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Wayne State University is located in Detroit, Michigan, in the city's Cultural Center. (See also Midtown, Detroit) WSU is a research university with 11 schools and colleges offering more than 350 major subject areas to 33,000 graduate and undergraduate students. The WSU main campus encompasses 203 acres (822,000 m²) linking 100 education and research buildings in the heart of Detroit. The official student newspaper is The South End. The University also hosts the public radio station WDET. With more than 1,000 students, Wayne State University School of Medicine is the largest single-campus medical school, and the third-largest overall, in the United States.¹

Wayne State University is classified as a Doctoral/Research Universities—Extensive institution by the Carnegie Foundation, the same classification as the University of Michigan and Michigan State University both have. Wayne State is a constitutionally autonomous educational institution in the State of Michigan along with Michigan and Michigan State.

Wayne State University is Michigan's only urban research university, fulfilling a unique niche in providing access to a high-caliber education at relatively low cost. WSU is located in the heart of Detroit's University Cultural Center, the home of renowned museums, galleries and theatres, most within walking distance. The WSU main campus encompasses 203 acres of nicely landscaped walkways and gathering spots, linking 100 education and research buildings. Its six extension centers in the metropolitan area provide good access, for metro Detroit residents, to a wide selection of courses. *

The institution is a notable engine in metro Detroit's educational, cultural, economic, and educational landscape, as manifested through efforts such as its 75-acre research and technology park and its hosting of the Detroit Festival of the Arts. *

Fall 2005 enrollment for the University was 33,137 students, the 28th-largest enrollment among the United States' 270 national, public, four-year, doctoral-degree-granting institutions. WSU also has the second largest international enrollment in Michigan with 2,783 international students and 750 visiting scholars from almost 100 countries.

History

The first component of the modern Wayne State University was established in 1868 as the Detroit Medical College, now the School of Medicine. In 1881, the Detroit Normal Training School was established, now the College of Education. Old Main Hall was built in 1896 as Central Detroit High School, which later began adding college classes in 1917 as the Detroit Junior College, becoming the College of the City of Detroit and now the College of Liberal Arts. By 1934, the College of Pharmacy, The College of Engineering and the Graduate School had been established, and all of these schools were organized into Wayne University.

Wayne University continued to grow, adding the School of Social Work in 1935, the Law School in 1937, and the School of Business Administration in 1946. Wayne University was renamed Wayne State University in 1956, and the institution became a constitutionally established university by popularly adopted amendment to the Michigan Constitution in 1959.

As Wayne State University, the institution grew with the additions of the College of Lifelong Learning in 1973, the School of Fine and Performing Arts and the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs in 1985, and the College of Science in 1993.

The University Libraries have grown to include five libraries, the Library and Information Science Program and the Office for University General Education.

Over the last few years, WSU has been aggressive in constructing new green glass buildings, including a new "Welcome Center", which was controversial because of its cost and the displacement of several local businesses. New residence halls have been built, including The Towers, an 11 story residence hall.

The libraries

The Wayne State University Libraries rank among the top libraries in the Association for Research Libraries. The library system consists of five major libraries, an ALA-accredited Library and Information Science Program and an Office for University General Education (UGE 1000). The Wayne State Library System is committed:

to being a national leader in the transition of library collections from print to electronic resources; to offering excellent client services; to training librarians (including school media specialists) in the information age; and to supporting academic research through the UGE 1000 Office. to developing and supporting student awareness of traditions, goals and structures of universities and their research libraries.

The Library System Website is at http://www.lib.wayne.edu

Student government

The student body government is headed by a Student Council. Some colleges of the university have a Student Senate which reports to the Student Council. The School of Law has its own Student Board of Governors.

Athletics

The school's intercollegiate athletic program was established in 1917 by director of athletics David L. Holmes. Revered by his athletes, Holmes initially coached all sports. His track teams were nationally known into the 1950s; in his first ten years, he produced two Olympians from the school's Victorian-era gym. Although he had major ambitions for Wayne and scheduled such teams as Notre Dame and Penn State in the 1920s, the lack of facilities and money for athletics kept the athletic program small.

A student poll selected the name of "Tartars" for the school's teams, but a need to be politically correct combined with a desire to alliterate changed their name in later decades to "Warriors". WSU competes in men's baseball, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, golf, ice hockey, swimming and tennis, and women's basketball, cross country, fencing, ice hockey, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

WSU is NCAA Division II in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) for all sports except ice hockey.

Wayne State's men's and women's ice hockey programs compete at the NCAA Division I level in the College Hockey America (CHA) conference.

Campus

The campus is urban and features many architecturely interesting buildings. Some notable examples include Helen Deroy Hall, the Education Building, the Macabees Building, Old Main, McGregor Memorial Conference Center, Chatsworth Tower Apartments, and Hilberry Theater. Some of these buildings were designed by notable architects such as Albert Kahn and Minoru Yamasaki.

The university offers many restaurants and eateries on campus, which include McDonald's, Starbucks, Einstein Bros. Bagels, La Pita Mediterranean Grill, Jimmy John's, KFC, Little Caesars, Taco Bell Express and Subway. There are also many independently owned restaurants within walking distance of campus, including Cass Cafe and Campus Coney. AVI Foodservice is the official caterer of the school.

The campus bookstore is a Barnes & Noble affiliate with competition across the street in the form of the small business Marwil Book Store. The Barnes & Noble has textbooks for most subjects, with a few notable exceptions, such as nursing texts.

The David Adamany Undergraduate Library boasts one of the largest computer labs in the nation with over 700 computer terminals for students and a couple dozen for use by anyone not part of the university.

Wayne State University is near many Detroit institutions, including the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Historical Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the New Detroit Science Center, the Detroit Film Theatre, the Fox Theatre, the Fisher Theatre, the Gem Theatre, the Detroit Opera House, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Orchestra Hall, Comerica Park, Ford Field and Joe Louis Arena.

The Cass corridor would be considered one of the University's most notable surroundings, with a venerable history and culture that has left an imprint on many of the WSU alumni.

Housing

The university provides housing in the form of apartment living and residence hall living. *

Current university owned apartment buildings include University Tower, Chatsworth Tower, Helen L. DeRoy Apartments and Sherbrooke Apartments. The Forest Apartments were closed after the 2004-2005 school year and are scheduled for demolition. The Chatsworth Annex apartments were demolished, and replaced with greenspace and volleyball courts after the 2004-2005 school year.

In the hopes of bringing more residents to campus, Wayne State opened two dormitory-style residence halls in 2002 (Yousif B. Ghafari Hall (formerly North Hall)) and 2003 (South Hall). This was the first time since the closing of the Newberry Joy Dorms in 1987 that the University offered dorm living. For the Fall 2005 semester, the university opened The Towers Residential Suites. This residence hall is open to undergraduate (sophomore and above) and graduate students. The Towers Café is the largest on-campus dining facility and is supplemented by Warrior Dining, located in Ghafari hall.

Satellite campuses

Wayne State has 6 satellite campuses in and around the Metro Detroit area. The locations are:

Notable Graduates

Notable dropouts

Honorary graduates

Footnotes

  1. University of Illinois at Chicago, with four campuses, has the nation's largest medical school. **

External links

Links to specific colleges

Universities and colleges in Michigan | Education in Detroit | Wayne State University

 

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