The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. The university is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. The university is renowned for its programs in law, English, computer science, natural sciences, psychology, and engineering. Its faculty includes prominent scholars, scientists, and writers, including Russian dissident poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, political scientist Robert Donaldson and others. The campus's design is predominantly Collegiate Gothic.
The university manages the Gilcrease Museum, which includes one of the largest collections of American Western art in the world, and in 2016, The Bob Dylan Archive was placed at the university.
TU's athletic teams are collectively known as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and compete in Division I of the NCAA as members of the American Athletic Conference (The American).
History
Precursor and formation of university
The Presbyterian School for Girls (also known as "Minerva Home") was founded in Muskogee, Indian Territory, to offer a primary education to young women of the Creek Nation.
In 1894, the young school expanded to become Henry Kendall College, named in honor of Reverend Henry Kendall, secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. The first president was William A. Caldwell, who served a brief, two-year term ending in 1896.
Caldwell was succeeded by William Robert King, a Presbyterian minister and co-founder of the college, who had come to Oklahoma from Tennessee, by way of the Union Theological Seminary in New York City (affiliated with Columbia University). Kendall College, while still in Muskogee, granted the first post-secondary degree in Oklahoma in June 1898. Under King, the college was moved from its original location in downtown Muskogee to a larger campus on lands donated by Creek Nation Chief Pleasant Porter.
The opening of the new campus coincided with the start of the tenure of the third president, A. Grant Evans. Over the next ten years, Evans oversaw the struggling school's growth. In most years, class sizes remained small and although the Academy, the attached elementary, middle, and high school was more successful; by the end of the 1906/07 year Kendall College had had only 27 collegiate graduates. At the request of the administration, the Synod of Indian Territory assumed control as trustees and began to look at alternatives for the future of the school. When the administration was approached by the comparatively smaller town of Tulsa and offered a chance to move, the decision was made to relocate.
The Tulsa Commercial Club (a forerunner of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce) decided to bid for the college. Club members who packaged a bid in 1907 to move the college to Tulsa included: B. Betters, H. O. McClure, L. N. Butts, W. L. North, James H. Hall (sic), Grant C. Stebbins, Rev. Charles W. Kerr, C. H. Nicholson. The offer included $100,000, 20 acres of real estate and a guarantee for utilities and street car service.
The school opened to thirty-five students in September 1907, two months before Oklahoma became a state. These first students attended classes at the First Presbyterian Church until permanent buildings could be erected on the new campus. This became the start of higher education in Tulsa. Kendall Hall, the first building of the new school, was completed in 1908 and was quickly followed by two other buildings. All three buildings have since been demolished, with Kendall the last to be razed in 1972. The bell that once hung in the Kendall Building tower was saved and displayed in Bayless Plaza.
The Kendall College presidents during 1907â€"1919 were Arthur Grant Evans, :Levi Harrison Beeler, Seth Reed Gordon, Frederick William Hawley, Ralph J. Lamb, Charles Evans, James G. McMurtry and Arthur L. Odell.
In 1918, the Methodist Church proposed building a college in Tulsa, using money donated by Tulsa oilman Robert M. McFarlin. The proposed college was to be named McFarlin College. However, it was soon apparent that Tulsa could not yet support two competing schools. In 1920, Henry Kendall College merged with the proposed McFarlin College to become The University of Tulsa. The McFarlin Library of TU was named for the principal donor of the proposed college. The name of Henry Kendall has lived on to the present as the Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences.
From the Great Depression to the Turn of the Millennium
The University of Tulsa opened its School of Petroleum Engineering in 1928.
The Great Depression hit the university hard. By 1935, the school was about to close because of its poor financial condition. It had a debt of $250,000, enrollment had fallen to 300 students (including many who could not pay their own tuition), the faculty was poorly paid and morale was low. It was then that the oil tycoon and TU-patron Waite Phillips offered the school presidency to Clarence Isaiah ("Cy") Pontius, a former investment banker. His primary focus would be to rescue the school's finances. A deans' council would take charge of academic issues.
However, Pontius' accomplishments went beyond raising money. During his tenure the following events occurred:
- In 1935, the university opened the College of Business Administration, which it renamed as the Collins College of Business Administration in 2008.
- The Tulsa Law School, located in downtown Tulsa, became part of the university in 1943.
- In 1948, oil magnate William G. Skelly donated funds to found the University radio station, KWGS (named for his initials).
After William G. Skelly died, his widow donated the Skelly Mansion, at the corner of 21st Street and Madison Avenue, to the University of Tulsa. The school sold the mansion and its furnishings to private owners in 1959. On July 5, 2012, the university announced that it would repurchase the house as a residence for its president, who would live on the second floor. The ground floor will be used by the university for special events. After closing the purchase on July 13, 2012, the structure will be officially known as Skelly House.
In 1958, Ben Graf Henneke, a scholar of theater and communications, became the first alumnus to hold the Presidency of the University of Tulsa. During his tenure the university established new doctoral programs, increased the proportion of faculty with doctorates, started new publications including Petroleum Abstracts and the James Joyce Quarterly, developed a North Campus center for petroleum engineering research, and expanded many main campus facilities. He was succeeded by Dr. Eugene L. Swearingen, a Stanford University-trained economist and Oklahoma native who served on the National Finance Committee for the Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaign. Swearingen increased TU's endowment and expanded the footprint of its campus.
TU in the 21st century
In 2004, anthropologist Steadman Upham joined the University of Tulsa as President, after faculty and leadership positions at the University of Oregon. Within five years of his arrival, TU saw thirteen major construction projects and renovations on campus, ranging from the construction of the Roxana Rozsa and Robert Eugene Lorton Performance Center to the overhaul of Keplinger Hall, and plans for seven more major projects finalized (despite the nationwide recession). The University also launched the Oxley College of Health Sciences, in downtown Tulsa, named in recognition of a major gift from Tulsa's Oxley Foundation. The University also partnered with the George Kaiser Family Foundation to permanently house The Bob Dylan Archive at TU in 2016. Under Upham's leadership, the University of Tulsa assumed management of the famous Gilcrease Museum in northwest Tulsa.
In 2016, it was announced that upon President Upham's retirement, Dr. Gerald Clancy would assume the Presidency of the University. Clancy previously served as a psychiatry professor and held leadership positions at the University of Iowa and the University of Oklahoma.
Academics
The University of Tulsa has nationally recognized programs in petroleum engineering, English, computer science, natural sciences, clinical and industrial/organizational psychology, and other disciplines. The university also maintains a school of law, which is one of the few to specialize in Native American legal issues. The University of Tulsa College of Law Review ranks in the top 15% of most cited legal periodicals as ranked by Washington and Lee University. In its focus on energy, the University of Tulsa maintains both the National Energy Policy Institute and the National Energy-Environment Law and Policy Institute.
The University has an undergraduate research program, evidenced by 44 students receiving Goldwater Scholarships since 1995. The Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge (TURC) allows undergraduates to conduct advanced research with the guidance of top TU professors.
Currently, there are six colleges, programs, and departments at the University of Tulsa:
- Henry Kendall College of Arts & Sciences
- Collins College of Business (formerly College of Business Administration)
- College of Engineering and Natural Sciences
- College of Law
- Oxley College of Health Sciences
- Graduate School
- Division of Continuing Education
Admission to TU is highly competitive; The 2014 incoming freshman class boasted an average ACT score of 29 and an incoming average GPA of 3.9, the highest in the university's history.
The Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Abuse and Neglect (TITAN) is an interdisciplinary institute committed to evidence-based education, scholarship, research, and service that reduce the incidence and impact of trauma and adversity. This group is composed of students and professors primarily in psychology, sociology, and nursing. The group contributes to the fields through presentations at local and major conferences and publications.
Rankings
U.S. News & World Report's 2016 edition of Best Colleges ranked the University of Tulsa as tied for 86th among national universities. TU is the only Oklahoma university to be included in the top 100.
In 2011, Tulsa's Collins College of Business was ranked 33rd in the country among undergraduate business schools by Bloomberg Businessweek, based on a student survey. It was ranked 20th by a survey of recruiters. The most recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek financial aid ranking placed TU at No. 1 in terms of providing meaningful student aid for business students.
The University of Tulsa is known for its large number of National Merit Scholarship winners, approximately one in every ten undergraduate students.
Competitive scholarships
In recent years, TU students have won 62 Goldwater Scholarships, five Marshall Scholarships, two Rhodes Scholarships (more Rhodes finalists), 18 Fulbright Scholarships, and numerous Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and Morris K. Udall Fellowships.
Campus
The campus of the University of Tulsa centers on a wide, grassy, quad-like space known as Dietler Commons, formerly called "The U." The predominant architectural style is English Gothic. Most of the buildings are constructed from tan and rose-colored Crab Orchard sandstone from Tennessee interspersed with stone quarried in Arkansas. Other materials include Bedford limestone from Indiana and slate quarried in Vermont. The university's campus borders Tulsa's Kendall-Whittier neighborhood and is not far from Tulsa's downtown and mid-town neighborhoods. The campus, in particular its football stadium Skelly Field, is located on the historic U.S. Route 66, America's "Mother Road" stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles.
University of Tulsa has participated in efforts towards sustainability including RecycleMania and Adopt a Recycle Bin. Many campus efforts have been led by student groups like the Sustainability Committee, the Student Association, TU Earth Matters, and the TU Food Garden. The latter is a student-run organic garden that provides food to dining services. The university strives to have its buildings meet LEED standards in order to reduce the school's overall carbon footprint. The university achieved a D+ on the Sustainable College Report Card in 2009, which was up from a D in 2008.
Tulsa is one of the first universities in the United States to have a mosque located on campus (in addition to Christian, Jewish and other facilities).
Bayless Plaza
Completed in 2006, Bayless Plaza houses the Kendall Bell, hanging in the cupola of the former Kendall Hall. The plaza lies directly south of Tyrrell Hall, longtime home of the School of Music, and serves as the apex of Tucker Drive, the university's main entrance.
H. A. Chapman Stadium
TU football has played at Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium since 1930. It was renamed from Skelly Stadium following renovations in 2007. The Case Athletic Complex in the north end of the field provides office facilities for the football staff, a new locker room and trainer facility, a letterman's lounge and box seating on the top level, and meeting rooms, a computer lab, and study spaces for student-athletes. Renovations have been completed and provide renovated seating throughout the stadium, new turf, an updated score board and Jumbotron, and an expanded press box. The changes also include the addition of an extensive plaza area (Thomas Plaza) on the west side of the stadium to accommodate restrooms, food and drink stands, and souvenir shops.
Donald W. Reynolds Center
Home to women's volleyball along with the men's and women's basketball programs, the Donald W. Reynolds Center houses office and meeting space, practice and weights facilities, and the main basketball arena. Commencement exercises are held in the Reynolds Center in December and May.
Sharp Chapel
Named for its principal donors, Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Sharp, Sharp Chapel was completed on November 27, 1959. It replaced the university's original chapel that was located in Kendall Hall before its destruction and replacement by the current Kendall Hall theater building. Sharp Chapel houses the Offices of University Chaplain and serves the religious needs of multiple denominations present on campus as well as hosting many awards ceremonies and weddings.
Additions to Sharp Chapel were completed in the spring of 2004, including the Westminster Room, an atrium, kitchen, and a second floor including administrative offices and a conference room.
On-campus student residences
On-campus housing consists of six residence halls, six sorority houses, and six university-owned apartment complexes, including eight apartments designed like townhouses.
Residence halls:
- John Mabee Hall â€" all-male residence hall located at the Northwest end of Dietler Commons. It is known on campus as "The John".
- Lottie Jane Mabee Hall â€" all-female residence hall located at the Southwest end of Deitler Commons. It is known on campus as "Lottie."
- LaFortune Hall â€" coed residence hall close to the athletics areas. It is home to the university's International Living Community. It is named for the family of three Tulsa mayors.
- William F. Fisher Hall â€" coed freshman residence hall immediately adjacent to the facility formerly known as Twin Towers, first opened to students in the fall of 1984. It was known as Twin South from 1984 to 2009. It is now known on campus as "South" or "Fisher South."
- Fisher West Suites â€" coed residence hall immediately adjacent to the Dining Hall and part of the building formerly known as Twin Towers. It is known on campus as "West" or "Fisher West."
- Hardesty Hall â€" coed residence hall close to Allen Chapman Student Union.
Apartment complexes include Brown Village, Lorton Village (includes townhouses), Mayo Village, Norman Village, University Square South, and University Square West.
Museums and libraries
McFarlin Library
At the top of Deitler Commons sits one of the campus' most notable landmarks, the McFarlin Library, named after Robert and Ida McFarlin, the library's primary benefactors. The McFarlins had only one stipulation with their gift: that the view of Downtown Tulsa from McFarlin could never be blocked. Groundbreaking ceremonies took place on May 3, 1929 and the edifice was dedicated on June 1, 1930. The library continued to grow over the years, adding two five-story additions by 1979.
Currently, the library houses over three million items and has several notable collections of 20th-century British, Irish, and American literature, including the world's second largest collection of materials by James Joyce. It also houses the papers of Nobel Prize winners V.S. Naipaul and Doris Lessing, as well as novelists and poets Jean Rhys, Eliot Bliss, David Plante, and Stevie Smith. In addition to these famous novelists, McFarlin Library houses the papers of Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson, literary critic Richard Ellmann, comic book innovator E. Nelson Bridwell, Cherokee Principal Chief J.B. Milam, and writer/sexologist Edward Charles, among others.
The library also contains a vast collection of books on Native American history.
Partnership with the Gilcrease Museum
Beginning in July 2008, the University of Tulsa has taken over management of the Gilcrease Museum in a public-private partnership with the City of Tulsa. The museum has one of the largest collections of American Western art in the world (including famous works by Frederic Remington, Thomas Moran, and others) and houses growing collections in artifacts from Central and South America. The museum sits on 460 acres (1.9Â km2) in northwest Tulsa, a considerable distance from the main university campus.
The Bob Dylan Archive
The Bob Dylan Archive is a collection of documents and objects relating to iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (whose mentor was Oklahoman Woody Guthrie). It was announced on March 2, 2016 that the archive had been acquired by the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) and the University of Tulsa. It will be under the care of the University's Helmerich Center for American Research.
Student life
Students at the University of Tulsa represent 30 states and 21 foreign countries, of which 39% are Oklahoma residents. The University of Tulsa is home to more than 200 student organizations, registered with and partially funded by the Student Association.
Student Association
The Student Association is the University of Tulsa student government body. It is organized into three branches: the Executive Branch, which includes Cabinet and is in charge of organizing large campus-wide events and activities; the Judicial Branch; and the Legislative Branch, or Student Senate, which coordinates funding, supports student organization charters, and addresses general issues impacting student life on campus. Its budget is provided partially by the university and partially by a fee paid by students each semester.
Traditionally, the Student Association coordinates Homecoming activities, including cross campus competitions and the homecoming game tailgate. Another traditional event is Springfest, a week-long series of events including food, various on-campus activities, and a concert bringing in such names as Imagine Dragons, Panic! At the Disco, and Misterwives. In addition to traditional campus events, Student Association provides smaller campus programs including community service activities, social awareness events, and diversity programming. Activities organized by Student Association are free to all TU students.
Greek presence
There are five IFC fraternities and six NPC sororities on campus. The living quarters in the back of the sorority houses are university-owned residence halls, but, traditionally, only current members of the sororities live there.
There are also a number of historically black sororities and fraternities on campus that fall under the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Currently, there are five active organizations:
Other fraternities on campus that do not fall under the various councils include:
- Alpha Phi Omega co-ed service fraternity
- Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity
- Sigma Alpha Iota music sorority
- Delta Theta Phi co-ed law fraternity
- Phi Alpha Delta co-ed law fraternity
- Phi Delta Phi co-ed law fraternity
- Sigma Phi Lambda Christian sorority
College traditions
- Kendall Bell: The Kendall Bell, now housed in Bayless Plaza, is traditionally rung by graduating seniors upon completion of their last final exam at the university. The bell was broken by a group of students in May 2008. They were trying to steal it, and dropped it in their escape.
- Homecoming Bonfire: Traditionally held the Friday evening prior to the Homecoming football game. The Homecoming court is honored and the Homecoming King is named, but the Queen is not named until halftime of the football game on Saturday.
- Alma Mater: "Hail to Tulsa U" is sung by alumni and current students prior to major sporting events and at the end of all commencement ceremonies. Alumni and students remain standing as a sign of respect. The melody is played by the Sharp Chapel carillon daily at 5 pm.
2015 Student speech controversy
In February 2015, after the University of Tulsa suspended a student under its zero tolerance policy for alleged harassment for allegedly threatening and defamatory Facebook postings by his fiancee against other faculty and a female student, administrators attempted to discourage the campus newspaper from publishing confidential information because of the non-disclosure agreement the university had tried to force upon the student. The controversy was picked up by several online sites which criticized the administration for using threats and intimidation to cover up their handling of the disciplinary issue. In January 2016, the former student filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming his dismissal was unfair and was a breach of the institution's commitment to due process. The incident earned the university a spot on the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's 2016 "10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech".
Athletics
Tulsa's sports teams participate in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American); its football team is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Tulsa has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of any FBS school. TU has had a rivalry with the slightly larger Rice University and a football rivalry with the substantially larger University of Houston.
The university's nickname is the Golden Hurricane (it was originally the Golden Tornadoes). The Sound of the Golden Hurricane marching band plays at all home football and basketball games as well as traveling to championships in support of the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa has won six national championships (three NCAA), four in women's golf and two in men's basketball. The University of Tulsa currently fields a varsity team in eight men's and ten women's sports.
Athletic facilities are distributed throughout a number of buildings on campus. Mabee Gym houses an extensive indoor rowing facility, an indoor golf practice facility, and volleyball practice gyms. Renovations in spring 2008 incorporated FieldTurf into an indoor practice field for the soccer, softball, and football programs. The tennis teams are housed in the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, which includes a number of indoor and outdoor courts (and spectator seating for 2,000). The Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium is home to the track and field and soccer programs.
Symbols
The school's colors are old gold (PMS 873), royal blue (PMS 280), and crimson (PMS 032).
The university's motto used to read, in full, "Faith, Wisdom, Service: For Christ, For State."
Publications
The University of Tulsa Collegian is the long-standing independent and student-run newspaper on campus.
The following scholarly journals are published by the university:
- Nimrod International Journal of Poetry & Prose
- James Joyce Quarterly
- Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature
- Lithic Technology
- Russian Studies in History
- Energy Law Journal
- Tulsa Journal of Comparative & International Law
- Tulsa Law Review
In 2003 Tulsa joined the efforts of Brown University on the Modernist Journals Project, an online archive of early 20th-century periodicals. Tulsa has contributed various modernist texts from McFarlin Library's Special Collections to the project's website.
Dr. Sean Latham, editor of the James Joyce Quarterly, brought the 2003 North American James Joyce Conference to the University of Tulsa.
People
Alumni
The University of Tulsa counts a number of distinguished individuals among its alumni, including current Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, New York School poet Ted Berrigan, The Outsiders author S.E. Hinton, voicemail inventor Gordon Matthews, Golden Girls actress Rue McClanahan, radio legend Paul Harvey, TV personality Dr. Phillip McGraw (who played football for TU but did not graduate), Cherokee Nation Chief Chad "Corntassel" Smith, US Congressman and NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent, and Brazilian billionaire businessman Ermirio Pereira de Moraes.
Faculty
Tulsa's faculty includes the famous Russian poet and dissident intellectual Yevgeny Yevtushenko, psychologist Robert Hogan, political scientist Robert Donaldson, Catholic philosopher F. Russell Hittinger, computer scientist Sujeet Shenoi, former US Congressman Brad Carson, and "2010 Big Brother of the Year" Art Rasher. Noted artist Adah Robinson was the founder and first chairperson of the University's Department of Art.
References
External links
- Official website
- Tulsa Golden Hurricane Athletics website