University of New Orleans

Infobox_University
name=University of New Orleans
established=1958
motto="Get there from here"
mascot=Lafitte, an Alligator & Pierre the Pirate
type=Public coeducational
chancellor=Timothy P. Ryan
city=New Orleans
state=La.
country=USA
undergrad=8,653 [http://dmar.uno.edu/enroll.htm UNO enrollment summaries] ]
(Fall, 2007)
postgrad=2,710
(Fall, 2007)
staff=785
campus=Urban
free_label=Sports teams
free=Privateers
colors=Reflex Blue & Silver
website= [http://www.uno.edu/ www.uno.edu]


The University of New Orleans, often locally called UNO, is a medium sized public urban university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 and is currently headed by Chancellor Timothy P. Ryan.

History

The University of New Orleans, originally called Louisiana State University in New Orleans, was legally established by Act 60 of the 1956 Louisiana Legislature, in the wake of a citizens’ movement to bring tax-supported higher education to the metropolitan area. Greater New Orleans, with more than a fourth of the state’s population, was without a public college or university until that time. As a branch campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LSUNO was conceived as a liberal arts college for commuting students, which might within a few years develop into a true urban university.

An ideal campus site was acquired when the United States Navy abandoned its air station on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in late 1957 and the Orleans Levee Board leased it to the LSU Board of Supervisors. A quick renovation of barracks, service clubs, and other existing facilities made it possible to begin classes in September 1958, a year ahead of the original schedule. The inaugural convocation was held in a vacant aircraft hangar. This event marked the opening of the first racially integrated, public university in the South. A total of 1,460 students, all freshmen and double the number originally anticipated, arrived for this occasion.

By September 1961, when the new school had become a full four-year institution, the enrollment exceeded 3,000, and the faculty had grown from the original 63 to 150 members. A Junior Division had been established for the academic administration of freshmen, and senior academic divisions had been established in liberal arts, in sciences, and in business administration. Dr. Homer L. Hitt, the first employee and the chief administrative officer, had been promoted from Dean of LSUNO to Vice President of LSU in Charge of LSUNO.

Two new permanent buildings, the Liberal Arts Building and the Sciences Building, and a central utilities plant were completed and in operation by the time of the first commencement in the spring of 1962. The architectural style, established by master planners, was described as a modern adaptation of Louisiana tradition. The first commencement was held in a circus tent temporarily erected on the campus for that purpose. The initial class of graduating seniors numbered 115.

In the summer of 1962, the senior academic divisions were designated colleges. In 1963, a school of education was established, as well as an evening division and a graduate division. The Vice President in Charge was designated Chancellor, following the establishment of an LSU System of Higher Education. This signaled the end of LSUNO’s status as a branch of the Baton Rouge campus. The school of education became the College of Education in 1964. In 1966, the graduate division became the Graduate School.

To the original 178-acre site, a 17.5-acre strip along its western boundary was added in 1963. This land was also acquired from the Orleans Levee Board, and it brought the total campus acreage to 195.5. Still more acreage was obtained in 1964, half a mile east on the Lakefront, when the United States Army abandoned its Camp Leroy Johnson facility and the Levee Board made this site, too, available to the University. A 50-acre parcel of this 150-acre site was released to the Gulf South Research Institute in 1965. The remaining 100-acre East Campus subsequently became the location of a Special Education Center, various outdoor sports facilities, and a multipurpose Senator Nat G. Kiefer/UNO Lakefront Arena.

In September, 1969, when the enrollment exceeded 10,000, LSUNO became the second- largest university in Louisiana. By this time it had developed into a large academic complex embracing several colleges, schools, and institutes, offering graduate work in many different fields and awarding both the master’s and the Ph.D. degree. Moreover, a residence hall for both men and women had been completed. In February, 1974, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved a name change, and LSUNO became the University of New Orleans. The new name more accurately defined the institution as the metropolitan campus of the LSU System.

By the fall of 1983, UNO had an enrollment exceeding 16,000 and had five senior colleges: Liberal Arts, Sciences, Education, Business Administration, and Engineering, in addition to its Junior Division and Graduate School. It also had a School of Urban and Regional Studies; a School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration; a School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering; and various centers, institutes and divisions for specialized research. A new Metropolitan College offered courses at off-campus locations in the evening hours, as well as credit and non-credit work in the evening on the campus. It also administered the nation’s largest summer program in Europe, UNO Innsbruck, which had been a continuing success since the early 1970s. In an administrative reorganization in 1988, the Junior Division was replaced by a system that enrolled all incoming students in one of the senior colleges or schools.

Currently, the UNO main campus contains twenty-three permanent buildings plus a dormitory, a housing complex for married students and a complex of contemporary, apartment-styled, student-housing units. Land has been set aside for a new dormitory complex and fraternity and sorority houses. The Chemical Sciences Building opened in 1997, a state-of-the-art Recreation and Fitness Center opened in 2001, and the Homer L. Hitt Alumni and Visitors Center (named for our founding Chancellor) opened in 2003. The Alumni Center is built around a red brick smokestack, one of the few reminders of the naval air base that became the UNO main campus. Completion of Kirschman Hall, which will house the College of Business Administration, is expected in Spring 2005. A six building, University-sponsored Research and Technology Park is adjacent to the main campus. The East campus, approximately one mile from the main campus, houses athletic fields, the Alumni and Development Center, and the Senator Nat G. Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena and is the location for a planned Teleplex Building that will house both of New Orleans’ public television stations, a public radio station, and video broadcast training space for UNO students. UNO owns satellite campuses in downtown New Orleans, in the suburbs of Jefferson Parish, and in Slidell, in neighboring St. Tammany parish. UNO’s Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in the Arts District near the central business district. UNO is in the process of revising its Master Plan to include additional, state-of-the art student housing, a new University Center, phase two of the Research and Technology Park, and new landscaping and student-centered outdoor learning spaces.

The University of New Orleans has grown to become a major urban research university. Categorized as an SREB Four-Year 2 institution, as a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University-Intensive, and as a COC/SACS Level VI institution, its students now enjoy a broad range of academic programs nearly one-quarter of which are at the master’s or doctoral level. In addition, extracurricular activities, including NCAA Division One intercollegiate athletics, an extensive program of intramural sports, and frequent exhibits and programs in music, drama, ballet, and the fine arts round out the student experience. Culturally, socially, economically, and intellectually, the University of New Orleans is one of the major assets of the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana. The University has conferred over 66,000 degrees since the first graduating class of 118 in 1962. The University of New Orleans has distinguished itself since 1958 and will continue to do so in the future. [University of New Orleans website [http://www.uno.edu/history.asp] ]

Dr. Homer Hitt died on Sunday, January 27, 2008, at age 91. [Hunter, Michelle. [http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/homer_hitt_uno_founder_and_cha.html "Homer Hitt, UNO founder and chancellor, dies at 91"] , "Nola.com", January 27 2008. Accessed January 28 2008.]

Fast Facts

* UNO's Colors are Royal Blue (PMS Reflex Blue) and Silver (PMS 877)
* Our mascot is the Privateer
* Approximately 12,000 students; 9,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate
* About 9.1 percent of UNO students come from 49 other states and 97 other countries
* Located on the southern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, only 15 minutes from the French Quarter, UNO occupies a 195-acre campus in one of the finest residential areas of the city
* 526 full-time and 172 part-time faculty members Approximately 80 percent of the faculty hold doctorates
* The student-faculty ratio is 18:1 (full time student to full time faculty 16:1)
* Average class size is 22
* ACT Code = 1591 SAT Code = 6379
* Financial Aid Title IV Code = 002015 [University of New Orleans website [http://admissions.uno.edu/fastfacts.cfm] ]

Colleges

UNO has six colleges within the university:
*College of Business Administration
*College of Education and Human Development
*College of Engineering
*College of Liberal Arts
*College of Science
*Metropolitan College

Campuses

The university has six campuses in the New Orleans metropolitan area.
*Lakefront Campus, the main campus, located at the Lake Pontchartrain end of Elysian Fields Avenue on the former site of Camp Leroy Johnson
*Research and Technology Park adjacent to the main campus on the former site of the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park
*East Campus at the corner of Franklin Avenue and Leon C. Simon Boulevard; includes the Nat G. Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena and Maestri Field at Privateer Park, UNO's basketball and baseball facilities
*Downtown Center
*Jefferson Center
*Slidell Campus

Athletics

Hurricane Katrina

On August 29, 2005, the University suffered damage due to Hurricane Katrina. The main campus is on relatively high ground and the damage was caused mostly by winds, rain-driven-water, and human activity during the storm. (The University was used as an evacuation point and staging area by the National Guard.) A levee breach on the London Avenue Canal occurred just a few blocks south of the main campus and caused the flooding of the first floor of the Bienville Hall dormitories, the Lafitte Village couples apartments, and the Engineering Building.

UNO was the first of the large, damaged universities in New Orleans to re-open, albeit virtually, by using web-based courses starting in October 2005 . [ [http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39153086,00.htm University of New Orleans reopens online - Networks - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com ] ] The university was able to offer classes in the fall semester immediately following Hurricane Katrina at satellite campuses; the main campus re-opened in December 2005.

Because of hurricane damage and reduced enrollment, Chancellor Ryan declared "financial exigency". This allowed the university to restructure its departments, colleges, and programs. Restructuring involved the elimination of several programs of study and layoffs of some faculty and staff members. [http://www.aip.org/pt/vol-59/iss-11/p28.html] Lower enrollments since the storm have complicated the rebuilding process. [http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=15493] [http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=16997]

Notable alumni

*Walter Boasso - Former Louisiana state senator from St. Bernard Parish who made national headlines for fighting to combine levee boards in southeast Louisiana; gubernatorial candidate in 2007, Democrat.
*Randy Bush - former Major League baseball player; member of 1987 and 1991 World Series champion Minnesota Twins.
*Joel Chaisson - President of the Louisiana State Senate, attorney
* James H. Clark - co-founder of Silicon Graphics, Inc., and Netscape Communications
* Carl Crane - state representative from Baton Rouge since 1984, Republican.
*Ellen DeGeneres - American actress, stand-up comedian.
* Clancy DuBos - columnist, editor and owner of Gambit Weekly, New Orleans' alternative weekly newspaper.
*Djuan Edgerton - entrepreneur, co-founder of No Limit Communications and Skybar New Orleans
* Reggie Fontenot - poet.
*Ervin Johnson - current National Basketball Association
*James Letten - U.S. Attorney for the Eastern district of Louisiana.
*Paul Mainieri - current Louisiana State University head baseball coach.
*Renny Martyn - contestant on Big Brother 10
*Joe Slusarski - former Major League baseball player
*Roy C. Strickland -- businessman and politician in Louisiana and later The Woodlands, Texas
* Ly Tong - Vietnamese American anti-Communist freedom fighter
* Brian Traxler - former Major League baseball player
* James Wayne "Jim" Tucker - first Republican to become Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives since Reconstruction, effective January 14, 2008
* James Westfall - Jazz Musician.

References

External links

* [http://www.uno.edu/ University of New Orleans website]