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The University of Tulsa is a private, comprehensive university awarding bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is ranked among the top 100 universities in the nation by US News and World Report and named by the Princeton Review as one of America's best universities. The university is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA.

History

The University of Tulsa was originally founded in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as the Presbyterian School for Indian Girls in 1882 under the leadership of Alice Mary Robertson, but was re-chartered as the Henry Kendall College in 1894 under the auspicies of the Presbyterian Women's Board of Home Missions. In 1907, the college moved to its current site in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A university was formed in 1920 when the college merged with the proposed McFarlin College to become the University of Tulsa.

Academics

The University of Tulsa is noted for having one of the world's premier programs in petroleum engineering, and has distinguished programs in English, computer science, natural sciences, Clinical and I/O Psychology, and several engineering disciplines. The university also maintains a school of lawwhich is one of the few to specialize in Native American legal issues. The University of Tulsa College of Law ReviewWashington and Lee University.[http://law.wlu.edu/library/mostcited/index.asp" target="_blank" >*

Currently, there are six colleges, programs, and departments at the University of Tulsa:

  • Henry Kendall College of Arts & Sciences
  • College of Business Administration
  • College of Engineering and Natural Sciences
  • College of Law
  • Graduate School
  • Division of Continuing Education

Reputation and rankings

In 2006, Tulsa was ranked tenth in "Quality of Life" by the Princeton Review's "The Best 361 Colleges" guide. The University of Tulsa also placed ninth among all colleges for "Happiest Students," was ranked thirteenth in the "Lots of Class/Race Interaction" category, and in "Town-Gown Relations" Tulsa was ranked fifth in the country. The study further added that “The University of Tulsa is one of the sleeper gems of the Great Plains, a private school large enough to house numerous top-flight programs but small enough to facilitate one-on-one instruction provided in a homey atmosphere.”

TU is one of 150 colleges to be included in the inaugural edition of “Colleges of Distinction” and is also included in "The Unofficial Biased Guide to the 331 Most Interesting Colleges, 2005 edition." Cosmo Girl magazine named TU one of the top 50 schools in the country for women in its October 2004 edition.

Campus

The campus of the University of Tulsa centers on a wide, grassy, quad-like space known as "The U." The predominant architectural style is English Gothic. Most of the buildings are constructed from tan and rose-colored Crab Orchard sandstone from Tennessee interspersed with stone quarried in Arkansas. Other materials include Bedford limestone from Indiana and slate quarried in Vermont.

McFarlin Library

At the top of The U sits one of the campus' most notable landmarks, the McFarlin Library, which is named after Robert and Ida McFarlin, the library's primary benefactors. Ground breaking ceremonies took place on May 3, 1929 and the edifice was dedicated on June 1, 1930. The library continued to grow over the years and had added two five-story additions by 1979. Currently, the library houses over three million items, and is noted for its excellent collections of twentieth-century British, Irish, and American literature, including the world's second largest collection of works by James Joyce. The library also houses a vast collection of books on Native American history. In 2005, the library celebrated its 75th anniversary.

Sharp Chapel

The original chapel of the university was housed in the now-demolished Kendall Hall (the existing Kendall Hall is a different building). This arrangement lasted until November 27, 1959, when Sharp Chapel was completed as one of the final buildings to be constructed on The U. It is named for its principal donors, Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Sharp. Today, the main sanctuary, which is flanked by beautiful and distinctive French stained glass windows, is used not only as a place of worship, but has become a much sought-after spot for the weddings of students and alumni.

In the spring of 2004, additions to Sharp Chapel were opened. These include The Westminster Room (for Westminster Society members), an atrium, kitchen, administrative offices on a second floor, as well as a second floor conference room, complete with an elevator to travel from floor to floor. These elements combine to make Sharp Chapel one of the most architecturally beautiful and elegant buildings on the campus.

Athletics

Tulsa's sports teams are called the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa participates in the NCAA's Division I's Conference USA.

Tulsa has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of all schools that participate in NCAA Division I-A football. The program has shown promise recently, defeating University of Central Florida 44-27 in Conference USA's inaugural championship game on December 3, 2005. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane also defeated the Fresno State Bulldogs 31-24 on December 31, 2005, at the Autozone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. This win brought their first bowl victory in 15 years. The team's current coach is Steve Kragthorpe, who has led the team to two bowl games in three seasons.

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane basketball team has had a history of success and has been a stopover point for many coaches who have gone on to great success in the NCAA, including Kentucky's Tubby Smith, Kansas' Bill Self, and one of Arkansas' most notable former coaches, Nolan Richardson. The current men's basketball head coach is Doug Wojcik.

The Tulsa Men's Soccer team has had a strong program for the past few years. In the 2004 season it made it to the elite-eight in the NCAA national tournament, and has been consistently ranked in the top 25 in the country. The head coach is Tom Macintosh, a prominent figure in Tulsa soccer for over 20 years.

In the 2005-2006 season, the Tulsa women's basketball team earned its first appearance in the NCAA tournament by winning Conference USA's regular-season and tournament championships. The Golden Hurricane's accomplishment came after back-to-back 19-win seasons and WNIT appearances.

The Men's Tennis team has also had recent success, including the 2006 Conference USA championship and a first-round victory in the NCAA tournament. Tulsa's top-ranked player Arnau Brugues also advanced to the round of sixteen in the NCAA Singles tournament. The University of Tulsa also boasts one of the nation's top tennis facilities, the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, which was host to the 2004 NCAA tennis championships and will host them again in 2008.

2006 also saw the Golden Hurricane secure Conference USA championships in Women's Softball.

Mascot

Tulsa's current mascot is Captain Cane, an anthropomorphized golden hurricane with human attributes such as biceps, clothes, and a perpetual smirk.

History of the mascot
University of Tulsa sports teams had been known by many different names in the past such as the Kendallites, Presbyterians, Tigers, and the Tulsans. In 1922, Howard Archer, the newly-hired football coach, wanted to use new uniforms to garner publicity for then-named Tulsa "Yellow Jackets." One day, he overheard someone during practice announce that the team would be "roaring through opponents." As the new uniforms were yellow, Archer quickly seized upon the name "Golden Tornadoes," but upon hearing that Georgia Tech had already claimed the moniker, he changed it to the now-familiar Golden Hurricane, which was quickly accepted by the team.

Miscellany

The Nimrod Literary Journal is published at the University.

The school's colors are Old Gold, Royal Blue, and Crimson.

Tulsa, along with Brown University, co-hosted the Modernist Journals Project, an online archive that will add both past issues of the James Joyce Quarterly as well as various modernist texts from McFarlin Library’s Special Collections to its website of early twentieth-century periodicals. Sean Latham, editor of the JJQ, brought the 2003 North American James Joyce Conference to the University of Tulsa.

The University of Tulsa Collegian is the independent and student-run newspaper on campus.

TU also hosts several meetings of the Tulsa Computer Society, including the Linux SIG.

The university's motto used to read, in full, "Faith, Wisdom, Service: For Christ, For State."

Distinguished faculty

Tulsa's faculty includes the famous Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko and American author A. G. Mojtabai.

Notable alumni

Arts and letters

Athletics

Politics and law

Science, engineering, and technology

External links

  • http://www.utulsa.edu/ Official university site
  • http://tulsahurricane.collegesports.com/ Official athletics site
  • http://www.utulsa.edu/collegian/ Online edition of The Collegian, TU's independent school newspaper
  • http://www.utulsa.edu/alumni/honors/da/ university Distinguished Alumni Award winners

University of Tulsa | Conference USA

 

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

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