University of Iowa

The University of Iowa (also known as the UI, U of I, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 1847, Iowa is the oldest university in the state. The University of Iowa is the flag ship university for the state of Iowa. The University of Iowa is organized into eleven colleges offering more than 200 areas of study and seven professional degrees.

The Iowa campus spans 1,700 acres centered along the banks of the Iowa River and includes the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, named one of "America’s Best Hospitals" for the 25th year in a row. The university was the original developer of the Master of Fine Arts degree and it operates the world-renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Iowa has very high research activity, and is a member of several research coalitions, including the prestigious Association of American Universities, the Universities Research Association, and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. The Iowa alumni network exceeds 250,000, and the university budgeted revenues and expenses of $3.513 billion for 2015.

The University of Iowa's athletic teams, the Hawkeyes, compete in Division I of the NCAA and are members of the Big Ten Conference. The Hawkeyes field 24 varsity teams and have won 27 national championships.

> History

The University of Iowa was founded on February 25, 1847, just 59 days after Iowa was admitted to the Union. The Constitution of the State of Iowa refers to a State University to be established in Iowa City "without branches at any other place." The legal name of the university is the State University of Iowa, but the Board of Regents approved using the "University of Iowa" for everyday usage in October 1964.

The first faculty offered instruction at the university beginning in March 1855 to students in the Old Mechanics Building, located where Seashore Hall is now. In September 1855, there were 124 students, of whom forty-one were women. The 1856–57 catalogue listed nine departments offering ancient languages, modern languages, intellectual philosophy, moral philosophy, history, natural history, mathematics, natural philosophy, and chemistry. The first president of the university was Amos Dean.

The original campus consisted of the Iowa Old Capitol Building and the 10 acres (40,000 m2) (4.05 hectares) of land on which it stood. Following the placing of the cornerstone July 4, 1840, the building housed the Fifth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa (December 5, 1842) and then became the first capitol building of the State of Iowa on December 28, 1846. Until that date, it had been the third capitol of the Territory of Iowa. When the capitol of Iowa was moved to Des Moines in 1857, the Old Capitol became the first permanent "home" of the University.

In 1855, Iowa became the first public university in the United States to admit men and women on an equal basis. In addition, Iowa was the world's first university to accept creative work in theater, writing, music, and art on an equal basis with academic research

The university was one of the first institutions in America to grant a law degree to a woman (Mary B. Hickey Wilkinson, 1873), to grant a law degree to an African American (G. Alexander Clark in 1879), and to put an African American on a varsity athletic squad (Frank Holbrook in 1895). The university offered its first doctorate in 1898.

The university was the first state university to recognize the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Allied Union (in 1970).

The University of Iowa established the first law school west of the Mississippi River, and it was also the first university to use television in education, in 1932, and it pioneered in the field of standardized testing. Also, the University of Iowa was the first Big Ten institution to promote an African American to the position of administrative vice president. (Phillip Hubbard, promoted in 1966)

A shooting took place on campus on November 1, 1991. Six people died in the shooting, including the perpetrator, and one other person was wounded, making it the fifth-deadliest university shooting in United States history, tied with a shooting at Northern Illinois University.

In the summer of 2008 flood waters breached the Coralville Reservoir spillway, damaging more than 20 major campus buildings. Several weeks after the flood waters receded university officials placed a preliminary estimate on flood damage at $231.75 million. Later, the university estimated that repairs would cost about $743 million.

Later in 2008, UNESCO designated Iowa City the world's third City of Literature, making it part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

On January 26, 2015 the University and the AIB College of Business in Des Moines, Iowa announced that the college would become the Des Moines campus of the University of Iowa.


> Campus

The University of Iowa's main campus, located in Iowa City, was originally designed by architect D. Elwood Cook. The campus is roughly bordered by Park Road and U.S. Highway 6 to the north and Dubuque and Gilbert Streets to the east. The Iowa River flows through the campus, dividing it into west and east sides.

Of architectural note is the Pentacrest at the center of The University of Iowa campus. The Pentacrest comprises five major campus buildings: Old Capitol, Schaeffer Hall, MacLean Hall, Macbride Hall, and Jessup Hall. The Old Capitol was once the home of the state legislature and the primary government building for the State of Iowa, but is now the symbolic heart of the university with a restored ceremonial legislative chamber and a museum of Iowa history.

Also on the eastern side of campus are five residence halls (Burge, Daum, Stanley, Currier, and Mayflower), the Iowa Memorial Union, the Women's Resource & Action Center, the Pappajohn Business Building, Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences, the Lindquist Center (home of the College of Education), Phillips Hall (the foreign language building), Van Allen Hall (home to physics and astronomy), the English-Philosophy Building, the Becker Communication Building, the Adler Journalism Building, and the buildings for biology, chemistry, geology & environmental sciences, and psychology. The Main Library can also be found on the east side.

The Colleges of Law, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Public Health are on the western side of the Iowa River, along with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the Theatre Building, and Voxman Music Building. Additionally, six residence halls (Hillcrest, Slater, Rienow, Quadrangle, Parklawn, and Petersen), Kinnick Stadium, and Carver-Hawkeye Arena are located on the west campus.

The Oakdale Campus, which is home to some of the university's research facilities and the driving simulator, is located north of Interstate 80 in adjacent Coralville.

The flood of 2008 had a major impact on a number of campus buildings, forcing many buildings to temporarily close. The Iowa Memorial Union was closed for a period of time, and the ground floor of this building underwent a major renovation to repair the damage. The arts campus, which included Hancher Auditorium, Voxman, Clapp Recital Hall, and the Theatre Building, was hit especially hard. The Theatre Building has since reopened, but the music facilities have not. Music classes were for a short time held in temporary trailers, and now music classrooms are spread throughout campus. Recently, a University task force suggested to state regents that Hancher be rebuilt near its current site on the West bank of the Iowa River and Voxman and Clapp be built nearer to the main campus on South Clinton Street.