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Bradley University is a private, co-educational university located in Peoria, Illinois. It is a medium sized institution with an enrollment of approximately 6,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

History

The Bradley Polytechnic Institute was founded by philanthropist Lydia Moss Bradley in 1897 in memory of her husband Tobias and their six children, all of whom died early and suddenly, making Bradley a childless widow. In 1896, Bradley was introduced to the president of the University of Chicago, who convinced her to move ahead with her plans to establish the institute. Bradley provided seventeen and a half acres of land, $170,000 for buildings, equipment, and a library, and $30,000 per year for operating expenses.

Originally, the institute was organized as a four-year academy as well as a two-year college. There was only one other high school in the city of Peoria at the time. By 1899 the institute had expanded to accommodate nearly 500 pupils, and study fields included biology, chemistry, food work, sewing, English, German, French, Latin, Greek, history, manual arts, drawing, mathematics, and physics. By 1920 the institute dropped the academy orientation and adopted a four-year collegial program. Enrollment continued to grow over the coming decades and the name Bradley University was adopted in 1946. *

Academics

Bradley University was recently ranked 4th among Midwestern comprehensive masters-degree-granting universities in the 2005 edition of America's Best Colleges published by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, Bradley's Department of Industrial Engineering was ranked second among colleges that do not grant PhDs. *

Bradley University was named 24th on the list of "Top 25 Most Connected Campuses" and "Top 25 Most Entrepreneurial Campuses" in the nation by The Princeton Review and Forbes magazine.

The College of Education at Bradley University is NCATE-approved. Additionally, of the nation’s 3623 colleges and universities, Bradley University's Foster College of Business Administration is one of only 160 schools whose business and accounting programs are both accredited by AACSB International. [http://www.bradley.edu/fcba/about/about.shtml

Bradley University is organized into the following colleges and schools:

Undergraduate School

  • College of Education and Health Sciences
  • College of Engineering and Technology
  • College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Foster College of Business Administration
  • Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts
  • Academic Exploration Program (AEP), for students without a declared major.

Graduate School

Bradley University offers master's degrees through the Foster College of Business Administration, Slane College of Communication and Fine Arts, College of Engineering and Technology, and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as master's and doctoral degrees in the College of Education and Health Sciences.

Forensics

Bradley University boasts the nation's most prolific college forensics team, with their American Forensics Association Championship winning streak from 1980 through 2000 only broken in 1994 and 1995. ** Originally established as an Oratorical Competition in 1897 by founder Lydia Moss Bradley, the Speech Team has become the most successful intercollegiate team in history. In 2005, Bradley won its 38th national championship title at the National Forensic Association tournament at the University of Akron. The team, consisting of nearly thirty Bradley students, won by one of the largest margins in history.

Since 1979, Bradley University has had one hundred and fifteen individual national champions. No other team has attained as many individual national champions. Since 1980, Bradley has won nationals thirty-three times, and is the only team to have won both the American Forensics Association Tournament and the National Forensics Association Tournament more than once. This record of success is unmatched by any other college forensics team in the nation.

Campus

Confined to 75 acres on Peoria's west side and only minutes from the city's downtown, the campus of Bradley University is relatively compact when compared to other universities which may enjoy a more isolated setting. Consequentially, there are few places on campus which cannot be reached from any other part of campus in under ten minutes. Bradley's student housing is concentrated on the campus's east side, and the dormitories include College (all women's), Geisert, Harper, Heitz, University, Williams, and Wyckoff Halls. There is also a complex of singles dormitories and two university-owned apartment complexes. *

Bradley chapters of the North-American Interfraternity Conference, National Panhellenic Conference, and National Pan-Hellenic Council are primarily located on the south side of campus.

North-American Interfraternity Conference chapters

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Bradley University".

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