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The University of Idaho is the state's land-grant and primary research university, located in Moscow. Its official abbreviation is UI, but is informally referred to by students and alumni as either "U of I" or "the U of I."

It was formed by the Territorial Legislature of Idaho in January 1889, and opened its doors on October 3, 1892 with an initial class of 40 students. The first graduating class in 1896 contained two men and two women. Today, the university has an enrollment of over 12,000. The university offers 154 degree programs, from agribusiness to zoology, including bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and specialists' degrees. Certificates of completion are offered in 16 areas of study.

The University of Idaho has one of the most scenic campuses in the United States. The campus was originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (of the Olmsted family firm); the same firm that designed the U.S. Capitol grounds and Central Park in New York City. The campus is the largest in size in the state of Idaho.

Washington's land-grant institution, Washington State University, is located just eight miles west in Pullman.

History

  • January 30, 1889 - Governor Stevenson signs Territorial Legislature's Council Bill No. 20 establishing the University of Idaho
  • October 3, 1892 - University opens for classes
  • 1895 - Idaho legislature makes first appropriation of operating funds ($15,000) to the University
  • 1898 First graduate degree awarded
  • June 21, 1899 - UI opens first summer school in Pacific Northwest
  • 1901 - College of Agriculture opens
  • June 11, 1902 - Department of Domestic Science (later Home Economics) established, first in Pacific Northwest
  • March 30, 1906 - Administration building fire
  • 1909 - New Administration building opens
  • April 9, 1911 - Theodore Roosevelt is first U.S. President to visit campus
  • June 7, 1920 - School of Education established
  • March 26, 1938 - Eleanor Roosevelt speaks at Memorial Gym
  • November 2, 1957 - UI Library dedicated
  • November 1993 - University receives its own zip code: 83844
  • July 1, 2002 - Budget crisis forces reorganization; Letters & Science split, Mines and Art & Architecture merge into new colleges
  • October 24, 2002 - Albertson building dedicated

Source

Campus

According to the UI Fact Book, the Moscow campus is an astonishing 1,585 acres (6.4 km²) including 253 buildings with a replacement value of $812 million, 10 miles (16 km) of streets, 49 acres (198,000 m²) of parking lots, 1.22 miles (2 km) of bike paths, 22 computer labs, 150 acre (607,000 m²) golf course (18 holes), 80 acres (324,000 m²) of arboreta, and 860 acres (3.5 km²) of farms.

There are several distinctive areas on campus.

Idaho Commons
The Idaho Commons is the heart of campus, with lots of study space, wireless connectivity, laptops available for check-out, and many services. You'll find a huge food court, coffee shop, bookstore, copy center, bank and convenience store. The offices of the Associated Students of the University of Idaho (ASUI), Academics Assistance, and Student Support are all located here.

Student Union Building
The Student Union Building houses Financial Aid, Admissions, New Student Services, the Registrar's Office, the office of the Graduate & Professional Student Association(GPSA) and student meeting rooms. There is also wireless access, laptops available for check-out, and a student computer lab. The UI Bookstore is located directly across the street.

Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center
UI's multi-purpose "Kibbie Dome", home to Vandal Athletics and special events, is best appreciated from its interior. Both football and basketball are played here, as well as tennis and indoor track & field. Its Trus-Dek roof system uses wood and steel arches to span 400 feet (122 m) at a height of 150 feet (45 m). The roof was completed in 1975, enclosing the former outdoor venue known as Neale Stadium, which was damaged by fire in 1969 and rebuilt in 1971. The new roof won the 1976 America's Outstanding Structural Engineering Achievement award from the ASCE.

  • 17,000 bench seating
  • 7,000 basketball arena seating (called the Cowan Spectrum)
  • 7,500 concert seating

Arboretum and Botanical Garden
This 65 acre (263,000 m²) site features display gardens, ponds and a variety of trees and plants from Asia, Europe and North America.

Student Recreation Center
The 85,000 square feet (8,000 m²) Student Recreation Center boasts a 55 foot (17 m) freestanding climbing wall, the tallest at any college in the U.S. A huge weight training area, cardio, 6,000 square feet of climbing area, jogging track and two full size gyms.

UI Library
The UI Library is the state's largest, with more than 2.5 million books, periodicals, government documents and special collections. University of Idaho Library

Hello Walk
UI's Hello Walk perpetuates a tradition of friendliness that dates from the 1920s. Students today still greet each other with a "hello" on this walkway across the Administration Lawn.

Administration Building
The Tudor Gothic-style Administration Building (1909), with its 80 foot (24 m) clock tower, is a UI icon. In addition to many classrooms, the offices of the President and Provost are located here. The north wing was added in 1912, the south wing in 1916. The original building, of a different style with a single tall spire, burned in March 1906. Arson was suspected, but never proven.

Memorial Gymnasium
Memorial Gym is another UI icon known for its athletic gargoyles perched along the building's ledges. It was built as a memorial to the UI students and alumni who died in World War I (1917-1918). The original home of Vandal athletics, the "Mem Gym" is still in use today; the swim center and physical education buildings are adjacent to the south.

Under the Elms
Rare Camperdown elms line the walkway between the Music building, Child Development Center and Administration Building. These trees have been on campus for over 80 years and are among few of their kind in the Northwest. The Camperdown elm stands out because of its unusual shape. The weeping branches and knotty trunk are formed by being grafted upwards.

Student life

Campus housing
  • Coed housing
  • Men's housing
  • Women's housing
  • Apartments for married students
  • Apartments for single students
  • Cooperative housing
  • Fraternity/sorority housing
  • Special housing for disabled students
  • Special housing for international students

Transportation
All students are permitted to have cars on campus. Public transportation also serves the campus. The nearest airports are in Pullman (5 miles, 8 km), Lewiston (34 miles, 55 km) and Spokane (90 miles, 145 km). The nearest passenger train station is in Spokane, and the nearest bus station is in Moscow.

Student employment
School employment is available, with approximately 35% of undergraduates working on campus during the 2003 to 2004 academic year. The average amount undergraduates may expect to earn per year from part-time on-campus work is $2,340.

Campus events
The most popular cultural and campus events are the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Palousafest, and NCAA Division 1-A football and basketball in the Kibbie Dome.

Moscow
Moscow is a college town of about 21,000 residents. It is located in the rolling hills of the Palouse region of North Central Idaho. The UI campus is adjacent to the southwest side of town; most stores and restaurants are within easy walking distance.

Colleges

Since 1894, the University of Idaho has granted 66,348 Bachelor's Degrees, 17,120 Master's Degrees, 224 Honorary Degrees, 774 Specialist Degrees, 2,865 Law Degrees, and 1,983 Doctorate Degrees. The University is organized into nine colleges.

Degrees

154 undergraduate majors are offered, with a variety of emphases in many. UI also offers 71 master's programs and 25 doctoral degrees, and is home to the state of Idaho's only law school. For a list of majors, click this link Major Finder

Demographics

Moscow enrollment
  • Undergraduate - 8,723
  • Graduate - 1,836
  • Law - 302
  • Resident - 8,040
  • Non-resident - 3,401

Enrollment by college

  • Agricultural and Life Sciences - 1,011
  • Business and Economics - 1,205
  • Education - 2,096
  • Engineering - 1,789
  • Law - 302
  • Letters, Arts and Social Sciences - 3,862
  • Natural Resources - 751
  • Science - 773

Student demographics

  • Students enrolled from all 44 Idaho counties, 50 states and 92 countries
  • 645 international students
  • Student population is 54.2 percent male and 45.8 percent female
  • 69% In-state students
  • 31% Out-of-state students
  • 2% American Indian/Alaskan Native
  • 3% Asian/Pacific Islander
  • 1% African American/Non-Hispanic
  • 5% Hispanic
  • 84% White/Non-Hispanic
  • 1% Non-Resident Alien
  • 4% Race/ethnicity unreported
  • 80% had high school GPA of 3.0 and higher
  • 20% had high school GPA of 2.0 - 2.99

Athletics

The school's official colors are silver & gold (although black & gold are the prevalent colors for the athletic teams). Its teams, the Vandals, participate in the NCAA's Division I-A in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The intercollegiate athletic program offers Football, Basketball (men's & women's), Cross-Country (men's & women's), Golf (men's & women's), Indoor and Outdoor Track (men's & women's), Tennis (men's & women's), Volleyball (women's), Soccer (women's), and Swimming (women's).

UI joined the WAC in 2005. For the four previous seasons (2001-04), the UI football team was a member of the Sun Belt Conference, while all of the other Vandal teams competed in the Big West Conference which it joined in 1996. The Big West's other current members stopped playing football in 2001. Prior to the fall of 1996, UI competed in the Big Sky Conference, of which it was a charter member in 1963. The Big Sky has been a Division I-AA conference since the formation of I-AA in 1978. UI had competed with the present Pac-10 schools prior to 1959 in the old Pacific Coast Conference.

The University of Idaho has numerous facilities for the athletic program. The "Kibbie Dome" indoor stadium is also houses the department offices, locker rooms, weight room, and training facilities. The 16,000 seat arena is the venue for football and basketball (men’s & women's). The historic Memorial Gymnasium is the home for Idaho volleyball (women's) and basketball exhibition games. The Kibbie Dome's indoor facilities offer track & field and tennis a place to practice and compete with the five-lane, 290 meter track and nine tennis courts. Outdoor facilities include the university’s 18-hole championship golf course, 400 meter track & field stadium, numerous outdoor tennis courts, and athletic practice fields.

Since returning to Division I-A status in 1996, the University of Idaho has rekindled its rivalry with Washington State University, eight miles to the west in Pullman. UI has had a major in-state rivalry with Boise State University since 1970 (when BSU joined the Big Sky); Boise is 300 highway miles south of Moscow. UI also has an intense inter-state rivalry with the University of Montana, having played football 84 times (2nd to 89 games with Washington State). UI and Montana first played in 1903, and played every year (except 1918, 1943, and 1944 when neither school had a team) from 1914 - 1995. Idaho leads the overall series 55-27-2. The teams have only played 5 times since Idaho moved to I-A in 1996, with Montana winning the last 4, most recently in 2003. The winner of the UI-Montana game claims the "Little Brown Stein".

Olympic Bronze medalist in the men´s shot put, Joachim B. Olsen competed for the Vandals from 1999 to 2003. Dan O'Brien, a former member of the UI track team, won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, as well as multiple World Championships. The outdoor track stadium (immediately west of the Kibbie Dome) where O'Brien trained for these titles now bears his name.

Activities

Recognition

  • Yahoo! Internet Life magazine listed UI as among the top 13 of 200 most wired universities in the country.

  • Kiplinger magazine ranks the University of Idaho among the top 50 best values in public universities.
  • UI is consistently listed in such publications as How to Get an Ivy League Education at a State University and in America's 100 Best College Buys.

  • One of the 77 Best Value Colleges in the United States according to the Princeton Review. The ranking is based on data about academics, college costs and financial aid and includes information from both college administrators and students.

  • U.S. World & News Report magazine ranks UI in its top category of national universities having the widest range of undergraduate and graduate majors.

  • Intel ranked UI 33rd on its list of the 100 "Most Unwired College Campuses." An advanced campus network provides the freedom to wirelessly connect to the Internet in all academic buildings on campus.

  • Consumers Digest magazine ranked UI 24th on its list of "Top 50 Best Values for Public Colleges and Universities." UI was the only Idaho university to be ranked in the survey.

  • Outside magazine listed UI 29th on its list of Top 40 colleges offering the best in outdoor adventure.

Presidents

The following individuals have held the office of President of the University of Idaho.

James H. Forney, (Acting) 1891–1892
Franklin B. Gault 1892–1898
Joseph P. Blanton 1898–1900
James Alexander MacLean 1900–1913
Melvin A. Brannon 1914–1917
Ernest H. Lindley 1917–1920
Alfred H. Upham 1920–1928
Frederick J. Kelly 1928–1930
Mervin G. Neale 1930–1937
Harrison C. Dale 1937–1946
Jesse E. Buchanan 1946–1954
Donald R. Theophilus 1954–1965
Ernest W. Hartung 1965–1977
Richard D. Gibb 1977–1989
Elisabeth A. Zinser 1989–1995
Thomas O. Bell, (Acting) 1995–1996
Robert A. Hoover 1996–2003
Gary G. Michael, (Interim) 2003–2004
Timothy P. White 2004–

Famous alumni

External links

Land-grant universities | Space-grant universities | Western Athletic Conference | University of Idaho | アイダホ大学

 

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

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