University of Kansas

The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university and the largest in the U.S. state of Kansas. KU branch campuses are located in the towns of Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas, with the main campus located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest location in Lawrence. Founded March 21, 1865, the university was opened in 1866, under a charter granted by the Kansas State Legislature in 1864 following enabling legislation passed in 1863 under the Kansas State Constitution, adopted two years after the 1861 admission of the former Kansas Territory as the 34th state into the Union following a very famous bloody internal civil war known as "Bleeding Kansas" during the 1850s.

The university's Medical Center and University Hospital are located in Kansas City, Kansas. The Edwards Campus is in Overland Park, Kansas, in the Kansas City metropolitan area. There are also educational and research sites in Parsons, Topeka, Garden City, Hays, and Leavenworth, and branches of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita and Salina. The university is one of the 62 members of the Association of American Universities.

Enrollment at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses was 24,708 students in fall 2015; an additional 3,383 students were enrolled at the KU Medical Center  for a total enrollment of 28,091 students across the three campuses. The university overall employed 2,814 faculty members in fall 2015.


> History

On February 20, 1863, Kansas Governor Thomas Carney signed into law a bill creating the state university in Lawrence. The law was conditioned upon a gift from Lawrence of a $15,000 endowment fund and a site for the university, in or near the town, of not less than forty acres (16 ha) of land. If Lawrence failed to meet these conditions, Emporia instead of Lawrence would get the university.

The site selected for the university was a hill known as Mount Oread, which was owned by former Kansas Governor Charles L. Robinson. Robinson and his wife Sara bestowed the 40-acre (16 ha) site to the State of Kansas in exchange for land elsewhere. The philanthropist Amos Adams Lawrence donated $10,000 of the necessary endowment fund, and the citizens of Lawrence raised the remaining cash by issuing notes backed by Governor Carney. On November 2, 1863, Governor Carney announced that Lawrence had met the conditions to get the state university, and the following year the university was officially organized. The school's Board of Regents held its first meeting in March 1865, which is the event that KU dates its founding from. Work on the first college building began later that year. The university opened for classes on September 12, 1866, and the first class graduated in 1873.

During World War II, Kansas was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

>> Famous landmarks and structures

KU is home to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, the Beach Center on Disability, Lied Center of Kansas and radio stations KJHK, 90.7 FM, and KANU, 91.5 FM. The university is host to several museums including the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and the Spencer Museum of Art. The libraries of the University include the Watson Library, Spencer Research Library, and Anschutz Library, which commemorates the businessman Philip Anschutz, an alumnus of the University.

> Academics

The University of Kansas is a large, state-sponsored university, with five campuses. KU features the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, which includes the School of the Arts and the School of Public Affairs & Administration; and the schools of Architecture, Design & Planning; Business; Education; Engineering; Health Professions; Journalism & Mass Communications; Law; Medicine; Music; Nursing; Pharmacy; and Social Welfare. The university offers more than 345 degree programs.

In its 2016 list, U.S. News & World Report ranked KU as tied for 115th place among National Universities and 55th place among public universities.

The city management and urban policy program was ranked first in the nation, and the special education program second, by U.S. News & World Report's 2016 rankings. USN&WR also ranked several programs in the top 25 among U.S. universities.

>> School of Architecture, Design, and Planning (S.A.D.P.)

The University of Kansas School of Architecture, Design, and Planning (SADP), with its main building being Marvin Hall, traces its architectural roots to the creation of the architectural engineering degree program in KU's School of Engineering in 1912. The Bachelor of Architecture degree was added in 1920. In 1969, the School of Architecture and Urban Design (SAUD) was formed with three programs: architecture, architectural engineering, and urban planning. In 2001 architectural engineering merged with civil and environmental engineering. The design programs from the discontinued School of Fine Arts were merged into the school in 2009 forming the current School of Architecture, Design, and Planning.

According to the journal DesignIntelligence, which annually publishes "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools," the School of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Kansas was named the best in the Midwest and ranked 11th among all undergraduate architecture programs in the U.S in 2012.


>> School of Business

The University of Kansas School of Business is a public business school located on the main campus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The KU School of Business was founded in 1924 and currently has more than 80 faculty members and approximately 1500 students.

Named one of the best business schools in the Midwest by Princeton Review, the KU School of Business has been continually accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) for both its undergraduate and graduate programs in business and accounting.

>> School of Law

The University of Kansas School of Law was the top law school in the state of Kansas, and 68th nationally, according to the 2014 U.S. News & World Report "Best Graduate Schools" edition. Classes are held in Green Hall at W 15th St and Burdick Dr, which is named after former dean James Green.

>> School of Engineering

The KU School of Engineering is an ABET accredited, public engineering school located on the main campus. The School of Engineering was officially founded in 1891, although engineering degrees were awarded as early as 1873.

In the U.S. News & World Report's "America’s Best Colleges" 2016 issue, KU’s School of Engineering was ranked tied for 90th among national universities.

Notable alumni include: Alan Mulally (BS/MS), former President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, Lou Montulli, co-founder of Netscape and author of the Lynx web browser, Brian McClendon (BSEE 1986), VP of Engineering at Google, Charles E. Spahr (1934), former CEO of Standard Oil of Ohio.



>> School of Journalism and Mass Communications

The William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications is recognized for its ability to prepare students to work in a variety of media when they graduate. The school offers two tracts of study: News and Information and Strategic Communication. This professional school teaches its students reporting for print, online and broadcast, strategic campaigning for PR and advertising, photojournalism and video reporting and editing. The J-School's students maintain various publications on campus, including The University Daily Kansan, Jayplay magazine, KUJH TV and KJHK radio. In 2008, the Fiske Guide to Colleges praised the KU J-School for its strength. In 2010, the School of Journalism and Mass Communications finished second at the prestigious Hearst Foundation national writing competition.

>> Medical Center

Main article: University of Kansas School of Medicine
The University of Kansas Medical Center features three schools: the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Health Professions. Furthermore, each of the three schools has its own programs of graduate study. As of the Fall 2013 semester, there were 3,349 students enrolled at KU Med.The Medical Center also offers four year instruction at the Wichita campus, and features a medical school campus in Salina, Kansas that is devoted to rural health care.

The university-affiliated independent University of Kansas Hospital is co-located at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

>> The Edwards Campus, Overland Park

KU's Edwards Campus is in Overland Park, Kansas. Established in 1993, its goal is to provide adults with the opportunity to complete college degrees. About 2,100 students attend the Edwards Campus, with an average age of 32.Programs available at the Edwards Campus include developmental psychology, public administration, social work, systems analysis, information technology, engineering management and design.

>> Tuition

Tuition at KU is 13 percent below the national average, according to the College Board, and the University remains a best buy in the region.

Beginning in the 2007–2008 academic year, first-time freshman at KU pay a fixed tuition rate for 48 months according to the Four-Year Tuition Compact passed by the Kansas Board of Regents. For the 2014–15 academic year, tuition was $318 per credit hour for in-state freshman and $828 for out-of-state freshmen. For transfer students, who do not take part in the compact, 2014–15 per-credit-hour tuition was $295 for in-state undergraduates and $785 for out-of-state undergraduates; subject to annual increases. Students enrolled in 6 or more credit hours also paid an annual required campus fee of $888. The schools of architecture, music, arts, business, education, engineering, journalism, law, pharmacy, and social welfare charge additional fees.

>> Computing innovations

KU's School of Business launched interdisciplinary management science graduate studies in operations research during Fall Semester 1965. The program provided the foundation for decision science applications supporting NASA Project Apollo Command Capsule Recovery Operations.

KU's academic computing department was an active participant in setting up the Internet and is the developer of the early Lynx text based web browser. Lynx itself provided hypertext browsing and navigation prior to Tim Berners Lee's invention of HTTP and HTML.