Miami University

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This is an article about Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. For the article on the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, see University of Miami.

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Miami University, founded in 1809, is the second oldest public college west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is located in Oxford in southwestern Ohio about thirty miles northwest of Cincinnati. The Miami in this school's name refers to the Miami River valley, cut by two medium-sized rivers, the Little Miami River and the Great Miami River, that flow through southwestern Ohio; the rivers were in turn named after the Miami Indians who lived in the area before European settlement. Miami is currently ranked 26th among all public national universities and 66th among all American universities according to U.S. News and World Report. The school is sometimes referred to as 'Miami of Ohio', particularly among media outlets covering intercollegiate athletics. Miamians typically cite that Miami was a university when Florida belonged to Spain and note that the University of Miami was founded almost 120 years after Miami University.

Miami was named one of eight original "Public Ivys" in Richard Moll's 1985 book, The Public Ivys: America's Flagship Undergraduate Colleges. Miami is known as the "Cradle of Coaches" because several prominent football coaches worked there before achieving greater fame at more prominent college programs or the NFL. Among these coaches were Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, Weeb Ewbank, Bo Schembechler, and Ron Zook.

Miami graduated an American President (Benjamin Harrison), putting it in a prestigious category of a league of Presidential alma maters. Miami is only one of four colleges (Stanford, Michigan, and the U.S. Naval Academy) to produce both a U.S. President and a Superbowl winning quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger). It is also the alma mater of many Ohio Governors.

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For many years, the athletic teams at Miami were nicknamed Redskins, but in 1997, the nickname was changed to RedHawks. Some controversy surrounded this change and some aspects of the old identity persist. The RedHawks participate in NCAA Division I in all sports (I-A in football). Its primary conference is the Mid-American Conference; its hockey program competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Yager Stadium is home to Miami football.

Miami is also famous for its School of Education, the McGuffey School, named for Professor William Holmes McGuffey, who taught there and wrote America's most widely used pioneer text books - the McGuffey Readers - while at the school.

Miami University was first provided for under the Northwest Ordinance, which would regulate the free states of the Midwest. On May 5, 1792, "the President of the United States was authorized to grant letters patent to John Cleves Symmes and his associates . . . provided that the land grant should include one complete township . . . for the purpose of establishing an academy and other public schools and seminaries of learning. After Ohio became a state in 1803, the State legislature assumed responsibility for making sure that John Cleves Symmes would set aside a township of land for the support of an academy. Such a law was passed by the State legislature April 15, 1803. . . . Finally, on February 17, 1809, the State legislature created Miami University and provided that one complete township in the State of Ohio in the district of Cincinnati was to be vested in Miami University for its use, benefit, and support."[1] This was known as the "College Township".

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Miami was chartered by the government, but was considered a private college engaged in classical training. Antebellum Miami University took students from all over the West, and was known as the "Yale of the Early West". It was at one point the 4th largest university in the United States after Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth. As the East-West rivalries subsided, but the North-South rivalries surged, Miami University split apart at the time of the Civil War. Most graduates volunteered for the Union, more than any other school except the military academies. The majority of those that didn't, primarily from Southern states (such as Jefferson Davis' nephew) volunteered in the Confederate armies. Because its students had left for war, because many alumni and professors died in the War, because the West opened up to other universities, and because Southern families no longer sent their sons to the North for an education, "Old Miami" passed on and Miami University nearly died. The university, unable to pay its huge debts, closed in 1873 and did not reopen until 1885.

Image:Miamiu.jpg With the help of alumni and Ohio legislators, "New Miami" was restarted as a coeducational school of education and liberal arts. Although Ohio State University had been launched in the interim, Miami University gained a fair share of Ohio students by the 1890s, and by the 1950s had massively grown. The rural Oxford campus with Georgian architecture is considered to be similar to Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia campus and one of the most beautiful in the U.S; Robert Frost once called it "the prettiest campus there ever was." [2] Image:Muohiobelltower.jpg

Several women's colleges in Oxford were associated with or effectively merged with Miami University including Oxford College and the Western College for Women (now the Western College Program), a daughter school of Mount Holyoke. Miami University was coeducational long before most schools in the Ivy League. Miami has been a non-sectarian school as were other pioneer universities in the Midwest, though its early leaders were often Presbyterians.

Miami University's current enrollment is approximately 15,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students. In addition to its Oxford campus, Miami has additional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, Ohio, and a European Center in Luxembourg.

Miami University is known around the Greek World for the Miami Triad, three fraternities founded in the 19th Century that spread throughout the United States, and is called "Mother of Fraternities." These were Beta Theta Pi (1839), Sigma Chi (1855), and Phi Delta Theta (1848). The Delta Zeta sorority was also founded at Miami University in 1902 as was the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity in 1906.

The Oxford campus has become the first major public school in the United States to abolish tuition differentials between state residents and nonresidents. As of the 2004–05 academic year, all students pay tuition of over $19,000 per year, although Ohio residents are guaranteed scholarships of at least $10,000. [3]

Contents

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Campuses

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Divisions

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Alma Mater

Miami Glee Club singing the Miami Alma Mater

Old Miami from thy hillcrest, Thou hast watched the decades roll, While thy sons have quested from thee, Sturdy hearted, pure of soul. Old Miami! New Miami! Days of old and days to be; Weave the story of thy glory, Our Miami, here's to thee!

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Presidents of Miami

  1. Robert Hamilton Bishop, 1824-1841
  2. George Junkin, 1841-1844
  3. Erasmus D. MacMaster, 1845-1849
  4. William C. Anderson, 1849-1854
  5. Orange Nash Stoddard, 1854 (pro tempore)
  6. John W. Hall, 1854-1866
  7. Robert B. Stanton, 1866-1871
  8. Andrew D. Hepburn, 1871-1873 (pro tempore; later considered to be regular)
  9. Robert W. McFarland, 1885-1888 (pro tempore; later considered to be regular)
  10. Ethelbert D. Warfield, 1888-1891
  11. William Oxley Thompson, 1891-1899
  12. David Stanton Tappan, 1899-1902
  13. Guy Potter Benton, 1902-1911
  14. Edgar Ewing Brandon, 1909-1910 (acting), 1927-1928 (acting)
  15. Raymond M. Hughes, 1911-1913 (acting), 1913-1927
  16. Alfred H. Upham, 1928-1945
  17. Aldelphus K. Morris, 1945-1946 (acting)
  18. Ernest H. Hahne, 1946-1952
  19. John D. Millett, 1953-1964
  20. Charles Ray Wilson, 1964-1965 (acting)
  21. Phillip R. Shriver, 1965-1981
  22. Paul G. Pearson, 1981-1992
  23. Paul G. Risser, 1993-1995
  24. Anne Hopkins, December 1995-July 1996 (acting)
  25. Dr. James C. Garland, 1996-May 2006
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Mission statement

Image:Mudec.jpg The mission of Miami University is to preserve, add to, evaluate, and transmit the accumulated knowledge of the centuries; to develop critical thinking, extend the frontiers of knowledge, and serve society; and to provide an environment conducive to effective and inspired teaching and learning, promote professional development of faculty, and encourage scholarly research and creativity of faculty and students.

Miami's primary concern is its students. This concern is reflected in a broad array of efforts to develop the potential of each student. The University endeavors to individualize the educational experience. It provides personal and professional guidance; and, it offers opportunities for its students to achieve understanding and appreciation not only of their own culture but of the cultures of others as well. Selected undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs of quality should be offered with the expectation of students achieving a high level of competence and understanding and developing a personal value system. Since the legislation creating Miami University stated that a leading mission of the University was to promote "good education, virtue, religion, and morality," the University has been striving to emphasize the supreme importance of dealing with problems related to values.

Miami is committed to serve the community, state, and nation. It offers access to higher education, including continuing education, for those who can benefit from it, at a reasonable cost, without regard for race, creed, sex, or age. It educates men and women for responsible, informed citizenship, as well as for meaningful employment. It provides both disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the pursuit of knowledge and to the solving of problems. It sponsors a wide range of cultural and educational activities which have significance beyond the campus and the local community.[4]

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Athletics

Image:Muohiofootball.jpg Miami University has a rich history of intercollegiate athletics and today fields a Division 1-A athletic program in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division. There are men's sports teams for baseball, basketball, cross country, football, ice hockey, swimming and diving, and track and field. For women, Miami offers basketball, cross country, field hockey, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, volleyball, syncronized ice skating, track and field, and tennis. Miami is well known among the sports world for its reputation as the Cradle of Coaches.

Miami historically has had some of the highest graduation rates of student-athletes in the NCAA second only to the US Naval Academy. Football and Ice Hockey are the most popular according to the student body. Miami is a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). Fred Yager Stadium is the main football facility on the Oxford campus.

Miami has two college sports rivalries; one with the University of Cincinnati called the 'Battle for the Victory Bell' and another with Ohio University called the 'Battle of the Bricks'.

Image:Miami University Redhawks.png Miami and the University of Cincinnati square off each fall for the famed Victory Bell. The original bell hung in Miami's Harrison Hall (Old Main) near the site of the first football game in 1888 and was used to ring in Miami victories. The traveling trophy tradition began in the 1890's when some Cincinnati fans "borrowed" the bell. The bell went to the winner of the annual game for the next 40 years until it mysteriously disappeared in the 1930's. The original bell reappeared in 1946 and is on display in the lobby of the Murstein Alumni Center in Oxford. The current trophy is a replica of the original bell and is kept in the possession of the winning team each year. One side of the bell is painted red and black and shows Cincinnati's victories while the other side is red and white and shows Miami's victories. Miami leads the series 59-44-7 and has won three of the last four games.

The Miami-Cincinnati series ranks fifth on the list of the most played rivalries in college football and the oldest rivalry west of the Allegheny Mountains. Of the more than 30 rivalries that include at least 89 games, none are older than Miami vs. Cincinnati.

The Battle of the Bricks is an annual all-sports rivalry competition between the Ohio Bobcats and the Miami RedHawks athletic programs. The name "Battle of the Bricks" evolved from each school's reputation of a pristine campus of red brick buildings. Each varsity athletic competition in which the Bobcats and RedHawks meet including tournament play is counted as part of the years series record. At the conclusion of each academic year, the school with the most varsity wins takes the trophy back to their campus for the following year.

In August 2005, a new fan group was started by Miami students called Red Alert.

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Famous Miami Alumni

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Recognition

Image:Muohioharrison.jpg Miami University is currently ranked 26th among all 614 public colleges and universities in the United States according to U.S. News & World Report based on academic quality. The Fiske Guide To Colleges rates Miami with 4.5 stars out of a possible 5 and cites it as a "rising star among state universities". In 2006, Kiplinger ranked Miami 38th among all American public four-year universities for "top flight academics and affordable costs", the top ranking of an Ohio college. The Wall Street Journal listed Miami as one of the top feeder schools for 15 elite graduate programs in their article titled "Want to go to Harvard Law?"

The Kaplan-Newsweek College Catelog calls Miami a "hidden treasure-terrific schools that deserve more national attention". Miami is among an elite set of institutions that produced a Rhodes Scholar, Truman Scholar, and Goldwater Scholar in the same year. Other such institutions are Harvard University, Yale University, Duke University, Princeton University, Syracuse University, and the University of Washington. Because of academic reputation, Miami hosts one of the biggest collegiate career fairs attracting over 350 employers and a 2004 internal study revealed the primary reason students attended Miami was because of academic reputation.

In 2003, Miami was recognized by the Truman Scholarship Foundation as an honor institution for producing Truman Scholars. The only Ohio college, Miami shares this title with other elite programs like Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and Yale University.

In 2004, Miami's Alpha Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity was named the best undergraduate fraternity chapter by the North-American Interfraternity Conference. The National Association for College and University Food Services distinguished Miami with five awards as one of the best campus food services.

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Notable Campus Features

  • Beta Theta Pi Bell Tower
  • The Upham Arch
  • The Tri-Delt Sundial
  • McCracken Hall and Central Quad
  • Pulley Bell Tower
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Historic Landmarks

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Trivia

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  • The 1991 film Little Man Tate with Jodie Foster was largely filmed on the Oxford campus.
  • The replacement value of just the buildings alone on the Oxford campus is valuated at $1.3 billion (2005)
  • Miami indirectly in trying to acquire state funds in the 19th century helped the founding of The Ohio State University and the College of Wooster.
  • Miami's first two residence halls, Elliott and Stoddard Halls, are modelled after Yale University's Connecticut Hall built in 1750. They were originally named North and South Halls.
  • Over the years, Miami has absorbed two women's colleges located in Oxford: Oxford College and Western College for Women. During the 19th Century there were as many as five colleges in Oxford.
  • Miami University owns and operates a regional airport just west of Oxford to accommodate visitors, prospective families, and usage of the university airplane.
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External links

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References

  • Bert S. Barlow, W.H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, and Frederick Schneider, eds. Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio. Hamilton, Ohio: B.F. Bowen, 1905.

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