The University of Miami (informally referred to as UM, U of M, U Miami, Miami, or The U^[5][6]) is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key.

As of 2009^[update], the university currently enrolls 15,629 students^[7] in 12 separate colleges, including a medical school, law school, and a school focused on the study of oceanography and atmospheric sciences. These colleges offer approximately 115 undergraduate, 114 master’s, 51 doctoral, and two professional areas of study. Over the years, the University's students have represented all 50 states and close to 150 foreign countries.^[8] With more than 13,000 full and part-time faculty and staff,^[9] UM is the sixth largest employer in Miami-Dade County.^[10]

Research is a component of each academic division, with UM attracting $326 million per year in sponsored research grants.^[11] UM also offers a large library system with over 3.1 million volumes and exceptional holdings in Cuban heritage and music.^[12] UM also offers a wide range of student activities, including fraternities and sororities, a student newspaper and radio station. UM's intercollegiate athletic teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association,^[13] and its football team has won five national championships.^[14]

History[link]

A group of citizens chartered the University of Miami in 1925 with the intent to offer "unique opportunities to develop inter-American studies, to further creative work in the arts and letters, and to conduct teaching and research programs in tropical studies."^[15] They believed that a local university would benefit their community. They were overly optimistic about future financial support for UM because the South Florida land boom was at its peak.^[15] During the Jim Crow era, there were three large state-funded universities in Florida for white males, white females, and black Americans (UF, FSU, and FAMU, respectively); in this accord, UM was founded as a white, coeducational institution.

The University began in earnest in 1925 when George E. Merrick, the founder of Coral Gables, gifted 160 acres (0.6 km²) and nearly $5 million dollars^[16] ($66.3 million, adjusted for current inflation) to the effort.^[17] The University was chartered on April 18, 1925^[18] by the Circuit Court for Dade County^[19] with an initial Board of Regents chaired by William E. Walsh, a Miami Beach municipal judge. By the fall of 1926, when the first class of 372 students enrolled at UM,^[20] the land boom had collapsed, and hopes for a speedy recovery were dashed by a major hurricane.^[21] In the next 15 years the University barely remained solvent. The construction of the first building on campus, now known as the Merrick Building, was left half built for over two decades due to economic difficulties.^[21] In the meantime, classes were held at the nearby Anastasia Hotel, with partitions separating classrooms, giving the University the short-lived nickname of "Cardboard College."^[21][22][23]

In 1929, Walsh and the other members of the Board of Regents resigned in the wake of the collapse of the Florida economy. UM's plight was so severe that students went door to door in Coral Gables collecting funds to keep it open.^[22] A reconstituted ten-member Board was chaired by UM's first president Bowman Foster Ashe (1926–1952). The new board included Merrick, Theodore Dickinson, E.B. Douglas, David Fairchild, James H. Gilman, Richardson Saunders, Frank B. Shutts, Joseph H. Adams, and J. C. Penney. In 1930, several faculty members and more than 60 students came to UM when the University of Havana closed due to political unrest.^[21] UM filed for bankruptcy in 1932.^[21][24] In July 1934, the University of Miami was reincorporated and a Board of Trustees replaced the Board of Regents. By 1940, community leaders were replacing faculty and administration as trustees.^[19] The University survived this early turmoil. During Ashe's presidency, the University added the School of Law (1928),^[25] the School of Business Administration (1929), the School of Education (1929), the Graduate School (1941), the Marine Laboratory (1943, renamed in 1969 as the Rosenstiel School), the School of Engineering (1947), and the School of Medicine (1952).^[21]

Walkway leading to the Otto G. Richter Library on the campus of the University of Miami

During World War II, UM 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.^[26]

One of Ashe's longtime assistants, Jay F. W. Pearson, assumed the presidency in 1952.^[27] A charter faculty member and a marine biologist by trade,^[27] Pearson retained the position until 1962.^[15] During his presidency, UM awarded its first doctorate degrees and saw an increase in enrollment of more than 4,000.^[15][28]

The social changes of the 1960s and 1970s were reflected at UM. In 1961, UM dropped its policy of racial segregation and began to admit black American students.^[28][29] African Americans were also allowed full participation in student activities and sports teams.^[30] After President Stanford pressed for minority athletes, in December 1966, UM signed Ray Bellamy, an African American football player. With Bellamy, UM became the first major college in the Deep South with a Black football player on scholarship.^[31] UM established an Office of Minority Affairs to promote diversity in both undergraduate and professional school admissions.^[32] With the start of the 1968 football season, President Henry Stanford barred the playing of "Dixie" by the University's band.^[21]

Historically, UM regulated female student conduct more than men's conduct with a staff under the Dean of Women watching over the women. UM combined the separate Dean of Men and Dean of Women positions in 1971.^[33] In 1971, UM formed a Women's Commission which issued a 1974 report on the status of women on campus.^[34] The result was UM's first female commencement speaker,^[35] day care, and a Women's Study minor. Following the enactment of Title IX in 1972, and decades of litigation, all organizations, including honorary societies were open to women. The Women's Commission also sought more equitable funding for women's sports.^[36]

From 1961 to 1968, UM leased buildings on its South Campus to serve as the covert headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency's JMWAVE operation against Fidel Castro's government in Cuba.^[37] In 1968, after Ramparts magazine exposed CIA operations on other campuses, JMWAVE was moved off the UM campus out of concern for embarrassing the university.^[38]

Henry King Stanford became UM's third president in 1962.^[39] The Stanford presidency saw increased emphasis on research, reorganization of administrative structure and construction of new facilities. Among the new research centers established were the Center for Advanced International Studies (1964), the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Evolution (1964), the Center for Theoretical Studies (1965), and the Institute for the Study of Aging (1975). Under Stanford, in 1965, UM began to recruit international students.^[21]

In 1981, Edward T. Foote II became the school's fourth president.^[40] Under Foote's leadership, on campus student housing was converted into a system of residential colleges.^[41] In addition, Foote initiated a five-year $400 million fundraising campaign that began in 1984 and raised $517.5 million.^[42][43] He saw the endowment expand from $47.4 million in 1981 to $465.2 million in 2000.^[42]

Foote was succeeded by Donna Shalala, who assumed the UM presidency in 2001.^[44] Under Shalala, Miami has built new libraries, dormitories, symphony rehearsal halls, and classroom buildings. The university's academic quality and student quality also have improved as a result.^[45] During Shalala's leadership of the University of Miami, Miami hosted one of three nationally televised U.S. presidential debates of the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.^[46]

Starting in 2002,^[47] UM conducted a fundraising campaign titled "Momentum: The Campaign for the University of Miami" that ultimately raised $1.37 billion,^[48] the most money raised by any college in Florida as of February 8, 2008 (2008 -02-08)^[update].^[49] Of that amount, $854 million went to the medical campus.^[48] On November 30, 2007, UM acquired the Cedars Medical Center and renamed it the "University of Miami Hospital", giving the Miller School of Medicine an in-house teaching hospital rather than being merely affiliated with area hospitals.^[50]

On February 28, 2006, custodial workers at the University of Miami, who are contracted to the university by a Boston, Massachusetts-based company, UNICCO, began a strike prompted by allegations of unfair labor practices, substandard pay, lack of health benefits, and workplace safety. After students began a hunger strike and on-campus vigil, the strike was settled on May 1, 2006. The settlement resulted in a card count which lead to the recognition of the first union-represented bargaining unit at UM.^[51][52][53] UM raised wages from $6.40 to $8.35 per hour and provided health insurance.^[54]

In 2008–09, UM responded to the economic slowdown by tightening expenditures.^[55] While its endowment lost over 26.8% of its value,^[56] impacting endowment income, the school receives more than 98% of its operating budget from other sources.^[55]

In 2011, UM was ranked the nation's most fiscally-responsible nonprofit organization by Worth magazine, in a report issued in collaboration with nonprofit watchdog Charity Navigator.^[57]

Campus[link]

Coral Gables campus[link]

The John C. Gifford Arboretum on the University of Miami campus

UM's main campus spans 260 acres (1.1 km²)^[58] in Coral Gables, located immediately south of the city of Miami. Most of the University of Miami's academic programs are located on the main campus in Coral Gables, which houses seven schools and two colleges including the University of Miami School of Law. The campus has over 5,900,000 sq ft (550,000 m²) of building space valued at over $657 million.^[59] Several other programs, including bilingual Continuing and International Education classes, are offered at the Koubek Center in Miami's Little Havana,^[60] the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami,^[61] and the South and Richmond campuses in southwest Miami-Dade county.

The university also has a campus theater, the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre, which is used for student plays and musicals.^[62] The John C. Gifford Arboretum, a campus arboretum and botanical garden, is located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Coral Gables.^[63] The Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center is the gallery of the School of Architecture that displays exhibitions focusing on architecture and design.^[64][65]

The Coral Gables campus is served by the Miami Metrorail at the University Station.^[66] The Metro connects UM to Downtown Miami, Brickell, Coconut Grove, and other Miami neighborhoods. The UM campus is about a 15-minute train ride from Downtown and Brickell.^[67]

Student housing[link]

The Coral Gables campus houses 4,500 enrolled students. This group is disproportionately freshmen (84% of new freshmen live on campus compared with 43% of all degree undergraduates).^[12] UM's on campus housing consists of five residential colleges and one apartment-style housing area available only to undergraduate degree seeking students. The residential colleges are divided into two dormitory-style residence halls and three suite-style residence halls. The McDonald and Pentland Towers of Hecht Residential College^[70] and the Walsh and Rosborough Towers of Stanford Residential College^[71] are commonly referred to as the "Freshman Towers", as the single-sex by floor (with shared bathroom facilities) co-ed dormitories generally house new students. Eaton Residential College, which originally housed only women,^[72] and the Mahoney/Pearson Residential Colleges^[73][74] have suite-style housing with every two double-occupancy rooms connected by a shared bathroom.

In addition to these five residential colleges, Miami also has an area called the University Village^[75] which consists of seven buildings with apartment-style annual contract housing, fully furnished with kitchen facilities. The University Village is only open to juniors and seniors, but was previously open to graduate students and students of the School of Law up until July 31, 2009; after this date, there has been no housing available for any graduate students on the Coral Gables campus.^[76][77]

Miami previously had a series of seven buildings set aside for student residences called the Apartment Area, consisting of the oldest dormitories on campus which were originally built to house married veterans and their families.^[78] These buildings also featured fully furnished apartments with kitchen facilities, but were not leased to students as in the University Village. These residences were closed at the end of the Spring 2010 semester,^[69] although several others of these original dormitories continue to be used as office space for departments such as the Office of Student Employment, the Air Force ROTC Detachment 155, and the Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Education PIER 21.

The University of Miami does not offer housing for students with children or for married students.^[79] UM abolished its separate dorms for athletes in 1990.^[41]

Medical campus[link]

The Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine campus, located near Downtown Miami in the Civic Center, trains 1,000 students in various health-related programs.^[80] It consists of 68 acres (280,000 m²) within the 153 acres (620,000 m²) University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center complex. The medical center includes three UM-owned hospitals: University of Miami Hospital, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital. Jackson Memorial Hospital, Holtz Children's Hospital, and the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center are also a part of the medical center and are affiliated with UM, but are not owned by UM.^[81] The heart of this campus is "The Alamo" – the original City of Miami Hospital, which opened in 1918, that is on the National Register of Historic Places.^[80][82] In 2006, UM opened the 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m²), 15-story Clinical Research Building and Wellness Center.^[80] In 2009, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, nine-story Biomedical Research Building, a 182,000 sq ft (16,900 m²) laboratory and office facility, opened to house the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute and the Miami Institute for Human Genomics.^[83] UM has started to build a 2,000,000 sq ft (190,000 m²) UM Life Science Park adjacent to the UM medical campus.^[84] These additional Gold LEED certified buildings are being built by Wexford Science & Technology, a private developer, on land leased from UM.^[85] The Medical campus is connected to UM's main campus by the Miami Metrorail with direct stations at University Station for the main campus, and Civic Center Station for the medical campus.

On December 1, 2007, the University purchased the Cedars Medical Center, renaming it as the University of Miami Hospital. Situated in the Miami Health District, the hospital is close to the Jackson Memorial Hospital, which has been used by the UM students and faculty to provide patient care for many years.^[86]

Starting in 2004, the Miller School began offering instruction on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. MD candidates were admitted to either the Miami or Boca Raton programs and spent the first two years studying on the selected campus and the last two on the main campus in Miami.^[87] In April 2005, the Boca Raton program was expanded to include a third clinical year in Palm Beach County. In 2010, when Florida Atlantic University made plans to establish their own medical school, no future classes of the regional campus were accepted. The last class to complete the first three years of training in Boca Raton is the Class of 2013.^[88]

There is no on campus housing for students of the Miller School of Medicine in Miami or Boca Raton.^[89] The Miami and Boca Raton campuses charge identical tuition, with a lower tuition for in-state students.^[90]

Virginia Key campus[link]

The Applied Marine Physics Building at UM's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key

In 1945, construction began on the Rickenbacker Causeway to make Virginia Key accessible by car. The county offered to give UM a part of the island adjacent to the Miami Seaquarium in exchange for UM operating the aquarium.^[91] However, the aquarium construction was delayed when a bond referendum failed, so UM leased the land in 1951. In 1953, UM built classroom and lab buildings on a 16 acre (65,000 m²) campus on Virginia Key in the City of Miami to house what became the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Additional buildings were added in 1957, 1959 and 1965.^[91] The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory is located across the Rickenbacker Causeway from the campus. From 1947 to 1959, the State of Florida funded the UM Marine Lab on Virginia Key until the State built a separate marine lab in St. Petersburg.^[91] In 2009, UM received a $15 million federal grant to help construct a new $43.8 million, 56,500 square feet (5,250 m²) Marine Technology and Life Sciences Seawater Research Building.^[92]

There is no housing on the Virginia Key campus. As part of its campus-wide free shuttle service, UM operates a route from the Coral Gables campus to the Virginia Key campus, which includes stops at the Vizcaya Metrorail station on weekdays.^[77][93]

South Campus[link]

In 1946, UM acquired the former Richmond Naval Air Station, in southwestern Miami, located 12 mi (19 km) south of the main campus in order to accommodate the post-war increase in students. Its six buildings provide 63,800 sq ft (5,930 m²)^[81] to currently house: the Global Public Health Research Group, Miami Institute for Human Genomics, Forensic Toxicology Laboratory (for analysis of DUI suspect blood samples), and Microbiology and Immunology.^[94] The campus was acquired immediately following World War II to accommodate about 1,100 students (mostly freshmen) with housing, dining and recreational facilities and classrooms for two academic years.^[95] From 1948 to present it has been used as a research facility and storage area. In the 1960s, some of the buildings were leased to the Central Intelligence Agency. The South Campus Grove was a 350 acres (1,400,000 m²) plot for agricultural research and horticultural studies that was established in 1948.^[20][95] For 20 years, UM used radioactive isotopes in biological research on the South Campus, and buried materials, included irradiated animals on the site. In August 2006, UM agreed to reimburse the Army Corps of Engineers $393,473 for clean-up costs under the Superfund law.^[96]

The Richmond campus is a 76 acres (310,000 m²) site near South Campus that was formerly the United States Naval Observatory Secondary National Time Standard Facility, which already had buildings and a 20M antenna used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).^[97] The Rosenstiel School’s Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) and Richmond Satellite Operations Center (RSOC) have research facilities located on a portion of the new campus.

Sustainability[link]

Since 2005, UM has a "Green U" initiative which includes LEED certification for buildings and the use of biofuels by the campus bus fleet.^[98] UM established the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy.^[99] As a part of the Abess Center, UM launched the R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program to educate students on the importance of protecting the marine environment.^[100] In 2008, UM replaced the chiller plant on its Virginia Key campus to improve its carbon footprint.^[101] UM also planted mangroves, sea grape trees, and other dune plants on Virginia Key to protect its sand dunes and to protect the campus from storm damage.^[102] UM received a "C+" grade on the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card^[103] and a "B-" for 2010^[104] for its environmental and sustainability initiatives.

Student body[link]

In 2011, UM received 28,000 applicants for only 2,150 available openings in its freshman class. Nearly 75 percent of new freshmen admitted to the university graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class with an average GPA of 4.2 and an average SAT score of 1319.^[106]

In 2010, undergraduates were composed of: 32% from the Greater Miami area, 12% from other parts of Florida, 44% from other U.S. states, and 11% were foreign students. Graduates were composed of: 34% from the Greater Miami area, 16% from other parts of Florida, 37% from other U.S. states, and 13% were foreign students.^[3]

As of 2002^[update], UM graduation rates had 64.1% graduating within 4 years, 75.1% graduating within 5 years, and 76.8% graduating within 6 years.^[107] Male student athletes have a 52% 4-year graduation rate, and 72% of female student athletes graduate within 4 years.^[108][109]

Academics[link]

There are currently 2,505 full-time faculty members, 91% of whom hold doctorates or terminal degrees in their field.^[111] UM has a student-faculty ratio of 11:1.^[111] The University of Miami is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and 23 additional professional and educational accrediting agencies. It is a member of the American Association of University Women, the American Council on Education, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Association of American Colleges and Universities,^[112] the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities, the Independent Colleges & Universities of Florida,^[113] and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.^[114]

Organization[link]

UM is led by a Board of Trustees, which holds two meetings each year.^[19] The Board has 48 elected members, 3 alumni representatives, 23 senior members, 4 national members, 6 ex-officio members, 14 emeriti members, and 1 student representative. Ex-officio members, who serve by virtue of their positions in the University, include the President of the University, the President and Immediate Past President of the Citizens Board, and the President, President-Elect, and Immediate Past President of the Alumni Association.^[19] Since 1982, the Board has eleven visiting committees, which include both Trustees and outside experts, to help oversee the individual academic units.^[19]

UM's President, currently Donna Shalala, is the university's chief executive officer with a salary of $783,420,^[115] ($1.2 million in total 2008 compensation^[116]) and each academic unit is headed by a Dean.

Undergraduate & Graduate

• School of Architecture
• College of Arts and Sciences
• School of Business Administration
• School of Communication
• School of Education
• College of Engineering
• Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
• Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music
• School of Nursing and Health Studies

Graduate only

• The Graduate School^[120]
• Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
• University of Miami School of Law

In addition, UM also has a Division of Continuing and International Education and a program in Executive Education as part of the School of Business Administration.

The Graduate School does not have a separate faculty, but rather coordinates the faculties from the other schools and colleges with respect to master and doctorate degree program.^[121] A partnership with nearby Florida International University also allow students from both schools to take graduate classes at either university, allowing graduate students to take a wider variety of courses.^[122] In addition, the Miller School of Medicine offers separate PhD^[123] and MD/PhD^[124] programs in several biomedical sciences.

The Department of Community Service, staffed by volunteer medical students and physicians from UM's Leonard M. School of Medicine, provides free medical and other community services in Miami and surrounding communities.

For the fiscal year ending May 2008, UM had $2,048,588,166 in total revenues and $1,992,907,677 in functional expenses with the excess going to endowment or other fund accounts.^[115]

Rankings[link]

In the 2012 issue of U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges," the University of Miami was ranked 38th among national universities, the highest ranked in Florida.^[136] U.S. News's 2010 ranking of U.S. medical schools ranked the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine as the 47th best medical school in the nation, while US News ranked the School of Law as the 77th best law school in the nation.^[137] In 2008, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Miami Physical Therapy Department 7th in the nation^[138] and the Department of Psychology's Clinical Training Program 25th in the nation.^[135]