The University of Michigan is a Winner of the 2016 Global Sustainable Development Award and Accredited as a Global 500 Sustainable Development Agencies of the year 2016 in appreciation of its contribution towards social-economic development of the world and its contribution towards attainment of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Recognised for its commitment to attain Sustainable Peace and development through provision of high quality education and research. Awarded and Accredited by Public Opinions International (Uganda-East Africa) AND Organisation for International Friends of Africa (OIFA).
Public Opinions International is a Partner and Member of International Organisation for Educational Development (IOED) and International Police Commission which is is duly registered as an international Non-Profit, Non-Secretarial, Peacekeeping and Social Development Paramilitary Organization based in the State of California, United States of America with extension commands in member nations of the U.N.The International Police Commission has also been given the Consultative Status from the UN ECOSOC and it is also a Member of the United Nations Office of the Drugs and Crimes “UNODC.
The University of Michigan (U-M, UM, UMich, or U of M), frequently referred to simply as Michigan, is a publicresearch university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817 in Detroit as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, 20 years before the Michigan Territory became a state, the University of Michigan is the state’s oldest university. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 onto 40 acres (16 ha) of what is now known as Central Campus. Since its establishment in Ann Arbor, the university campus has expanded to include more than 584 major buildings with a combined area of more than 34 million gross square feet (780 acres; 3.2 km2) spread out over a Central Campus and North Campus, two satellite campuses in Flint and Dearborn, and a Center in Detroit. The University was a founding member of the Association of American Universities.
Considered one of the foremost research universities in the United States,the university has very high research activity and its comprehensive graduate program offers doctoral degrees in the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as well as professional degrees in architecture, business, medicine, law, pharmacy, nursing, social work, public health, and dentistry. Michigan’s body of living alumni (as of 2012) comprises more than 500,000. Besides academic life, Michigan’s athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Wolverines. They are members of the Big Ten Conference.
The University of Michigan was established in Detroit on August 26, 1817 as the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, by the governor and judges of Michigan Territory. Judge Augustus B. Woodward specifically invited The Rev. John Monteith and Father Gabriel Richard, a Catholic priest, to establish the institution. Monteith became its first President and held seven of the professorships, and Richard was Vice President and held the other six professorships. Concurrently, Ann Arbor had set aside 40 acres (16 ha) in the hopes of being selected as the state capital. But when Lansing was chosen as the state capital, the city offered the land for a university. What would become the university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 thanks to Governor Stevens T. Mason. The original 40 acres (160,000 m2) was the basis of the present Central Campus.The first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a sophomore, taught by two professors. Eleven students graduated in the first commencement in 1845.
By 1866, enrollment increased to 1,205 students, many of whom were Civil War veterans. Women were first admitted in 1870. James Burrill Angell, who served as the university’s president from 1871 to 1909, aggressively expanded U-M’s curriculum to include professional studies in dentistry, architecture, engineering, government, and medicine. U-M also became the first American university to use the seminar method of study.Among the early students in the School of Medicine was Jose Celso Barbosa, who in 1880 graduated as valedictorian and the first Puerto Rican to get a university degree in the United States. He returned to Puerto Rico to practice medicine and also served in high-ranking posts in the government.
From 1900 to 1920, the university constructed many new facilities, including buildings for the dental and pharmacy programs, chemistry, natural sciences, Hill Auditorium, large hospital and library complexes, and two residence halls. In 1920 the university reorganized the College of Engineering and formed an advisory committee of 100 industrialists to guide academic research initiatives. The university became a favored choice for bright Jewish students from New York in the 1920s and 1930s, when the Ivy League schools had quotas restricting the number of Jews to be admitted.Because of its high standards, U-M gained the nickname “Harvard of the West.During World War II, U-M’s research supported military efforts, such as U.S. Navy projects in proximity fuzes, PT boats, and radar jamming.
After the war, enrollment expanded rapidly and by 1950, it reached 21,000, of which more than one third (or 7,700) were veterans supported by the G.I. Bill. As the Cold War and the Space Race took hold, U-M received numerous government grants for strategic research and helped to develop peacetime uses for nuclear energy. Much of that work, as well as research into alternative energy sources, is pursued via the Memorial Phoenix Project.
In the 1960 Presidential campaign, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy jokingly referred to himself as “a graduate of the Michigan of the East, Harvard University” in his speech proposing the formation of the Peace Corps speaking to a crowd from the front steps of the Michigan Union.
Lyndon B. Johnson gave his speech outlining his Great Society program as the lead speaker during U-M’s 1964 spring commencement ceremony.During the 1960s, the university campus was the site of numerous protests against the Vietnam War and university administration. On March 24, 1965, a group of U-M faculty members and 3,000 students held the nation’s first ever faculty-led “teach-in” to protest against American policy in Southeast Asia.In response to a series of sit-ins in 1966 by Voice, the campus political party of Students for a Democratic Society, U-M’s administration banned sit-ins. In response, 1,500 students participated in a one-hour sit-in inside the Administration Building, now known as the LSA Building. In April 1968 following on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a group of several dozen black students occupied the Administration Building to demand that the University make public its 3-year-old commitment as a federal contractor to Affirmative Action and to increase its efforts with respect to recruiting more African American students, faculty and staff. At that time there were no African American coaches, for instance, in the Intercollegiate Athletics Department. The occupation was ended by agreement after 7 hours.
Former U-M student and noted architect Alden B. Dow designed the current Fleming Administration Building, which was completed in 1968. The building’s plans were drawn in the early 1960s, before student activism prompted a concern for safety. But the Fleming Building’s fortress-like narrow windows, all located above the first floor, and lack of exterior detail at ground level, led to a campus rumor that it was designed to be riot-proof. Dow denied those rumors, claiming the small windows were designed to be energy efficient.
During the 1970s, severe budget constraints slowed the university’s physical development; but in the 1980s, the university received increased grants for research in the social and physical sciences. The university’s involvement in the anti-missile Strategic Defense Initiative and investments in South Africa caused controversy on campus.During the 1980s and 1990s, the university devoted substantial resources to renovating its massive hospital complex and improving the academic facilities on the North Campus. In its 2011 annual financial report, the university announced that it had dedicated $497 million per year in each of the prior 10 years to renovate buildings and infrastructure around the campus. The university also emphasized the development of computer and information technology throughout the campus.
In the early 2000s, U-M faced declining state funding due to state budget shortfalls. At the same time, the university attempted to maintain its high academic standing while keeping tuition costs affordable. There were disputes between U-M’s administration and labor unions, notably with the Lecturers’ Employees Organization (LEO) and the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), the union representing graduate student employees. These conflicts led to a series of one-day walkouts by the unions and their supporters.The university is engaged in a $2.5 billion construction campaign.
ORGANISATION AND ADMINISTRATION
The University of Michigan consists of a flagship campus in Ann Arbor, with two regional campuses in Dearborn and Flint. The Board of Regents, which governs the university and was established by the Organic Act of March 18, 1837, consists of eight members elected at large in biennial state elections for overlapping eight-year terms. Between the establishment of the University of Michigan in 1837 and 1850, the Board of Regents ran the university directly; although they were, by law, supposed to appoint a Chancellor to administer the university, they never did. Instead a rotating roster of professors carried out the day-to-day administration duties.
The President of the University of Michigan is the principal executive officer of the university. The office was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1850, which also specified that the president was to be appointed by the Regents of the University of Michigan and preside at their meetings, but without a vote.Today, the president’s office is at the Ann Arbor campus, and the president has the privilege of living in the President’s House, the university’s oldest building, located on Central Campus in Ann Arbor.Mark Schlissel is the 14th and current president of the university and has served since July 2014.
There are thirteen undergraduate schools and colleges.By enrollment, the three largest undergraduate units are the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the College of Engineering, and the Ross School of Business.At the graduate level, the Rackham Graduate School serves as the central administrative unit of graduate education at the university.There are 18 graduate schools and colleges, the largest of which are the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the College of Engineering, the Law School, and the Ross School of Business. Professional degrees are conferred by the Schools of Architecture, Public Health, Dentistry, Law, Medicine, Urban Planning and Pharmacy.The Medical School is partnered with the University of Michigan Health System, which comprises the university’s three hospitals, dozens of outpatient clinics, and many centers for medical care, research, and education.
ENDOWMENT
As of June 30, 2015, U-M’s financial endowment (the “University Endowment Fund”) was valued at $10.26 billion.The endowment is primarily used according to the donors’ wishes, which include the support of teaching and research. In mid-2000, U-M embarked on a massive fund-raising campaign called “The Michigan Difference,” which aimed to raise $2.5 billion, with $800 million designated for the permanent endowment.Slated to run through December 2008, the university announced that the campaign had reached its target 19 months early in May 2007.Ultimately, the campaign raised $3.2 billion over 8 years. Over the course of the capital campaign, 191 additional professorships were endowed, bringing the university total to 471 as of 2009.Like nearly all colleges and universities, U-M suffered significant realized and unrealized losses in its endowment during the second half of 2008. In February 2009, a university spokesperson estimated losses of between 20 and 30 percent.
In November 2013, the university launched the “Victors for Michigan” campaign, which with a $4 billion goal, is its largest fundraising campaign to date
ACADEMICS
The University of Michigan is a large, four-year, residential research university accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.The four year, full-time undergraduate program comprises the majority of enrollments and emphasizes instruction in the arts, sciences, and professions and there is a high level of coexistence between graduate and undergraduate programs. The university has “very high” research activity and the “comprehensive” graduate program offers doctoral degrees in the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields as well as professional degrees in medicine, law, and dentistry.U-M has been included on Richard Moll‘s list of Public Ivies.With over 200 undergraduate majors, 100 doctoral and 90 master’s programs,U-M conferred 6,490 undergraduate degrees, 4,951 graduate degrees, and 709 first professional degrees in 2011-2012.
National honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Pi have chapters at U-M.Degrees “with Highest Distinction” are recommended to students who rank in the top 3% of their class, “with High Distinction” to the next 7%, and “with Distinction” to the next 15%. Students earning a minimum overall GPA of 3.4 who have demonstrated high academic achievement and capacity for independent work may be recommended for a degree “with Highest Honors,” “with High Honors,” or “with Honors.Those students who earn all A’s for two or more consecutive terms in a calendar year are recognized as James B. Angell Scholars and are invited to attend the annual Honors Convocation, an event which recognizes undergraduate students with distinguished academic achievements.
Out-of-state undergraduate students pay between $36,001.38 and $43,063.38 annually for tuition alone while in-state undergraduate students paid between $11,837.38 and $16,363.38 annually.U-M provides financial aid in the form of need-based loans, grants, scholarships, work study, and non-need based scholarships, with 77% of undergraduates in 2007 receiving financial aid.For undergraduates in 2008, 46% graduated with about $25,586 of debt.The university is attempting to increase financial aid availability to students by devoting over $1.53 billion in endowment funds to support financial aid.
RESEARCH
The university is one of the founding members (1900) of the Association of American Universities. With over 6,200 faculty members, 73 of whom are members of the National Academy and 471 of whom hold an endowed chair in their discipline,the university manages one of the largest annual collegiate research budgets of any university in the United States, totaling about $1 billion in 2009.The Medical School spent the most at over $445 million, while the College of Engineering was second at more than $160 million.
U-M also has a technology transfer office, which is the university conduit between laboratory research and corporate commercialization interests. In 2009, the university consummated a deal to purchase a facility formerly owned by Pfizer. The acquisition includes over 170 acres (0.69 km2) of property, and 30 major buildings comprising roughly 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2) of wet laboratory space, and 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of administrative space. As of the purchase date, the university’s intentions for the space were not announced, but the expectation is that the new space will allow the university to ramp up its research and ultimately employ in excess of 2,000 people.
The university is also a major contributor to the medical field with the EKG,gastroscope,and the announcement of Jonas Salk‘s polio vaccine. The university’s 13,000-acre (53 km2) biological station in the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan is one of only 47 Biosphere Reserves in the United States.
In the mid-1960s U-M researchers worked with IBM to develop a new virtual memory architectural model that became part of IBM’s Model 360/67 mainframe computer (the 360/67 was initially dubbed the 360/65M where the “M” stood for Michigan).The Michigan Terminal System (MTS), an early time-sharing computer operating system developed at U-M, was the first system outside of IBM to use the 360/67’s virtual memory features.
U-M is home to the National Election Studies and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. The Correlates of War project, also located at U-M, is an accumulation of scientific knowledge about war. The university is also home to major research centers in optics, reconfigurable manufacturing systems, wireless integrated microsystems, and social sciences. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and the Life Sciences Institute are located at the university. The Institute for Social Research (ISR), the nation’s longest-standing laboratory for interdisciplinary research in the social sciences, is home to the Survey Research Center, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Center for Political Studies, Population Studies Center, and Inter-Consortium for Political and Social Research. Undergraduate students are able to participate in various research projects through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) as well as the UROP/Creative-Programs.[
The U-M library system comprises nineteen individual libraries with twenty-four separate collections—roughly 13.3 million volumes.U-M was the original home of the JSTOR database, which contains about 750,000 digitized pages from the entire pre-1990 backfile of ten journals of history and economics, and has initiated a book digitization program in collaboration with Google.The University of Michigan Press is also a part of the U-M library system.
In the late 1960s U-M, together with Michigan State University and Wayne State University, founded the Merit Network, one of the first university computer networks.The Merit Network was then and remains today administratively hosted by U-M. Another major contribution took place in 1987 when a proposal submitted by the Merit Network together with its partners IBM, MCI, and the State of Michigan won a national competition to upgrade and expand the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) backbone from 56,000 to 1.5 million, and later to 45 million bits per second. In 2006, U-M joined with Michigan State University and Wayne State University to create the University Research Corridor. This effort was undertaken to highlight the capabilities of the state’s three leading research institutions and drive the transformation of Michigan’s economy. The three universities are electronically interconnected via the Michigan LambdaRail (MiLR, pronounced ‘MY-lar’), a high-speed data network providing 10 Gbit/s connections between the three university campuses and other national and international network connection points in Chicago.
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