UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO

The 'University of Toledo' is a public university situated in Toledo, Ohio. The Carnegie Foundation has classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive".

Contents

National recognition

History

Recent developments

Academics

Athletics

Miscellaneous facts

Notable alumni

External links

Notes

References

National recognition

In its 125-year history UT has garnered several national accolades. The University’s programs, faculty and facilities have been highlighted in the media, including ''The Wall Street Journal, Consumer Reports, The New York Times, The Plain Dealer, CNN, C-SPAN, NPR'' and ''The Today Show''. ''The Princeton Review'' ranked the graduate school of engineering as the 18th best in the country. The Occupational Therapy program is ranked in the Top Ten Percent in the country. The University recently merged with The Medical University of Ohio making it the third largest university in Ohio in terms of operating budget. This merger also makes the University only one of 17 public institutions in the country with a school of medicine, law, business, education, pharmacy, and engineering (ut website). The medical school includes professors who are internationally recognized in their fields. The University of Toledo College of Medicine senior graduates "matched" at a higher rate than those of other seniors nationwide for the second year in a row; a record 97 percent secured first-year residency positions during the initial National Residency Matching Program (ut website). The University of Toledo College of Medicine also boasts the highest United States Medical Licensing Exam Step 1 score by a medical student in the country (270) in 2006 (toledoblade7/06). The University of Toledo Medical Center is one of 15 major teaching hospitals chosen by Solucient's annual "Top 100 Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders," compiled by ''Modern Healthcare'' magazine.
The University of Toledo College Of Law is ranked 85th in the nation by ''U.S. News and World Report'' in 2008. The College of Law also has the highest first time passing rate for the Bar Exam in the state as well as being in the Top 10 in passing rate in the country, higher than Harvard and many of the other Ivy League law schools.
The University of Toledo students are among the winners of prestigious national fellowships, including the Fulbright, the Woodrow Wilson, the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, the National Consortium for the Physical Sciences, the Whitaker Foundation, the Goldwater, the Madison Foundation Fellowship, and the Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship. A study by the "Miliken Institute", an independent economic think tank, showed that The University of Toledo was named as a top global player when it comes to taking biotechnology research from the laboratory to the world. For every $14 million UT spent on research, UT created one biotechnology start-up, which places it 7th among educational institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia combined. The University was recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects as one of the 22 most beautiful landscaped campuses in the country. USA Today touted the Student Recreation Center as one of the best in the country. The 15,000-square-foot facility features an indoor track, three pools, a water slide, free weights, exercise equipment, golf simulator, rock climbing wall, and basketball, racquetball and squash courts.
In recognition of its technological advancements, ''Yahoo! Internet Life'' magazine dubbed The University of Toledo as one of America’s 100 Most Wired Colleges.

History

The University of Toledo began in 1872 as a private arts and trades school offering painting and architectural drawing as its only subjects. In the 125 years since, the university has grown into a comprehensive institution offering more than 250 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 20,000 students from around the world.
In a pamphlet published in 1868 entitled "Toledo: Future Great City of the World", Jesup Scott articulated a dream that led him to endow what would become The University of Toledo. He expressed his belief that the center of world commerce was moving westward and by 1900 would be located in Toledo. To help realize this dream, in 1872 Scott donated 160 acres (647,000 m²) of land as an endowment for a university to train the city's young people.
By the 1920s, Toledo University was a growing institution, limited only by the buildings that housed it. Classes were held in two downtown buildings, but both were too small. In 1922, the university moved into an automobile mechanics training facility that had been constructed during World War I on the original Scott property. While twice the size of the old buildings, this location was less than ideal. Its limitations became evident when an enrollment increase of 32 percent in one year produced a critical shortage of classroom and office space.
The prospects for a new, permanent home for the institution improved in 1928 when Dr. Henry J. Doermann became president. His first activity was to initiate plans for a new campus. To pay for the proposed buildings, the city placed a bond levy before Toledo's voters. An all-out campaign led to the levy's passage by a margin of 10,000 votes, just 11 months before the start of the Great Depression.
A local architectural firm planned the new campus. Dr. Doermann wanted the buildings to reflect the best design elements of the universities of Europe because he felt such architecture would inspire students. It took 400 men less than one year to complete University Hall and the Field House in the Collegiate Gothic design, the entire university being an excellent example of this style. Centennial Mall, the picturesque lawn area in the heart of campus, is one of the "100 most beautifully landscaped places in the country", according to the American Society of Landscape Architects. Only 22 college campuses are on the list.
College students became more politically active in the 1960s. The decade produced frequent student protests, including many at The University of Toledo. Most of the UT protests were peaceful. More serious protests by students opposed to the war in Vietnam did lead to several arrests. In 1970, the campus remained peaceful following the deaths of four student protesters at Kent State University. A protest by African American students following the killing of students at Jackson State University in Mississippi temporarily closed University Hall in May of that year, but this ended when the president met with the students and reached a peaceful accord.

Recent developments

The university continued to expand its physical environs in the 1990s. A major expansion of the campus took place when UT renovated commercial buildings at Dorr Street and Secor Road for classrooms. A new Academic Center and Residence Hall (1992) was built to house the Honors Program. Other new buildings included the Student Medical Center (1992), the Center for the Visual Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art (1992), the International House Residence Hall (1995) and Nitschke Hall (1995). Construction began in 1995 on a Pharmacy, Chemistry and Life Sciences complex on the main campus (Wolfe Hall) and a Lake Erie Research Center at Maumee Bay State Park. University/Parks Trail, a six mile rail trail which runs from the university to Sylvania, Ohio, was also constructed in 1995.
Significant growth in the 1990s not only occurred in buildings, but also in technology. The university joined OhioLINK, a statewide library network, in 1994. Computer labs and hook-ups in dormitories and offices provided Internet access to most. Technological improvements allowed students to register for classes and check their grades by phone, and the university established a homepage on the World Wide Web. UT became one of ten universities to receive five separate eight-figure gifts — two separate gifts of $100 million from Ambassador Walter Guinness to create the University Cancer Diagnosis Research Institute.
Despite the challenges facing higher education in the 1990s, The University of Toledo marked its 125th year in operation. The institution grew from a small, private arts and trades school to become a large state-assisted university. Many of its faculty and academic programs have worldwide reputations, and its campus is an architectural gem. Renovations and expansions are ongoing, including two new residence halls: The Crossings (2002) and the Ottawa Houses East and West (2005). However, the University of Toledo remains primarily a commuter campus.
After a protracted protest by students, staff, faculty and community members; the board of trustees of the University agreed to include domestic partner benefits in the health care portion of the contract for faculty and staff with an effective start date of April 1, 2006. This development made the University of Toledo the first state university to begin covering domestic partners after the passage of Ohio Issue 1, several others had partner benefits before and continued them after the ban. The protest gained momentum after November 2004, when issue 1 was voted into law as an Ohio Constitutional amendment but began over a decade earlier with the work of several faculty members.
On March 31, 2006, Governor Bob Taft signed House Bill 478, which merged the University of Toledo with the Medical University of Ohio. The merger became effective on July 1, 2006. The institution retained the University of Toledo name, and the former Medical University of Ohio facilities are referred to as the Health Science Campus. Toledo became the third largest public university in Ohio in terms of its operating budget, as well as one of only 17 public universities in the country that has colleges of business, education, engineering, law, medicine and pharmacy.

Academics

The University of Toledo, as of 2006, offers over 250 academic programs; all are a part of the University's ten colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Health Science and Human Service, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and University of Toledo's University College.
In 2006, The Princeton Review named the University of Toledo College of Engineering Graduate School as the #18 engineering graduate school in the United States.
In the Spring Semester of 2007, President Lloyd Jacobs announced that the tuition for the 2007-2008 academic year would remain the same as it was in the 2006-2007 school year. This was the first time in 33 years that the University of Toledo did not raise tuition costs. This move was made to counter the statewide trend of steadily increasing four-year college tuition costs.

Athletics

Main articles: Toledo Rockets

The University of Toledo's athletic teams play as the Rockets, and uniforms sport the colors midnight blue and gold. The University's sports teams play in the Mid-American Conference. The Rockets football team holds nine Mid-American Conference Championships, in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1981, 1984, 1990 (co-champs with Western Michigan), 1995, 2001, and 2004.
Toledo's principal rivals are the Falcons of Bowling Green State University. The two teams play for a trophy each year known as the Peace Pipe, a prize that originated in basketball but progressed to football in 1980. BGSU currently holds a 36-32-4 advantage over the Rockets, but Toledo has won four of the last five contests between the two teams. This rivalry is known as ''"The Battle for I-75"'' because both campuses are located just off of Interstate 75, and only 20 miles separate the two campuses.
The University of Toledo also has an official spirit crew known as Blue Crew. They attend numerous athletic events and are present throughout the community.
The University of Toledo Rocket Marching Band performs a pre-game show and halftime show at all home football games in the Glass Bowl. The band program at the University of Toledo is directed by Dr. Jason Stumbo and Mr. Carl Collins.
The University of Toledo recently signed a two-game series in football with The Ohio State University Buckeyes. The first game will be considered a "home" game for Toledo, and will be played at Cleveland Browns Stadium on September 19, 2009.
Among other sports, Toledo consistently fields strong distance running teams; Brianna Shook '04, who is also an assistant track coach at the school, holds the American record for the steeplechase.

The UT rockets have the second longest winning streak in division 1-A football history (1969–1971) 35-0.
The Toledo Rockets basketball team is having a roaring year in 2007, led by Toledo basketball coach Stan "The Man" Joplin, a man of impressive integrity and character who was a former star player for the Rockets during the late 1970s, was an assistant coach from 1984-90, and is currently UT's leader on the bench.
Men's Basketball Receives NCAA Award For High Academic Performance
Toledo tied for third-best APR mark in nation and leads MAC for second straight year. The University of Toledo men's basketball program ranks at the top of the Mid-American Conference for a second straight year in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Academic Performance Rating (APR) release this week. Toledo's 994 rating is tied for third place among all NCAA Division I men's basketball programs and trails only Columbia and Davidson.

Miscellaneous facts

★ The bells in the belltower of University Hall are actually electronic recordings. For a semester, they would sometimes skip. This was fixed with a new electronic system.

★ Centennial Mall was built by taking a bird's eye view of paths made in the snow by students in the Great Blizzard of 1978^[2]

★ The Student Rec Center at The University of Toledo was the first in the nation to have a water slide

★ The rocket outside of the Glass Bowl is a genuine rocket from the U.S. Army missile program aimed at Bowling Green State University and if lit it would end up at the 50 yard line of Doyt Perry Football Stadium at Bowling Green State University^[3]

★ It was believed that anyone to walk on the university seal in Centennial Mall they would fail their next exam, it has been since raised from the ground ensuring student success^[4]

★ The student newspaper, ''The Independent Collegian'', is one of the few collegiate newspapers in the country to be completely independent (including financially) of their university. ''The Collegian'', as it was formerly known, left UT due to a conflict over funding. The Collegian's advertising revenue, which they had to turn over to the University, exceeded the amount of funding they received from the University. Thus, they were the only student group that actually had to give money back to the university. The newspaper was also founded by Gloria Steinem's father, Leo Steinem, in 1918^[5]

★ The Dancing Rock-ets are the first collegiate dance team in the United States.

Notable alumni

★ John W. Snow - Former United States Secretary of the Treasury (2003-2006)

★ John B. Neff - “one of the 10 most influential investors of the 20th Century” by Barron’s Magazine.

★ Chuck Ealey - University of Toledo's starting quarterback for 35 straight wins from 1969-1971

★ Todd France - Former NFL kicker

★ Bruce Gradkowski - Quarterback for Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2007)

★ Kelly Herndon - Starting cornerback for Seattle Seahawks (2007)

★ Stan Joplin - College basketball player, current UT men's basketball coach

★ Nic Kaczur - Starting guard for New England Patriots (2007)

★ Steve Mix - Former NBA All-Star, only men's player to have jersey retired (2/17/07), played 13 years in NBA.

★ Chester Taylor - Running back for Minnesota Vikings (2007)

★ Christi Paul - CNN Headline News Anchor

★ Tom Amstutz - College football player and current UT men's football coach

★ Curtis Johnson - #45 of 1971 undefeated Miami Dolphins "no-name defense"

★ Deborah Agosti - Former Chief Justice, Nevada State Supreme Court (1998-2004).

★ Greg Wojciechowski - NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion in 1971

★ Mari Evans - author and dramatist

★ Chuck Sullivan - 1959 graduate of the UT College of Business, is the retired chairman, CEO and president of Interstate Bakeries Corp.

★ Michael Sallah - 2004 Pulitzer Prize recipient for Investigative Reporting

External links

★ University of Toledo Home Page

★ University of Toledo Rockets Official Athletics Home Page

Notes

1. 2005 University Endowments.
2. http://traditions.utoledo.edu/locations/centennialmall.html
3. http://traditions.utoledo.edu/monuments/rocket.html
4. http://traditions.utoledo.edu/monuments/seal.html
5. http://www.toledoalumni.org/index.asp?id=26


★ http://www.utoledo.edu/offices/aaseio/index.html

References

★ The University of Toledo - History

★ The Princeton Review