Everything about The University Of Notre Dame totally explained
The
University of Notre Dame du Lac (or simply
Notre Dame) (our lady) is a private Catholic research university located in
Notre Dame, Indiana. It was founded by Father
Edward Sorin,
CSC, who was also the school's first president. Founded as an all-male institution, it became
co-educational in 1972. The school's Catholic identity is evident around campus with the ornate
Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Indiana together with numerous chapels and religious iconography.
The university is organized into five colleges and one professional school, the oldest of which awarded degrees as early as 1849. Many of the colleges' academic programs have been ranked highly in national publications, with the university as a whole ranked in the top 20 nationally by
U.S. News and World Report. Many of the graduate programs participate in
research endeavors, with a stated goal by the university president, Father
John I. Jenkins, CSC, to become a pre-eminent research institution. Additionally, the university's library system is one of the top-100 largest in the United States.
More than 80% of the University's 8,000 undergraduates live on campus in one of 27 single-sex residence halls, each of which field teams for more than a dozen
intramural sports. Notre Dame's alumni are located around the world and number near 120,000.
Notre Dame is also known for its sports programs, especially its
college football team. The sports teams are members of the
NCAA Division I, and are known collectively as the
Fighting Irish, a name it adopted in the 1920s. The football team, an
Independent, has accumulated eleven national championships, seven
Heisman Trophy winners, and many members in the
College Football Hall of Fame. Additionally, other sport teams, most members of the
Big East Conference, have won 18 national championships throughout the years.
History
Foundations
According to correspondence of the early French
Jesuit missionaries, one of the first missions in northern Indiana was founded for the
Potawatomi and
Miami Indians on the
St. Joseph River in about the year 1685. In 1686 Father
Claude-Jean Allouez S.J. built the first log chapel in
Indian Territory on the shore of the St. Mary's Lake, establishing a mission post known as the St. Joseph Mission. The missionaries were later forced to neglect the region for over fifty years due to the
French and Indian Wars and the
suppression of the Society of Jesus.
The Potawatomi elders remembered the faith taught to them by the missionaries, and in 1830
Leopold Pokagon appealed to Father
Gabriel Richard of
Detroit to send him a Catholic priest to help convert the younger members of his tribe. Father
Stephen Badin, the first priest ordained in the United States, returned with Pokagon to establish a mission school for the Indian children. In 1831, he purchased of land at St. Mary's Lake in
St. Joseph County to establish an orphan asylum. A chapel was erected near the present site of the Log Chapel, but the orphanage idea was abandoned, and in 1835 Father Badin transferred all this property to Bishop
Simon Bruté of the Dioceses of
Vincennes. Following his death in 1839, the new bishop, Father
Célestine Guynemer de la Hailandière, transferred the property to Father Ferdinand Bach of the
Fathers of Mercy in 1840 for the purpose of establishing a college there, but this attempt was unsuccessful. However, Father Bach procured another of land from Father Badwin, and both land titles returned to the Dioceses. Sorin traveled to the site with eight priests and began the school using Badin's old log chapel. They immediately acquired two students from the day of their arrival, Theodore Coquillard, the son of one of the
South Bend's founders, and Clement Reckers, and set about building additions to the campus. Notre Dame began as a primary and secondary school, but soon received its official
university charter from the
Indiana General Assembly on
January 15,
1844 after a push by State Senator
John Defrees. Under the charter the school is officially named the
University of Notre Dame du Lac, which means
University of Our Lady of the Lake. Though the word
Lac is singular, the university's campus actually contains two lakes. According to a legend, when Sorin arrived at the school, everything was frozen. He thought there was only one lake and named the university accordingly. Although the university was originally
only for male students, the female-only,
Saint Mary's College was founded by the
Sisters of the Holy Cross near Notre Dame in 1844.
Early history
More students attended the college and the first degrees were awarded in 1849. Additionally, the university was expanded with new buildings allowing more students and faculty to live, study, and eat at the university. The library collection was also rebuilt and stayed housed in the new Main Building for years afterwards. Around the time of the fire, a Music Hall was opened. Eventually becoming known as Washington Hall, it hosted plays and musical acts put on by the school. By 1880, a science program was established at the university, and a Science Hall was built in 1883. The hall housed multiple classrooms and science labs needed for early research at the university. By 1890, individual residence halls were built to house the increasing number of students.
Co-educational institute
Notre Dame continued to grow over the years adding more colleges, programs, and even sports teams. By 1921, with the addition of the College of Commerce, Notre Dame had grown from a small college to a university with five colleges and a professional law school. The university continued to expand and add new residence halls and buildings with each subsequent president until 1972. At that time, then-president Father
Theodore Hesburgh made the decision to admit women into the university. Two of the male residence halls were converted for the newly admitted female students that first year, while two others were converted for the next school year. The first female student, a transfer from St. Mary's College, graduated in 1972 with a
bachelor's degree in marketing. Jenkins took over the position from Father
Edward Malloy, on
July 1,
2005. In his inaugural address, Jenkins described his goals of making the university a leader in research that recognizes ethics and building the connection between faith and studies. In addition to Jenkins' leadership, the university is governed by two groups, Fellows of the University and a
Board of Trustees. These groups help to maintain the
bylaws of the university and also elect officials for the university. Finally, the
provost of the university, currently Dr. Thomas Burish, works under the president to oversee many of the academic activities and functions of the university.
Campus
Notre Dame's campus is located in
Notre Dame, Indiana, an
unincorporated community in north
Indiana, just north of
South Bend and four miles (6 km) from the
Michigan state line. Development of the campus began in the spring of 1843 when Father Sorin and some of his congregation built the "Old College", a building used for
dormitories, a bakery, and a classroom. A year later, after an architect arrived, a small "Main Building" was built allowing for the launch of the college.
A number of the buildings that Father Sorin built still stand on the campus, while others have been replaced. The Old College building has become one of two
seminaries on campus run by the Congregation of the Holy Cross.The current
Basilica of the Sacred Heart is located on the spot of Sorin's original church which became too small for the growing college and the Main Building, after a fire destroyed parts of it, has become home to Notre Dame's administration. There are two lakes located on campus, and near the lakes is the Grotto of
Our Lady of Lourdes, which was built in 1896 as a replica of the
original in
Lourdes, France.
New buildings
The university continues to expand and add new buildings each year. Since 2004, many buildings have been built-the most prominent being the Debartolo Performing Arts Center, the Guglielmino Complex, and the Jordan Hall of Science. Additionally, a new male residence hall, Duncan Hall, began construction on
March 8,
2007, and will begin accepting residents for the Fall 2008 semester. A new engineering building, Stinson-Remick Hall, a new combination Center for Social Concerns/Institute for Church Life building and a law school addition are also currently under construction.
London Centre
The university has had a presence in London since 1968. Since 1998, its London Centre has been based in the former
United University Club at 1, Suffolk Street in Trafalgar Square. The Centre enables the Colleges of Arts & Letters, Business Administration, Science, Engineering and the Law School to develop their own programs in London.
Academics
Notre Dame has a student body population of 11,603 total students and employs 1241 full-time faculty members and another 166 part-time members to give a student/faculty ratio of 13:1. It is an
Oak Ridge Associated University.
Colleges
The
College of Arts and Letters was established as the university's first college in 1842 with the first degrees given in 1849. Today the college, housed in O'Shaughnessy Hall, includes 21 departments in the areas of fine arts, humanities, and social sciences, and awards
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees in over 40 majors, making it the largest of the university's colleges. There are around 2,500 undergraduates and 750 graduates enrolled in the college.
The College of Science was established at the university in 1865 by then-president Father Patrick Dillon. Dillon's scientific courses were six years of work, including higher-level mathematics courses. Today the college, housed in the newly-built Jordan Hall of Science, includes over 1,200 undergraduates in five departments of study, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and pre-professional studies, each awarding
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees. According to university statistics, its science pre-professional program has one of the highest acceptance rates to medical school of any university in the United States.
The
School of Architecture was established in 1899, although degrees in architecture were first awarded by the university in 1898. Today the school, housed in Bond Hall, offers a five year undergraduate program leading to the Bachelor of Architecture degree. One year of study is completed in
Rome by all students enrolled in the school.
The College of Engineering was established in 1920, however, early courses in civil and mechanical engineering were a part of the College of Science since the 1870s. Today the college, housed in the Cushing Hall of Engineering, includes five departments of study in aerospace and mechanical engineering, chemical and biomolecular engineering, civil engineering and geological sciences, computer science and engineering, and electrical engineering, with eight B.S. degrees offered. Additionally, the college offers five year dual degree programs with the Colleges of Arts and Letters and of Business awarding additional B.A. and
Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees, respectively.
The
Mendoza College of Business was established by Father
John F. O'Hara in 1921, although a foreign commerce program was launched in 1917. Today the college offers degrees in accountancy, finance, management, and marketing and enrolls over 1,600 students.
All of Notre Dame's undergraduate students are a part of one of the five undergraduate colleges at the school or are in the First Year of Studies program. The First Year of Studies program was established in 1962 to guide incoming
freshmen in their first year at the school before they've declared a major. Each student is given an academic advisor from the program who helps them to choose classes that give them exposure to any major in which they're interested. The program also includes a Learning Resource Center which provides time management, collaborative learning, and subject tutoring. This program has been recognized previously, by
U.S. News & World Report, as outstanding.
Graduate and professional schools
The University first offered graduate degrees, in the form of a
Master of Arts (MA), in the 1854–1855 academic year. The program expanded to include
Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Civil Engineering in its early stages of growth, before a formal graduate school education was developed with a
thesis not required to receive the degrees. This changed in 1924 with formal requirements developed for graduate degrees, including offering
Doctorate (Ph.D.) degrees. Today each of the five colleges offer graduate education. Most of the departments from the College of Arts and Letters offer Ph.D. programs, while a professional
Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program also exists. All of the departments in the College of Science offer Ph.D. programs, except for the Department of Pre-Professional Studies. The School of Architecture offers a
Master of Architecture, while each of the departments of the College of Engineering offer Ph.D. programs. The College of Business offers multiple professional programs including MBA and
Master of Science in Accountancy programs. It also operates facilities in
Chicago and
Cincinnati for its executive MBA program. Additionally, the Alliance for Catholic Education program offers a
Master of Education program where students study at the university during the summer and teach in Catholic
elementary schools,
middle schools, and
high schools across the
Southern United States for two school years.
In addition to the programs offered by each of the colleges, the
Notre Dame Law School offers a professional program for students. Established in 1869, Notre Dame was the first Catholic university in the United States to have a
law program. The front of the library is adorned with the Word of Life
mural. This mural is popularly known as "
Touchdown Jesus" because of its proximity to
Notre Dame Stadium and Jesus' arms appearing to make the signal for a
touchdown. The library system also includes branch libraries for Architecture, Chemistry & Physics, Engineering, Law, the Life Sciences, and Mathematics as well as information centers in the Mendoza College of Business and the Kellogg/Kroc Institute for Peace Studies, and a slide library in O'Shaughnessy Hall. The library system holds over three-million volumes and is one of the top–100 largest libraries in the country.
Rankings
Notre Dame ranked 19
th overall in the United States in
U.S. News and World Report's best colleges. U.S. News and World Report also lists Notre Dame Law School as 22
nd overall, and the Gourman Report, which is published by the Princeton Review, ranks the Law School at 18
th. BusinessWeek ranks Mendoza College of Business graduate school as 26
th overall. Additionally,
The Washington Monthly ranked the university 13
th nationally in its 2006 edition.
BusinessWeek also ranked the undergraduate business program as 3
rd nationally. The
Philosophical Gourmet Report ranked Notre Dame's graduate philosophy program as 13
th nationally, while
ARCHITECT Magazine, ranked the undergraduate architecture program as 12
th nationally. Additionally, the
study abroad program ranks sixth in highest participation percentage in the nation, with 57.6% of students choosing to study abroad in 17 countries.
Research
Notre Dame has a long history of scientific research. In 1882, Professor
Albert Zahm built the first
wind tunnel used to compare lift to drag of aeronautical models. Around 1899, Professor Jerome Green became the first American to send a wireless message. Also, in 1931, Father
Julius Nieuwland performed early work on basic reactions that was used to create
neoprene. Additionally,
nuclear physics study at the university began with the building of a
nuclear accelerator in 1936.
Today, research continues in many fields, as the current university president, Father Jenkins, described his hope that Notre Dame would become "one of the pre–eminent research institutions in the world" in his inaugural address. Recent research includes work on family conflict and child development,
genome mapping, the increasing
trade deficit of the United States with China, studies in
fluid mechanics, and marketing trends on the internet.
Endowment
Notre Dame's
financial endowment was started in the early 1920s by then-president of the university, Father James Burns, and increased to
$7 million by 1952 when Father Hesburgh became president. By the 1980s it reached $150 million, and in 2000 it returned a record 57.9% investment. For the 2007
fiscal year, the endowment had grown to approximately $6.5 billion, putting the university in the top–15 largest endowments in the country. and although 37% of students come from the
Midwestern United States, the student body represents all 50 states and 100 countries. The school has been previously criticized for its lack of diversity, and The Princeton Review ranks the university highly among schools at which "Alternative Lifestyles [are] Not an Alternative". However, it has also been commended by publications such as
Hispanic Magazine, ranking the university ninth on its list of the top–25 colleges for
Latinos, and the
Journal of Blacks in Higher Education for raising enrollment of African-American students. With 6,000 participants, the university's
intramural sports program has been named by
Sports Illustrated as the best program in the country, while The Princeton Review named it as the top school where "Everyone Plays Intramural Sports". The annual Bookstore
Basketball tournament is the largest outdoor five-on-five tournament in the world with over 700 teams participating each year, while the Notre Dame
Boxing Club hosts the annual Bengal Bouts tournament that raises money for
Bangladesh.
Residence halls
About 80% of undergraduates and 20% of graduate students live on campus. Because of the religious affiliation of the university, all residence halls are single-sex, with 14 male dorms and 13 female dorms. The university enforces a visitation policy (known as parietals) on those students who live in dormitories, specifying times when members of the opposite sex are allowed to visit, however, most residence halls have 24 hour social spaces in which parietals are not enforced. There are no
fraternities or sororities at the university, but many students live in the same residence hall for all four years fostering a strong sense of community. Some intramural sports are based on residence hall teams, where the university offers the only non-
military academy program of full-contact American football.
Religious life
With the university affiliated with the Congregation of the Holy Cross, its Catholic identity permeates into student life. More than 93% of students identify as
Christian, while over 80% are Catholics. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart is on campus and each residence hall has a
chapel. Collectively,
Catholic Mass is celebrated over 100 times per week on campus.
Student-run media
Like most universities, Notre Dame's students run a number of media outlets. The nine student-run outlets include a number of newspapers, both a radio and television station, and several magazines and journals. The three newspapers have varying publication interests, with
The Observer published daily and mainly reporting university and other news. In 1987, when some students believed that
The Observer began to show a
conservative bias, a
liberal newspaper,
Common Sense was published. Likewise, in 2003, when other students believed that the paper showed a liberal bias, the conservative paper
Irish Rover went into production. Neither paper are published as often as
The Observer, however, all three are distributed to all students. The television station,
NDtv, grew from one show in 2002 to a full 24 hour channel with original programming by September 2006. The radio station,
WVFI, began as a partner of
WSND-FM, however, has since been airing independently on the internet. Begun as a one-page journal in September 1876, the
Scholastic magazine is issued twice monthly and claims to be the oldest continuous collegiate publication in the United States. The other magazine,
The Juggler, is released twice a year and focuses on student literature and artwork. and are members of 275 alumni clubs around the world. Many alumni give yearly monetary support to the university, with a school-record 53.2% giving some donation in 2006. Many buildings on campus are named for those whose donations allowed their building, including residence halls, classroom buildings, and the performing arts center. members of the
United States Congress, and current
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A number of university heads are alumni, including Notre Dame's current president, Rev. John Jenkins. Additionally, many alumni are in the
media, including talk show hosts
Regis Philbin and
Phil Donahue, and television and radio personalities such as
Mike Golic and
Hannah Storm. With the university having high profile sports teams, a number of alumni became a part of sports teams, including professional baseball, basketball, and football players, such as
Joe Montana,
Megan Duffy, and
Jeff Samardzija, current collegiate head football coaches, such as Notre Dame coach
Charlie Weis, and former football coaches, such as
Knute Rockne. Other notable alumni include prominent businessman
Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. and
astronaut Jim Wetherbee.
Athletics
Notre Dame's
NCAA Division I teams are known as the Fighting Irish. This name was used in the early 1920s with respect to the football team and was popularized by alumnus Francis Wallace in his
New York Daily News columns. The official colors of Notre Dame are "
madonna blue" and "
papal gold," which are worn in competition by its athletic teams. In addition, the color green is often worn because of the Fighting Irish nickname. The
Notre Dame Leprechaun is the mascot of the athletic teams. Created by
Theodore W. Drake in
1964, the leprechaun was first used on the football pocket schedule and later on the football program covers. The leprechaun was featured on the cover of
Time in November of 1964 and gained national exposure.
The Department of Athletics has been led by
Kevin White since 2000. The university offers 26
varsity sports, 13 each for men and women. 21 of these teams compete in the
Big East Conference, while football is
Independent, both
fencing teams are in the
Midwest Fencing Conference, the
hockey team is in the
Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and the men's
lacrosse team is in the
Great Western Lacrosse League. The university
marching band plays at home games for most of the sports. The band, which began in 1846 and has a claim as the oldest university band in continuous existence in the United States, was honored by the National Music Council as a "Landmark of American Music" during the
United States Bicentennial. The band regularly plays the school's
fight song the
Notre Dame Victory March, which was named as the most played and most famous fight song by
Northern Illinois Professor William Studwell.
Football
The Notre Dame football team has a long history, first beginning when the
Michigan Wolverines football team brought football to Notre Dame in 1887 and played against a group of students. In the long history since then, 13 Irish teams have won consensus
national championships (although the university only claims 11), Additionally, the program has the most members in the
College Football Hall of Fame, is tied with the
University of Southern California(USC) and
The Ohio State University with the most
Heisman Trophies won, and have the second highest
winning percentage in NCAA history. With the long history, Notre Dame has accumulated many
rivals, and its annual game against
USC for the
Jeweled Shillelagh has been named by some as the second greatest
college football rivalry ever.
Today the team competes in Notre Dame Stadium, an 80,795 seat stadium on campus. The team is coached by Charlie Weis who was named as coach on
December 12,
2004, After three years coaching the Irish, Weis has accumulated a 22–15 record, and led his team to two
Bowl Championship Series bowl games. However, the
2007 team had the most losses ever for the school. The football team generates enough revenue to operate independently while $22.1 million is retained from the team's profits for academic use.
Forbes named the team as the most valuable in college football, worth a total of $101 million in 2007.
Men's basketball
The men's basketball team has over 1,600 wins, one of only 12 schools who have reached that mark, and have appeared in 28
NCAA tournaments. Former player,
Austin Carr, holds the record for most points scored in a single game of the tournament with 61. Although the team has never won the NCAA Tournament, they were named by the
Helms Foundation as national champions twice. The team has beaten an additional eight number one teams, and those nine wins rank second, to UCLA's 10, all-time in wins against the top team. The team is coached by
Mike Brey, who, as of the 2006–07 season, his seventh, has achieved a 142–78 record.
Other sports
Notre Dame has been successful in other sports besides football, with an additional 14 national championships in various sports. Three teams have won multiple national championships with the fencing team leading them with seven, followed by the men's
tennis and women's
soccer teams each with two. Also, the men's
cross country, men's
golf, and women's basketball teams each won one in their histories. Additionally, in the first ten years that Notre Dame competed in the Big East Conference its teams won a total of 64 championships.
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