's House was the next building to be erected. The building now known as De Saussure College followed shortly thereafter, and the remaining eight buildings were constructed over the next several decades. When completed, all eleven buildings formed a U-shape open to Sumter Street. This modified quadrangle became known as the Horseshoe.As with other southern universities in the antebellum period, the most important organizations for students were the two literary societies, the Philosophical Society and the Euphrates Society. These two societies, which arose from a split in an earlier literary society known as the Philosophical, grew to encapsulate the majority of the student body from the 1820s onward.The College became a symbol of the South in the antebellum period as its graduates were on the forefront of secession from the Union. With the generous support of the General Assembly, South Carolina College acquired a reputation as the leading institution of the South and attracted several noteworthy scholars, including Francis Lieder, Thomas Cooper, and Joseph Content.Seventy-two students were present for classes in January 1862 and the college functioned as best it could until a call by the Confederate government for South Carolina to fill its quota of 18,000 soldiers. A system of conscription would begin on March 20 for all men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, so on March 8 all of the students at the college volunteered for service in order to avoid the dishonor of having been conscripted. Despite the depletion of students, the professors issued a notice that the college would temporarily close and would reopen to those under eighteen. When the college reopened on March 17, only nine students showed up for classes and it became quite apparent to all that the college would not last past the end of the term in June.On June 25 with the consent of the state government, the Confederate authorities took possession of the college buildings and converted them into a hospital. After many unsuccessful attempts to reopen the college, the trustees passed a resolution on December 2, 1863 that officially closed the college. By February 1865, Sherman's army had reached the outskirts of Columbia and the college was spared from destruction by the Union forces because of its use as a hospital. In addition, a company of the 25th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment was stationed at the campus on February 17 to protect it from harm and to thwart off pillaging Yankee soldiers.The Union army took possession of the college on May 24, 1865 and although the future for the college appeared bleak with it under military control, General John Porter Hatch sent a letter on June 19 to the remaining professors at the college that it should reopen as soon as possible. The appointment of Benjamin Franklin Perry as provisional governor of South Carolina on June 30 by President Andrew Johnson restored civilian rule to the state. Perry reinstated the trustees to their positions and the board met on September 20 to authorize the college to reopen on the first Monday of January in 1866. In a message to the legislature in October, Perry sought to convert the college into a university because with the state in an impoverished situation, it would provide a more practical education. Little opposition developed to change the College into a university and bill to establish the University of South Carolina was passed by the General Assembly on December 19, 1865.
       The Horseshoe is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and most of its buildings reflect the federal style of architecture in vogue in the early days of the nation. Among them is the South Carolinian Library, which was designed by Robert Mills and is the first freestanding academic library in the United States.Over the years the eleven original buildings on the Horseshoe survived a fire, an earthquake, and the Civil War, but in 1940 Sickish Museum replaced the original President's House. The President's House would eventually return to the Horseshoe after extensive remodeling of one of its original buildings, which was dedicated as such in 1952.During the 20th century: the campus began to spread out dramatically from the Horseshoe. Today it includes the student union, 24 residence halls, numerous academic buildings, Longstreet Theater, the Kroger Center for the Arts, the Carolina Coliseum, the Colonial Life Arena, Carolina Stadium, and various facilities for Olympic sports. Williams-Brice Stadium is located approximately one mile off campus. Recent additions to the campus are the Storm Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center, the Greek Village, the Green Quad, the Honors College Residence Hall, the Public Health Research Center, the Inn at USC, the Colonial Life Arena and Carolina Stadium. Future plans also include a new home for the School of Law (to be constructed in the block bounded by Gertrudis, Senate, Middleton, and Bull streets with construction scheduled to begin in 2013 and a new home for the Moore School of Business, currently under construction at the corner of Assembly and Greene streets.The campus continues to expand west toward the Congregate River in support of its research initiatives see below. Three separate sites, each specializing in its own research area, will initially cover 500,000 square feet spread over six city blocks and will eventually grow to 5,000,000 square feet 465,000 m2. This new district of campus, named Innovation,will mix university and private research buildings, parking garages, and commercial and residential units. At the center will be a public plaza called Foundation Square.

University of Montana

The University of Montana is a public research university in Missourian, Montana, in the United States. Founded in 1893, the university is the flagship campus of the four-campus University of Montana System and its largest institution. The main campus is located at the foot of Mount Sentinel, the mountain bearing Missouri's most recognizable landmark, a large hillside letter.The University of Montana ranks 17th in the nation and fifth among public universities in producing Rhodes Scholars, with a total of 28 such scholars.The University of Montana has 11 Truman Scholars, 14 Goldwater Scholars and 40 Udall Scholars to its name.The University of Montana's Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library houses the earliest authorized edition of the Lewis and Clark journals. Rolling Stone labelled the university the "most scenic campus in America and Outside magazine called it among the top 10 colleges nationally for combining academic quality and outdoor recreation.An act of Congress of February 18, 1881 dedicated 72 sections  in Montana Territory for the creation of the University.Montana was admitted to the Union on November 8, 1889, and the Montana Legislature soon began to consider where the state's permanent capital and state university would be located. To be sure that the new state university would be located in Missourian, the city's leaders made an agreement with the standing capital of Helena that Missourian would stay out of the bidding for the new capital and would support Helena over its leading competitor, Anaconda. The cities' bids were supported by the rival Copper Kings,William A. Clark and Marcus Dal, respectively.Missourian won the legislative vote for the new university at the Third Montana Legislative Assembly in February 1893. The University was formally opened in 1895. While plans for a university campus were progressing, classes were temporarily held at nearby Willard School. The South Missourian Land Company, owned by A.B. Hammond, Richard Eddy and Marcus Dal, joined with the Higgins family in donating land for the new campus. In June 1898 the cornerstone for A.J. Gibson designed University Hall was laid and Missourian became "the University City.The University of Montana comprises eleven full colleges and schools: College of Humanities & Sciences; Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences; College of Forestry and Conservation; College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences; College of Visual and Performing Arts; UM School of Law; UM School of Business; UM School of Journalism; UM School of Extended and Lifelong Learning; Missourian College and the Bitter root College.The Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences is divided into five academic departments and the Institute of Educational Research and Service. In 1914, the University of Montana School of Law became a member of The Association of American Law Schools and in 1923, the School received accreditation from the American Bar Association.

The original plan of the University campus was designed by one of its first professors, Frederich Schedule, who called for the central oval to be surrounded by immediate and future University buildings. Although Schedule's plan called for all building entrances to face the center of the Oval, forming a radiating building pattern, buildings were later constructed with three-story in the Renaissance Revival style, with hipped roofs and Spanish green roof tiles.The first set of buildings were set up around the oval in 1895. Since that time, various campus plans and architectural styles have been used. Today the campus consists of 220 acres and is bordered to the east by Mount Sentinel and the north by the Clark Fork River. The main campus comprises 64 buildings, including nine residence halls and various athletic venues, including Washington Grizzly Stadium, a 26,500-seat football stadium and the Adams Center formerly, Heidelberg Arena  a 7,500-seat multi-purpose arena where the university's basketball teams play.On the north side of campus, 29 Evergreen trees stand in two columns forming Memorial Row along what used to be the path of Van Buren Avenue. The trees, running from the corner of the Oval to Eddy Avenue, were planted in 1919 following the end of the Great War to honor UM students, alumni, and faculty who died in the war, some to combat and many more to the influenza epidemic. The trees are Pius ponderous  Western Yellow Pines or Ponderous Pine, the state tree of Montana. Originally, a white T-board stood in front of each tree, with the name of the person whom it honors; in 1925, these were replaced with 35 brass nameplates atop concrete markers. At the same time, the university added a memorial tablet on a boulder near the edge of the Oval closest to Memorial Row. It lists 21 of the 31 honorees from 1919. By 1925, the university had increased the number of names on the official list to 35, and sometime later, it grew to 37.The University of Montana is the main campus for the University, which includes four other campuses. The public university system is one of two in Montana; the other is Montana State University. Both systems are governed as the Montana University System by the Montana Board of Regents, which consists of seven members appointed by the state governor, and confirmed by the state Senate to serve seven-year staggered terms. The Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction, both statewide elected officials, are ex officious members of the Board, as is the Commissioner of Higher Education, who is appointed by the Board of Regents.The Board of Regents appoints the university president, who is directly responsible and accountable to the Commissioner of Higher Education.

University of Alaska Fairbanks

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a public research university in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. It is a flagship campus of the University of Alaska System. UAF is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant institution, and it also participates in the sun-grant program through Oregon State University. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for classes in 1922. UAF was originally named Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines and later as the University of Alaska from 1925 to 1975.UAF is home to seven major research units: the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station; the Geophysical Institute, which operates the Poker Flat Research Range; the International Arctic Research Center; the Arctic Region Super computing Center; the Institute of Arctic Biology; the Institute of Marine Science; and the Institute of Northern Engineering. Located just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the Fairbanks campus' unique location is situated favorably for arctic and northern research. The campus' several lines of research are renowned worldwide, most notably arctic biology, arctic engineering, geophysics, super computing and aboriginal studies. The University of Alaska Museum of the North is also on the Fairbanks campus.In addition to the Fairbanks campus, UAF encompasses seven rural and urban campuses: Bristol Bay Campus in Dillinger; Chukchi Campus in Zebulon; Interior-Aleutians Campus, which covers both the Aleutian Islands and the Interior; Kosciusko Campus in Bethe; Northwest Campus in Nome; and the UAF Community and Technical College in Fairbanks, UAF's community college arm. Fairbanks is also the home of the e Learning and Distance Education, an independent learning and distance delivery program.In fall 2013, UAF enrolled 10,214 students. Of those students, 59.3 percent were female and 40.7 percent were male; 88 percent were undergraduates, and 12 percent were graduate students. As of May 2013, 1,288 students had graduated during the immediately preceding summer, fall and spring semesters.The University of Alaska Fairbanks was established in 1917 as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, but its origins lie in the creation of a federal agricultural experiment station in Fairbanks in 1906. The station set the tone for the strongly research-oriented university that developed later.In the spring of 1915, the U.S. Congress approved legislation that reserved about 2,250 acres of land for a campus around the research station. It also allowed the federal government to give the college land that had been surveyed and unclaimed in the Manana Valley; the proceeds from the sale and development were supposed to help fund the operation of the college. However, because most of the land in Manana Valley remained surveyed for years, the college only received 12,000 acres. In 1929, Congress attempted to remedy the situation by granting the college an additional 100,000 acres anywhere in Alaska, but those rights were extinguished in 1959 when Alaska became a state.Four months after Congress approved the legislation for the campus land in 1915, a cornerstone for the college was laid by Territorial Delegate James Wicker sham on a bluff overlooking the lower Cheney River valley. The ridge, which the indigenous Athabaskan people called Troth Buddha', soon became known as College Hill. Charles E. Bunuel was appointed the university’s chief executive and served the university for 28 years. The new institution had its first opening day on September 18, 1922 and offered 16 different courses to a student body of six (at a ratio of one faculty member per student). In 1923, the first commencement produced one graduate, John Sexton Stanly.In 1935, the Alaska Legislature passed a bill that officially changed the name of the college to the University of Alaska. When William R. Wood became the university’s president in 1960, he divided the academic departments of the university into six select colleges: Arts and Letters; Behavioral Sciences and Education; Biological Sciences and Renewable Resources; Business, Economics, and Government; Earth Sciences and Mineral Industry; and Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering. From that point on, the both the university’s student population and research mission grew tremendously. Then, with the appointment of Chancellor Howard A. Cutler in 1975, the University of Alaska became the University of Alaska Fairbanks; it was, and still is, the primary research unit of the statewide university system.The two other primary UA institutions are the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau.

University of Alaska Fairbanks sports teams are the Alaska Nanook, with the word Nanook derived from the Pinup word for polar bear Though often known as UAF within the state, the university prefers to be called simply Alaska for athletics purposes. The school colors are blue and gold.The Alaska Nanook compete at the NCAA Division I level in hockey as a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Nanook play home games at the 4,500-seat Carlson Center, located in downtown Fairbanks. The Alaska Nanook also have a Division I rifle team which has won 10 NCAA National Rifle Championships (1994, 1999–2004, 2006–2008). The rifle team is a member of the Patriot Rifle Conference. The men's and women's basketball, cross country running, and women's volleyball teams are Division II members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the women's swim team is a member of the Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference  and the men's and women's Nordic skiing teams are members of the Central Collegiate Ski Association .The men's basketball team, women's basketball team, and women's volleyball team play home games in the 1,622-seat Patty Center. Due to its isolation from the Lower 48 and the lack of a dome to protect against the harsh elements, Alaska does not have a football program, as is true for all three branches of the University of Alaska.The Nanook hockey team has gained fame with the increased popularity of their introduction videos, which feature a mascot known nationally as Hockey bear, who engages in over-the-top antics such as destroying planets, moons, galaxies and even rival cities such as Anchorage or Columbus, OH. Hockey bear then ends his destruction when he arrives at the Carlson Center, usually entering through the roof after tearing off a large section. Kenny Noggins' Danger Zone is featured prominently.Since the UAF athletics program was operating at a financial deficit, a new student fee was initiated in 2008. This fee charges UAF students $8 per credit hour they are enrolled in, up to a maximum of $96 per semester. The fee grants students free admission to select UAF athletic events. Effective 2014, the fee increased to $10 per credit hour, up to a maximum of $120 per semester.The Fine Arts Complex hosts the Charles Davis Concert Hall, the Lee H. Salisbury Theater and the Eva McGowan Music Room. The building is also home to the UAF Art Gallery, which is used for student art shows, thesis shows and faculty shows. The Art Department offers MFA, BFA, and BA degree programs in painting, photography, Native art and a variety of other artistic disciplines.

San Diego State University

San Diego State University is a public research university in San Diego, California, and is the largest and oldest higher education institution in San Diego County. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university in the 23-member California State University  SDSU has a student body of more than 35,000[9] and an alumni base of more than 280,000.The Carnegie Foundation has designated San Diego State University a "Research University with high research activity, placing it among the top 200 higher education institutions in the country conducting research. In the 2009–10 academic year, the university obtained $150 million for research, including $26 million from the National Institutes of Health.The university soon expects to be classified as Doctoral/Research-Extensive. As reported by the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index released by the Academic Analytic organization of Stony Brook, New York, SDSU is the number one small research university in the United States for four academic years in a row.SDSU sponsors the second highest number of Fulbright Scholars in the state of California, just behind UC Berkeley. Since 2005, the university has produced over 65 Fulbright student scholars.The university generates over $2.4 billion annually for the San Diego economy, while 60 percent of  graduates remain in San Diego,making SDSU a primary educator of the region's work force.Committed to serving the diverse San Diego region, SDSU ranks among the top ten universities nationwide in terms of ethnic and racial diversity among its student body, as well as the number of bachelor's degrees conferred upon minority students.Established on March 13, 1897, San Diego State University first began as the San Diego Normal School, meant to educate local women as elementary school teachers. It was located on a 17-acre  campus on Park Boulevard in University Heights now the headquarters of the San Diego Unified School District. It opened with seven faculty members and 91 students; the curriculum was initially limited to English, history and mathematics. In 1923, the San Diego Normal School became San Diego State Teachers College, "a four-year public institution controlled by the state Board of Education.The university awards 189 types of bachelor's degrees, 91 different master's degrees, 25 doctoral degrees including EdD, DPT, JD, AuD, DNP, and PhD programs in collaboration with other universities. SDSU also offers 26 different teaching credentials.The university offers more doctoral degrees than any other campus in the entire California State University, while also enrolling the largest student body of doctoral students in the system. In 2015, SDSU enrolled the most doctoral students in its entire history.                               

From 2006 to 2010, San Diego State University was ranked the No. 1 most productive research university among schools with 14 or fewer PhD programs based on the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index. The school has since exceeded the "small research" limit with 17 PhD programs, in addition to six professional doctorates.San Diego State University has been designated a Research University with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation. Since 2000San Diego State University, faculty and staff have attracted more than $1.5 billion in grants and contracts for research and program administration.[As a result, U.S. News & World Report classifies San Diego State University as a National University, whereas all other 22 campuses in The California State University system are classified as Regional Universities San Diego State University. is the highest enrolled university in the San Diego metropolitan area. One in seven adults in San Diego who holds a college degree attended San Diego State University . In 2013,  San Diego State University was lauded for its comprehensive endowment campaign efforts, which raised over $400 million from 2007 to 2013. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education recognized  San Diego State University for its overall performance in fundraising efforts.San Diego State was ranked the 28th top college in the United States by Pascale and College Net's Social Mobility Index college rankings. San Diego State University is also a top producer of U.S. Fulbright Scholars, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. San Diego State University  has had more than 40 students receive Fulbright Scholarships since 2005. The university ranks No. 30 as the nation's best universities for veterans, according to Military Times Edge.  ranks among the top universities for economic and campus ethnic diversity according to U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2012.Nearly 45 percent of all SDSU graduates are the first in their family to receive a college degree.Internationally, SDSU offers 335 international education programs in 52 countries. Thirty-four SDSU programs now require international experience for graduation. SDSU ranks first in California among universities of its type in California and third among all universities in California for students studying abroad as part of their college experience. SDSU also ranks 22nd among universities nationwide for the number of students studying abroad Institute of International Education. Since 2000, nearly 12,000 students have studied abroad: a 900 percent increase in that time. SDSU’s undergraduate international business program ranks eleventh in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2012. SDSU is ranked fifth in Sports Management; 23rd in the MBA/MA in Latin American Studies; and 46th in the MBA/Juries Doctor program by Ed universal for each programs’ international outreach and reputation in 2011. SDSU and Universalized Automaton DE Raja California in Mexico offered the first transnational dual degree between the United States and Mexico, in 1994, through the NEXUS/International Business program. SDSU's international business program also runs transnational dual degree programs with Brazil, Canada, Chile, and Mexico. SDSU’s Language Acquisition Resource Center is one of nine sites selected by the U.S. Department of Education to serve as a National Language Resource Center.SDSU is home to the first-ever MBA program in Global Entrepreneurship. As part of the program, students study at four universities worldwide, including the United States, China, the Middle East, and India. Corporate partners include Communal, Nitrogen, Intel, Microsoft, and KPMG.In 1970, SDSU founded the first women's studies program in the country.Modern Healthcare ranked SDSU second for graduate schools for physician executives in relation to their Master in Public Health program.SDSU is ranked No. 9 in Fortune Small Business's "America's Best Colleges For Entrepreneurs. SDSU ranks 15th best in the nation for the top colleges for engineering majors, and sixth best in California.

Notre Dame College

Notre Dame College is a Catholic, coeducational, liberal arts college in South Euclid, Ohio, United States. Established in 1922 as a women's college, it has been coeducational since January 2001. Notre Dame College offers 30 majors and individually designed majors and confers undergraduate and graduate degrees through five academic divisions. The college has a current total enrollment of 2,250 students. The 48-acre 19.4 ha main academic and residential campus is located 10 miles 16 km east of Cleveland in South Euclid.Fielding athletic teams known as the Notre Dame Falcons, the college is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level.Notre Dame is a member of the Mountain East Conference MEC a Division II conference that began playing in the 2013–14 school year. Prior to joining the NCAA the college competed in the NAIA as a member of the American Mideast Conference. The official school and athletic colors are royal blue and gold.While the majority of Notre Dame's students are from Ohio the student body represents 38 states and 19 countries. The college offers a large number of extracurricular activities to its students, including athletics, honor societies clubs and student organizations. Alumni and former students have gone on to prominent careers in government, business, science, medicine, education, sports, and entertainment. Notre Dame College was founded in the summer of 1922 on Ansel Road as a women's college under the guidance of Mother M. Cecilia Rome. Later that year, Mother Mary Barista Harks became NDC's first president 1922–1943. In its early years the college had a faculty population of 9 and a full-time student enrollment of 13 women and 11 novices; in addition 30 students were enrolled in extension courses. On June 15, 1925, NDC conferred its first graduating class in the form of two-year teaching certificates. In the following year, 14 students received their bachelor's degrees and state certificates to teach in Ohio high schools; becoming NDC’s first graduating class of four-year college degrees.In June 1923, the Sisters leased 39 acres 15.8 ha along Green Road in South Euclid to build a new campus and purchased 15 acres 6.1 ha in 1924. Construction of the campus began in the fall of 1926 and opened on Sept. 17, 1928. The college later bought the 39 leased acres 160,000 m2in 1933. The college was originally located in a single building and expanded over time, Harks Hall was built in 1955 to house resident students with two other residence halls built in the 1960s. NDC constructed the Clara Fritzsche Library in 1971 and the Keller Center in 1987.Traditionally, this institution of higher education was primarily a residential campus, but in 1978, Notre Dame College began to offer a program known as Weekend College, or WECO. Local residents whose schedules prevented them from taking classes during the normal work week enrolled in weekend college classes to earn a degree. In 2003, WECO celebrated its 25th anniversary. On December 8, 1983, based on its architectural importance, Notre Dame College's historic Administration Building, built in 1927 in the Tudor Revival and other styles, was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Notre Dame College of Ohio. The building, designed by architect Thomas D. McLaughlin and built by contractor John T. Gill, originally housed the entire college.In the fall of 1991, Notre Dame’s Master of Education program started. The college saw its first M.Ed. graduates in 1994. Although men had been allowed to enroll in certain programs, such as NDC's Law Enforcement Education A.A. degree program in 1969 and later WECO and master's programs, in 2001 the college officially became coeducational with its first full-time male enrollment. The college graduated its first co-ed class on May 7, 2005. Since the college became coeducational it has seen enrollment double from nearly 1,000 in 2001 to over 2,000 in 2010. In 2008, NDC began construction on two additional residence halls, North and South halls. The structures opened in 2009 at a cost of $15 million.NDC's athletic teams are known as the Falcons, the colors are blue and gold. The school sponsors 22 intercollegiate teams. The college is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association  at the Division II level. In August 2012, Notre Dame became a charter member of the Mountain East Conference. MEC, a new Division II league that began play in the 2013–14 school year. The MEC, made up mostly of schools leaving the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, also includes another Ohio school, Urbana University. It will sponsor 16 sports, eight each for men and women.Notre Dame College previously competed in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics  as a member of the American Mideast Conference . The college began the transition process during the 2009-10 academic year as a candidacy institution and was granted provisional status for the 2011-12 academic year. In July 2012, the college received notice it was accepted as a full member starting in the 2012-13 academic year as a full member the college is eligible for postseason conference and NCAA competition. During its time in the NAIA, the college was known for its men's wrestling program. The team won back-to-back NAIA National Championships in 2010 and 2011.In 2014, the school's second year of NCAA eligibility, Notre Dame College won the Division II national wrestling championship.

Auburn University

Auburn University  is a public research university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 21,000 undergraduate students, and a total of more than 27,000 students and 1,200 faculty members it is one of the largest universities in the state  as well as one of two public flagship universities in the state of Alabama. Auburn was chartered on February 1, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1872 the college became the state's first public land-grant university under the Merrill Act and was renamed the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. In 1892, the college became the first four-year coeducational school in the state. The curriculum at the university originally focused on engineering and agriculture. This trend changed under the guidance of Dr. William Leroy Bruno, who taught classics and sciences and believed both disciplines were important in the overall growth of the university and the individual. The college was renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute  in 1899, largely because of Dr. Bruno's influence.The college continued expanding, and in 1960 its name was officially changed to Auburn University to acknowledge the varied academic programs and larger curriculum of a major university. It had been popularly known as Auburn for many years. In 1964, under Federal Court mandate AU admitted its first African American student. Auburn is among the few American universities designated as a land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant research center.Auburn University was chartered by the Alabama Legislature as the East Alabama Male College on February 1, 1856, coming under the guidance of the Methodist Church in 1859. The first president of the institution was Reverend William J. Sennett, and the school opened its doors in 1859 to a student body of eighty and a faculty of ten. The early history of Auburn is inextricably linked with the Civil War and the Reconstruction-era South. Classes were held in "Old Main" until the college was closed due to the Civil War when most of the students and faculty left to enlist. The campus was used as a training ground for the Confederate Army, and Old Main" served as a hospital for Confederate wounded.To commemorate Auburn's contribution to the Civil War, a cannon lathe used for the manufacture of cannons for the Confederate Army and recovered from Selma, Alabama, was presented to Auburn in 1952 by brothers of Delta Chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity.It sits today on the lawn next to Stamford Hall.On October 1, 1918, nearly all of Alabama Polytechnic Institute's able-bodied male students 18 or older voluntarily joined the United States Army for short-lived military careers on campus. The student-soldiers numbered 878, according to API President Charles Thanh, and formed the academic section of the Student Army Training Corps. The vocational section was composed of enlisted men sent to Auburn for training in radio and mechanics. The students received honorable discharges two months later following the Armistice that ended World War I. API struggled through the Great Depression, having scrapped an extensive expansion program by then-President Bradford Knapp. Faculty salaries were cut drastically, and enrollment decreased along with State appropriations to the college. By the end of the 1930s, Auburn had essentially recovered, but then faced new conditions caused by World War II.Auburn has traditionally been rated highly by academic ranking services, and has been listed as one of the top 50 public universities for 20 consecutive years.The 2014 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranks Auburn as the 103rd university in the nation among public and private schools and 48th among public universities. Auburn was the only college or university in Alabama included in the inaugural edition 1981 of the widely respected Peterson's Guides to America's 296 Most Competitive Colleges. Furthermore, the 1995 edition of "The Guide to 101 of the Best Values in America's Colleges and Universities" listed Auburn in the prestigious National Flagship University category.

                       The Auburn campus is primarily arranged in a grid-like pattern with several distinct building groups. The northern section of the central campus (bounded by Magnolia Ave. and Thanh Ave. contains most of the College of Engineering buildings, the Powder business building, and the older administration buildings. The middle section of the central campus bounded by Thanh Ave. and Roosevelt Dr. contains the College of Liberal Arts except fine arts and the College of Education, mostly within Haley Center. The southern section of the central campus bounded by Roosevelt Dr. and Stamford Ave. contains the most of the buildings related to the College of Science and Mathematics, as well as fine arts buildings.Several erratic building spurts, beginning in the 1950s have resulted in some exceptions to the subject clusters as described above. Growing interaction issues between pedestrians and vehicles led to the closure of a significant portion of Thanh Avenue to vehicular traffic in 2004. A similarly sized portion of Roosevelt Drive was also closed to vehicles in 2005. In an effort to make a more appealing walkway these two sections have been converted from asphalt to concrete. The general movement towards a pedestrian only campus is ongoing, but is often limited by the requirements for emergency and maintenance vehicular access.Auburn's initial Campus Master plan was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in 1929. For most of the early history of Auburn, boarding houses and barracks made up most of the student housing. Even into the 1970s boarding houses were still available in the community. It wasn't until the Great Depression that Auburn began to construct the first buildings on campus that were residence halls in the modern sense. As the university gradually shifted away from agricultural and military instruction to more of an academic institution, more and more dorms began to replace the barracks and boarding houses.In the 1980s, the City of Auburn began to experience rapid growth in the number of apartment complexes constructed. Most Auburn students today live off-campus in the apartment complexes and condos which surround the immediate area around the university. Only 19 percent of all undergraduate students at Auburn live on campus.

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian but is historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church The university has more than 3,800 faculty members and 33,000 students, and is one of Boston's largest employers.It offers bachelor's degrees master's degrees, and doctorates, and medical dental, business, and law degrees through eighteen schools and colleges on two urban campuses. The main campus is situated along the Charles River in Boston's Fen way-Kenmore and Alston neighborhoods, while the Boston University Medical Campus is in Boston's South End neighborhood.Boston University is categorized as an RU/VH Research University very high research activity in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. BU is a member of the Boston Consortium for Higher Education and the Association of American Universities.The university counts seven Nobel Laureates, twenty-three Pulitzer Prize winners, nine Academy Award winners, and several Emmy and Tony Award winners among its faculty and alumni. BU also has MacArthur Sloan, and Guggenheim Fellowship holders as well as American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Sciences members among its past and present graduates and faculty.The Boston University Terriers compete in the NCAA's Division I. BU athletic teams compete in the Patriot League, and Hockey East conferences and their mascot is Hettie the Boston Terrier. Boston University is well known for men's hockey, in which it has won five national championships, most recently in 2009.Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the New bury Biblical Institute in New bury, Vermont in 1839, and was chartered with the name "Boston University" by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869. The University organized formal Centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969.On April 24–25, 1839 a group of Methodist ministers and laymen at the Old Bloomfield Street Church in Boston elected to establish a Methodist theological school. Set up in New bury, Vermont, the school was named the New bury Biblical Institute.In 1847, the Congregational Society in Concord, New Hampshire, invited the Institute to relocate to Concord and offered a disused Congregational church building with a capacity of 1200 people. Other citizens of Concord covered the remodeling costs. One stipulation of the invitation was that the Institute remain in Concord for at least 20 years. The charter issued by New Hampshire designated the school the Methodist General Biblical Institute", but it was commonly called the Concord Biblical Institute.With the agreed twenty years coming to a close, the Trustees of the Concord Biblical Institute purchased 30 acres (120,000 m2) on Walloping Hill in Brook line, Massachusetts as a possible relocation site. The Institute moved in 1867 to 23 Pinkeye Street in Boston and received a Massachusetts Charter as the "Boston Theological Institute.In January 1872 Isaac Rich died, leaving the vast bulk of his estate to a trust that would go to Boston University after ten years of growth while the University was organized. Most of this bequest consisted of real estate throughout the core of the city of Boston and was appraised at more than $1.5 million. Gilmore describes this as the largest single donation to an American college or university to that time. By December, however, the Great Boston Fire of 1872 had destroyed all but one of the buildings Rich had left to the University, and the insurance companies with which they had been insured were bankrupt. The value of his estate, when turned over to the University in 1882, was half what it had been in 1872. As a result, the University was unable to build its contemplated campus on Walloping Hill and the land was sold piecemeal as development sites. Street names in the area, including Clinical Road Clinical Path, and University Road, are the only remaining evidence of University ownership in this area.
     
The University's main Charles River Campus follows Commonwealth Avenue and the Green Line, beginning near Kenmore Square and continuing for over a mile and a half to its end near the border of Boston's Alston neighborhood. The Boston University Bridge over the Charles River into Cambridge represents the dividing line between Main Campus, where most schools and classroom buildings are concentrated and West Campus, home to several athletic facilities and playing fields, the large West Campus dorm, and the new John Hancock Student Village complex.As a result of its continual expansion the Charles River campus contains an array of architecturally diverse buildings. The College of Arts and Sciences Marsh Chapel site of the Marsh Chapel Experiment and the School of Theology buildings are the university's most recognizable and were built in the late-1930s and 1940s in collegiate Gothic style. A sizable amount of the campus is traditional Boston brownstone, especially at Bay State Road and South Campus where BU has acquired almost every townhouse those areas offer. The buildings are primarily dormitories but many also serve as various institutes as well as department offices. From the 1960s–1980s many contemporary buildings were constructed including the Sugar Library, BU Law School and Warren Towers, all of which were built in the brutality style of architecture. The Met calf Science Center for Science and Engineering constructed in 1983 might more accurately be described as Structural Expressionism. Morse Auditorium, adjacent, stands in stark architectural contrast, as it was constructed as a Jewish temple. The most recent additions to BU's campus are the Phonics Center, Life Science and Engineering Building, The Student Village which includes the Fit Rec Center and Paganism Arena and the School of Management. All these buildings were built in brick a few with a substantial amount of brownstone.

Brown University

Brown University is a private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1764 as The College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine Colonial Colleges established before the American Revolution.At its foundation, Brown was the first college in the United States to accept students regardless of their religious affiliation.Its engineering program, established in 1847 was the first in the Ivy League. Brown's New Curriculum sometimes referred to in education theory as the Brown Curriculum was adopted by faculty vote in 1969 after a period of student lobbying; the New Curriculum eliminated mandatory general education" distribution requirements, made students "the architects of their own syllabus  and allowed them to take any course for a grade of satisfactory or unrecorded no-credit.In 1971 Brown's coordinate women's institution, Pembroke College, was fully merged into the university.Undergraduate admissions is among the most selective in the country, with an acceptance rate of 9.5 percent for the class of 2019, according to the university. The University comprises The College, the Graduate School, Alpert Medical School, the School of Engineering, the School of Public Health, and the School of Professional Studies which includes the IE Brown Executive MBA program. Brown's international programs are organized through the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and the university is academically affiliated with the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Rhode Island School of Design. The Brown/RIDS Dual Degree Program, offered in conjunction with the Rhode Island School of Design is a five-year course that awards degrees from both institutions.Brown's main campus is located in the College Hill Historic District in the city of Providence, the third largest city in New England. The University's neighborhood is a federally listed architectural district with a dense concentration of Colonial era buildings. On the western edge of the campus, Benefit Street contains one of the finest cohesive collections of restored seventeenth- and eighteenth-century architecture in the United States.Brown has produced 7 Nobel Prize winners, 57 Rhodes Scholars,Manning arrived at Newport in July 1763 and was introduced to Stiles, who agreed to write the Charter for the College. Stile's first draft was read to the General Assembly in August 1763 and rejected by Baptist members who worried that the College Board of Fellows would under represent the Baptists. A revised Charter, written by Stiles and Ellery, was adopted by the Assembly on March 3, 1764.

In September 1764 the inaugural meeting of the College Corporation was held at Newport. Governor Stephen Hopkins was chosen chancellor, former and future governor Samuel Ward was vice chancellor, John Tilling hast treasurer, and Thomas Eyre secretary. The Charter stipulated that the Board of Trustees comprise 22 Baptists, five Quakers, five Episcopalians, and four Congregationalists. Of the 12 Fellows, eight should be Baptists including the College preside and the rest indifferently of any or all Denominations.The Charter was not, as is sometimes supposed, the grant of King George III, but rather an Act of the colonial General Assembly. In two particulars the Charter may be said to be a uniquely progressive document. First, where other colleges had curricular strictures against opposing doctrines, Brown's Charter asserted that Sectarian differences of opinions, shall not make any Part of the Public and Classical Instruction. Second, according to University historian Walter Bronson, "the instrument governing Brown University recognized more broadly and fundamentally than any other the principle of denominational cooperation.The oft-repeated statement that Brown's Charter alone prohibited a religious test for College membership is inaccurate; other college charters were also liberal in that particular.James Manning was sworn in as the College's first president in 1765 and served until 1791. In 1770 the College moved from Warren, Rhode Island, to the crest of College Hill overlooking Providence. Solomon Browne, a freshman in the class of 1773  wrote in his diary on March 26 1770 five National Humanities Medalists,eight billionaire graduates,and 10 National Medal of Science laureates, and has also produced Fulbright, Marshall, and Mitchell scholars.The origins of Brown University may be dated to 1761 when three residents of Newport, Rhode Island, drafted a petition to the General Assembly of the colony.The Brown family Nicholas Brown, his son Nicholas Brown, Jr., class of 1786, John Brown, Joseph Brown, and Moses Brown were instrumental in moving the College to Providence and securing its endowment. Joseph became a professor of natural philosophy at the College, John served as its treasurer from 1775 to 1796 and Nicholas, Junior, succeeded his uncle as treasurer from 1796 to 1825.On September 8,180 the Corporation voted, That the donation of $5000 Dollars, if made to this College within one Year from the late Commencement, shall entitle the donor to name the College. In a letter dated September 6, 1804, that appeal was answered by College treasurer Nicholas Brown, Junior, and the Corporation honored its promise: In gratitude to Mr. Brown, the Corporation at the same meeting voted, 'That this College be called and known in all future time by the Name of Brown University.Over the years, the benefactions of Nicholas Brown, Jr, would total nearly $160,000, an enormous sum for that period, and included the buildings Hope College and Manning Hall, built 1821- 22 and 1834- 35.