Arizona University

The University of Arizona
Motto:	Sursum (Latin)
Motto in English:	(official) "Upward"
Established:	Chartered 1885
Type:	Public research university
Endowment:	US $532 million
President:	Robert N. Shelton
Faculty:	2,805
Undergraduates:	29,070
Postgraduates:	6,870
Location:	Tucson, Arizona, USA
Campus:	Urban, 380 acres (1.5 km2) (1,253,500 m²)
Yearbook:	Desert Yearbook
Colors:	Cardinal Red and Navy Blue
Nickname:	Wildcats
Athletics:	18 varsity teams
Affiliations:	AAU Pac-10 MPSF
Website:	www.arizona.edu

The University of Arizona (also referred to as UA, U of A, or Arizona) is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885 (twenty-seven years before the Arizona Territory achieved statehood), and is considered a Public Ivy. UA includes the only medical school in Arizona that grants M.D. degrees. In 2006, total enrollment was 36,805 students. UA is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents.

History

Founding

Old Main, the oldest building on the University of Arizona campus

The University of Arizona was approved by the Arizona Territory's Thieving Thirteenth Legislature in 1885. The city of Tucson had hoped to receive the appropriation for the territory's mental hospital, which carried a $100,000 allocation instead of the $25,000 allotted to the territory's only university (Arizona State University was also chartered in 1885, but at the time it was created as Arizona's normal school, and not a university). Tucson's contingent of legislators was delayed in reaching Prescott due to flooding on the Salt River and by the time they arrived back-room deals allocating the most desirable territorial institutions had already been made. Tucson was largely disappointed at receiving what was viewed as an inferior prize. With no parties willing to step forth and provide land for the new institution, the citizens of Tucson prepared to return the money to the Territorial Legislature until two gamblers and a saloon keeper decided to donate the land necessary to build the school. Classes met for the first time in 1891 with 32 students in Old Main, the first building constructed on campus, and still in use to this day.

Because there were no high schools in Arizona Territory, the University maintained separate preparatory classes for the first 23 years of operation.

University of Arizona Mall

Old Main - University of Arizona

Wildcat Family Statue - University of Arizona

Old Main Historic Placard

Campus architecture and museums

The main campus sits on 380 acres (1.5 km²) in central Tucson, about one mile (1.6 km) northeast of downtown. There are 179 buildings on the main campus. Many of the early buildings, including the Arizona State Museum buildings (one of them the 1927 main library) and Centennial Hall, were designed by Roy Place, a prominent Tucson architect. It was Place's use of red brick that set the tone for the red brick facades that are a basic and ubiquitous part of nearly all UA buildings, even those built in recent decades. Indeed, almost every UA building has red brick as a major component of the design, or at the very least, a stylistic accent to harmonize it with the other buildings on campus.

The campus is roughly divided into quadrants. The north and south sides of campus are delineated by a grassy expanse called the Mall, which stretches from Old Main eastward to the campus' eastern border at Campbell Avenue (a major north-south arterial street). The west and east sides of campus are separated roughly by Highland Avenue and the Student Union Memorial Center (see below).

The science and mathematics buildings tend to be clustered in the southwest quadrant; the intercollegiate athletics facilities to the southeast; the arts and humanities buildings to the northwest (with the dance department being a major exception as its main facilities are far to the east end of campus), with the engineering buildings in the north central area. The optical and space sciences buildings are clustered on the east side of campus near the sports stadiums and the (1976) main library.

Speedway Boulevard, one of Tucson's primary east-west arterial streets, traditionally defined the northern boundary of campus but since the 1980s, several university buildings have been constructed north of this street, expanding into a neighborhood traditionally filled with apartment complexes and single-family homes. The University has purchased a handful of these apartment complexes for student housing in recent years. Sixth Street typically defines the southern boundary, with single-family homes (many of which are rented out to students) south of this street.

Park Avenue has traditionally defined the western boundary of campus, and there is a stone wall which runs along a large portion of the east side of the street, leading to the old Main Gate, and into the driveway leading to Old Main.

Along or adjacent to all of these major streets are a wide variety of retail facilities serving the student, faculty and staff population: shops, bookstores, bars, banks, credit unions, coffeehouses and major chain fast-food restaurants such as Burger King and Chick-fil-A. The area near University Boulevard and Park Avenue, near the Main Gate, has long been a major center of such retail activity; many of the shops have been renovated since the late 1990s and a nine-story Marriott hotel was built in this immediate district in 1996.

The oldest campus buildings are located west of Old Main. Most of the buildings east of Old Main date from the 1940s to the 1980s, with a few recent buildings constructed in the years since 1990.

Student Union Memorial Center

The Student Union Memorial Center, located on the north side of the Mall east of Old Main, was completely reconstructed between 2000 and 2003, replacing a 270,000-square-foot (25,000 m²) structure originally opened in 1951 (with additions in the 1960s). The new $60 million student union has 405,000 square feet (37,600 m²) of space on four levels, including 14 restaurants (including a food court with such national chains as Burger King, Panda Express, Papa John's Pizza and Chick-fil-A), a new two-level bookstore (that includes a counter for Clinique merchandise as well as an office supplies section sponsored by Staples with many of the same Staples-branded items found in their regular stores), 23 meeting rooms, eight lounge areas (including one dedicated to the USS Arizona), a computer lab, a U.S. Post Office, a copy center named Fast Copy, and a video arcade.

A list of residence halls goes as follows:

• Apache-Santa Cruz Hall
• Arizona-Sonora Hall
• Babcock Inn
• Cochise Hall
• Coconino Hall
• Colonia de la Paz Hall
• Coronado Hall
• Gila Hall
• Graham-Greenlee Hall
• Hopi Lodge
• Kaibab-Huachuca Hall
• Manzanita-Mohave Hall
• Maricopa Hall
• Navajo-Pinal Stadium Hall
• Pima Lodge & Pima House
• Posada San Pedro Hall
• Pueblo de la Cienega Hall
• Sky View Apartments
• Villa del Puente Hall
• Yavapai Hall
• Yuma Hall

For current museum hours, fees, and directions see "campus visitor's guide" in the external links.

• Much of the main campus has been designated an arboretum. Plants from around the world are labeled along a self-guided plant walk. The Krutch Cactus Garden includes the tallest Boojum tree in the state of Arizona. (The university also manages Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, located c. 85 miles (137 km) north of the main campus.)

• Two herbaria are located on the University campus and both are referred to as "ARIZ" in the Index Herbariorum
  • The University of Arizona Herbarium - contains roughly 400,000 specimens of plants.
  • The Robert L. Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium - contains more than 40,000 specimens of fungi.

• The Arizona State Museum is the oldest anthropology museum in the American Southwest.

• The Center for Creative Photography features rotating exhibits. The permanent collection includes over 70,000 photos, including many Ansel Adams originals.

• University of Arizona Museum of Art.

• The Arizona Historical Society is located one block west of campus.

• Flandrau Science Center has exhibits, a planetarium, and a public-access telescope.

• The University of Arizona Mineral Museum is located inside Flandrau Science Center. The collection dates back to 1892 and contains over 20,000 minerals from around the world, including many examples from Arizona and Mexico.

• The University of Arizona Poetry Center

• The Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, opened in 2003 (across the Mall from McKale Center) as a 28,600-square-foot (2,660 m²) dedicated performance venue for the UA's dance program, one of the most highly regarded university dance departments in the United States. Designed by Gould Evans, a Phoenix-based architectural firm, the theatre was awarded the 2003 Citation Award from the American Institute of Architects, Arizona Chapter.

• The football stadium has the Navajo-Pinal-Sierra dormitory in it. The dorm rooms are underneath the seats along the South and East sides of the stadium.