Everything about Tulane totally explained
Tulane University is a
private,
nonsectarian,
coeducational
research university located in
New Orleans,
Louisiana. Founded as a public medical college in 1834, the school grew into a full university and was eventually privatized under the endowments of
Paul Tulane and
Josephine Louise Newcomb in the late 19th century. It is the only American university that has been converted from a public institution to a private institution.
History
Founding and early history
The University dates from
1834 as the
Medical College of Louisiana. J. Lawrence Smith invented the inverted microscope in 1850, and John L. Riddell invented the first practical microscope to allow binocular viewing through a single objective lens in 1851.
The University closed for three years during the
Civil War; after reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges.
Paul Tulane donated extensive real estate within New Orleans for the support of education; this donation led to the establishment of a Tulane Educational Fund (TEF), whose board of administrators sought to support the University of Louisiana instead of establishing a new university. In response, through the influence of former Civil War general
Randall Lee Gibson, the Louisiana state legislature transferred control of the University of Louisiana to the administrators of the TEF in
1884.
1925 saw the formal establishment of the Graduate School. Two years later, the university set up a School of Social Work, the first in the
Deep South.
Tulane once had a football stadium on campus that seated over 80,000 people, held three
Super Bowls, and was the home of the
New Orleans Saints and the
Sugar Bowl. When
Tulane Stadium was razed after the construction of the
Superdome, workers found a
mummy couple underneath the bleachers. The football team now plays in the
Superdome.
During the 1980s, Tulane made the fateful decision not to place a portion of its endowment into the stock market due to the market's volatile nature at the time. This has led to Tulane having to dip into its endowment on a regular basis.
In 1998, the student body of Tulane University voted by referendum to split the Associate Student Body (ASB) Senate into two separate houses, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA). Previous to the split, only one Executive Cabinet was elected and all student government meetings consisted of both undergraduate and graduate students. Now, each house has its own Executive Cabinet and Senate elected by its own students. USG and GAPSA meet separately to issues pertaining to their respective constituencies. However, the Office of the Associated Student Body President remained - the ASB President is a representative of every student on all of Tulane's campuses. This person is still elected by the entire student body of Tulane, both undergraduate and graduate students.
USG and GAPSA come together twice a semester to meet as the ASB Senate, where issues pertaining to the entire Tulane student body are discussed. The meetings of the ASB Senate are presided over by the ASB President.
The
Jambalaya, Tulane's
yearbook, published annually since 1897, published its last edition (Volume 99) in 1995, because of funding and management problems. In the fall of 2003, the
Jambalaya was reestablished as a student club, and in the Spring of 2004, the centennial edition of the
Jambalaya was published. The staff now continues to publish a
Jambalaya annually.
21st century
In
2001 the
Tulane Center for Gene Therapy started as the first major center in the U.S. to focus on research using
adult stem cells.
In the
July 2004, Tulane received two $30 million donations to its
endowment, the largest individual or combined gifts in the university's history. The donations came from
Jim Clark, a member of the university's Board and founder of
Netscape, and
David Filo, a graduate of its School of Engineering and co-founder of
Yahoo!. The gifts had particular significance, since Tulane had had one of the lowest endowments ($722 million as of
June 2004) among the 62 members of the
Association of American Universities. In the months following Hurricane Katrina, restrictions were removed from these gifts to ensure the continued financial health of the university. On
July 30,
2007, Tulane made a public announcement that its endowment reached $1 billion.
On March 4, 2008, the university announced that a record 34,000 students had applied for admission to the class of 2012, and that the average SAT score was expected to be around 1365, marking a rise of approximately 30 points above the average of the class of 2011.
Effect of Hurricane Katrina
As a result of
Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and its effects on New Orleans, most of Tulane University was closed for the second time in its history—the first being during the
American Civil War. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's distance learning programs and courses stayed active. Facing a budget shortfall, the Board of Administrators announced a "Renewal Plan" in December 2005 to reduce its annual operating budget and create a "student-centric" campus.
Campuses
Tulane's
uptown campus, established in the 1890s, occupies over 110
acres (44.5
ha), facing
St. Charles Avenue directly opposite
Audubon Park. The rear of the uptown campus reaches South Claiborne Avenue, and it's divided by Freret and Willow Streets. The campus architecture consists of several styles, including Richardsonian Romanesque, Elizabethan, Italian Renaissance, Brutalist Modern, and Ultramodern styles. Though there isn't a coherent building design across the entire campus, most buildings make use of similar materials. The front campus buildings use Indiana White Limestone or orange brick for exteriors, while the middle campus buildings are mostly adorned in red St. Joe brick, the staple of Newcomb College buildings.
Loyola University is directly adjacent to Tulane, on the downriver side. The uptown campus is known for its many large
live oak trees and architecturally historic buildings.
The front of the uptown campus, between St. Charles Avenue and Freret Street, is home to most of the school's academic buildings, including the facilities for the schools of Architecture and Social Work. The centerpiece of the Academic Quad is the first academic building, Gibson Hall. The middle of the campus, between Freret and Willow Streets and bisected by McAlister Drive and Newcomb Place, serves as the center of campus activities. The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, Fogelman Arena, McAlister Auditorium, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, most of the student residence halls and academic buildings populate the center of campus. The facilities for the Business school line McAlister Drive and Tulane Law School sits adjacent to the Business school. The middle campus is also home to the historic Newcomb College Campus, which sits between Newcomb Place and Broadway. The Newcomb campus was designed by New York architect
James Gamble Rogers, noted for his work with
Yale University's campus. The Newcomb campus is home to Tulane's performing and fine arts venues. The back of campus, between Willow Street and South Claiborne, is home to two residence halls, Reily Recreation Center and Turchin Stadium, the home of Green Wave baseball.
After Hurricane Katrina, Tulane has continued to build new facilities and renovate old spaces on its campus. The newest residence hall, Lallage Feazel Wall Residential College, was completed in August 2005 and took in its first students when Tulane re-opened in January 2006. Fogelman Arena was renovated for basketball in the fall of 2006, and is expected to undergo another renovation to add more seats to the small arena. The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life was renovated to be a green, environmentally friendly building and opened for student use in January 2007.
Greer Field at Turchin Stadium was renovated and reopened for the 2008 baseball season. Tulane also hopes to begin construction on another new residence hall.
Other facilities of Tulane include:
- F. Edward Hebert Research Center, near Belle Chasse, La., which provides facilities for graduate training and research in computer science, bioengineering, and biology;
- Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington, La., one of eight such centers funded by the National Institutes of Health;
- Tulane University Health Sciences Center, located in the New Orleans Central Business District between the Louisiana Superdome and Canal Street in 18 mid/high-rise buildings, which houses the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine;
- Tulane University Square, 80,000 square feet of space and six acres of surrounding land, is located on Broadway and Leake Avenue adjacent to the Mississippi River.;
- Satellite campuses of the School of Continuing Studies, Tulane's open admissions university college, located in downtown New Orleans, Elmwood and in Biloxi, Ms.;
- Houston, Tx., Santiago, Chile, Shanghai, China, and Taipei, Taiwan where the business school offers an executive MBA program. Tulane also has signed an educational affiliation agreement with International University in Geneva.
Academics
Academic divisions
Tulane is organized into ten schools centered around liberal arts, sciences and certain professions:
All undergraduate students are enrolled in the Newcomb-Tulane College. The graduate programs are governed by individual schools. Tulane also offers
continuing education courses and associate's degrees through its School of Continuing Studies.
As part of the post-Hurricane Katrina Renewal Plan, the University initiated an extensive university wide core curriculum. Many parts of the core can be bypassed through AP exam or IB course credit, placement exams in English and Foreign Languages offered by the University during Freshmen Orientation, or entering into certain schools with different requirements (students in the School of Science and Engineering are required to take fewer Language classes than students in the School of Liberal Arts. Two major additions to the University Core are TIDES classes (a freshmen seminar that's taken pass fail) and a two class public service sequence. In addition, each school has its own additional core that each student enrolled in the school must complete.
Statistics and Rankings
Undergraduate applications received annually: 34,000.
Freshman class size: 1,633
Average SAT score: 1363.
Fulbright Scholars: 29
Rhodes Scholars: 17
Marshall Scholars: 23
Goldwater Scholars: 27
Tulane University, Vanderbilt University, and Emory University comprise the original three "Southern Ivies." Modern applications of this term now stretch to include Duke University and Rice University. Efforts to launch the "Magnolia Conference" (Southern Ivy League) have proven futile since the 1950s when the Ivy League was established.
In 2003, Tulane's graduation rate for student-athletes was 79%, ranking 14th among Division I athletic programs.
Tulane is one of North America's top research universities; its status confirmed by it being one of 60 elected members of the Association of American Universities. Tulane also is designated as a Carnegie research university/very high research activity, the highest classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Tulane's overall undergraduate program was ranked 50th in the nation among "National Universities" by US News & World Report in its 2008 edition. In the past, Tulane has been ranked as high as 30.
Tulane is rated as one of the Top 10 Colleges in the US by Professional-Resumes.com.
In the US News and World Reports Best Grad Schools Guide, published in April 2008, the Tulane School of Law ranked 44th (with a ranking of 5th for its environmental law program, its Maritime Law program is considered the best in the world)
The A.B. Freeman School of Business is ranked No. 44. nationally and 28th among programs at private universities by Forbes magazine.
The A.B. Freeman School of Business finance program was ranked 10th in the world by the Financial Times.
The A.B. Freeman School of Business ranked 28th nationally and 48th internationally by Mexican business magazine Expansion (August 2007)
The A.B. Freeman School of Business ranked 13th nationally for entrepreneurship by Entrepreneur magazine (October 2006)
The A.B. Freeman School of Business ranked 22nd nationally and 36th internationally by AméricaEconomía magazine (August 2006)
The A.B. Freeman School of Business ranked 6th by AméricaEconomía magazine (August 2006)
Tulane's Latin American studies program was ranked first in the country by the Gourman Report. Tulane's Department of Spanish and Portuguese is ranked second nationally.
According to the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, Tulane's French program was ranked 6th in the country. This index ranks departmental faculty at research universities based on the awards, grants, and publications of the faculty.
In 2002, Tulane was ranked as one of the nine hottest schools in America by Kaplan. In Kaplan's 2008 edition, Tulane was again ranked among the hottest schools in the nation.
Tulane's Biomedical engineering program is ranked 16th nationally.
75% of Tulane's student body comes from more than 500 miles away, making Tulane the most geographically diverse university in the United States.
Tulane holds three rankings from The Princeton Review: Great College Towns, Best in the Southeast, and College With a Conscience.
Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is ranked 13th in 2007 (tied with Boston University) by US News for top Public Health programs
Dean's Honor Scholarship
The Dean's Honor Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship awarded by Tulane which covers full tuition for the duration of the recipient's undergraduate program. The scholarship is offered to 100 incoming freshmen by the Office of Undergraduate Admission, and is awarded only through a separate application. This scholarship is renewable provided that the recipient maintains a minimum 3.0 GPA at the end of each semester and maintains continuous enrollment in a full-time undergraduate division. Typically, recipients have SAT I scores of 1450 or higher or an ACT composite score of 33 or higher, rank in the top 5% of their high school graduating class, have a rigorous course load including honors and Advanced Placement classes, and an outstanding record of extracurricular activities.
Notable recipients include Sean M. Berkowitz, David Filo and Eric R. Palmer.
List of university presidents
There have been fourteen presidents of Tulane since the establishment of the Tulane Education Fund in 1884.
Athletics
Tulane is a member of Conference USA in athletics and fields NCAA Division I teams in several sports. The university was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference, and played in that league until 1966.
Tulane University's football team went 12-0 in 1998 culminating in a 41-27 victory over BYU in the Liberty Bowl. They finished the season ranked No. 5 in the nation, by far their best performance to date. They were led by senior quarterback Shaun King, who in that season set an NCAA record for the highest single-season passing efficiency rating.
They have been unable to match 1998's success in recent years, although they did go 8-5 in 2002 with a win over the University of Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl.
Several Tulane alumni are now fixtures in the National Football League, including Patrick Ramsey (Denver Broncos), J.P. Losman (Buffalo Bills), Anthony Cannon (Detroit Lions), Mewelde Moore (Pittsburgh Steelers), Matt Forté (Chicago Bears), and Roydell Williams (Tennessee Titans). Several players have gone onto play in the Canadian Football League, such as Sean Lucas (Saskatchewan Roughriders), and Byron Parker (Toronto Argonauts). And there are several in the Arena Football League, such as Seth Marler and Jeff Sanchez (Tampa Bay Storm), Marlon Tickles, Chris McGee, and Jeremy Foreman (New Orleans VooDoo), and Lynarise Elpheage (Nashville Kats).
Tulane's Football team had Brett Timmons, a star player from 1995 through 1999, who was a linebacker for the Green Wave team. He is currently teaching and coaching in Florida.
Tulane's baseball team, on the other hand, is considered a national powerhouse, and is regularly ranked in the Top 25 of national rankings, such as Baseball America. In 2001, Tulane set a school record for wins and led the nation with 55 and made it to the College World Series in Omaha only to blow an 8-0 lead against Stanford University and lose the game 13-11. The Green Wave won its next game, 6-5, against Nebraska, but was eliminated in the third game by Cal-State Fullerton.
In 2005, the Green Wave had its best season in school history. Tulane started the season ranked first in the nation and held the top spot throughout most of the regular season. The Green Wave entered the postseason ranked No. 1 and beat Rice University to win its Super Regional. Tulane advanced to the College World Series for the second time in school history.
In 2006, Tulane finished the regular season 39-17, and finished 3rd in Conference USA with a 15-9 record. Tulane made it to the NCAA regionals before losing to Ole Miss to end the season.
Several Tulane alumni are now fixtures in the Major Leagues, including Andy Cannizaro (New York Yankees) and Micah Owings (Arizona Diamondbacks). As well, the Green Wave have produced their share of national award winners, including All-America (Jake Gautreau in 2000 and 2001), and Freshman of the Year (James Jurries in 1999).
Notable alumni and faculty
Image:David Filo.jpg|David Filo, founder Yahoo
Image:Jerry Springer at Emory.jpg|Jerry Springer, former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio and host of the The Jerry Springer Show
Image:NewtGingrich.jpg|Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives
Image:HueyPLong.jpg|Huey Long, populist Governor of Louisiana, subject of the book All the King's Men
Alma maters
Tulane Alma Mater
We praise thee for thy past, O Alma Mater!
Thy hand hath done its work full faithfully.
The incense of thy spirit has ascended
And filled America from sea to sea!
Olive Green and Blue! we love thee!
Pledge we now our fealty true
Where the trees are ever greenest,
Where the skies are purest blue.
Hear us now, O Tulane, hear us,
As we proudly sing to thee!
Take from us our hearts' devotion,
Thine we're and thine shall be!
Newcomb Alma Mater
Where stars arise in Southern skies
And thy loyal love in laughter lies,
O Newcomb fair, we bring to thee
Our hearts' allegiance, bold and free.
We bring to thee, where e'er shall be
The Star of our ascendancy --
CHORUS
O Alma Mater, Stand we nigh,
Thy daughters lift Thy flag on high!
Popular culture references
Literature
Black Sunday by Thomas Harris is set during a Super Bowl played in Tulane Stadium.
A Confederacy of Dunces by Tulane graduate John Kennedy Toole is set in New Orleans and features Ignatius J. Reilly, a Tulane graduate.
Love in the Ruins and The Moviegoer by Walker Percy are partially set on Tulane's campus.
Earth (novel) by David Brin, features characters from Tulane.
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham is set on Tulane's campus and features a Tulane Law student.
The story Reb Kringle from Nathan Englander's book For the Relief of Unbearable Urges features an appearance by "the elf on winter break from Tulane."
Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts features a character Roxanne Nouvelle who attends Tulane.
The Stagnant Pool by Nancy Maveety (a Tulane professor) is a novel based on life as a Tulane graduate student.
Codex Maya by Steve Benzell, a Tulane graduate, is set in part on Tulane's campus.
Television
St. Elsewhere: Howie Mandel's character, Dr. Wayne Fiscus, attended Tulane Medical School.
Frank's Place: Bubba Weisberger (played by Robert Harper) was a graduate of Tulane Law School.
Sex and the City: Mr. Big's ex-wife, Natasha, attended Tulane University as an undergraduate student.
Gilmore Girls: Rory Gilmore's high school classmate Louise Grant attended Tulane, and Louise's best friend Madeline Lynn also transferred to the school.
Grey's Anatomy: Dr. Burke attended Tulane University.
: Calleigh Duquesne attended Tulane University and majored in physics.
: Colie Edison attended Tulane University.
: The cast often socialized with Tulane students especially at The Boot Bar.
In the A&E movie about Senator John McCain, the outside scenes of the Naval Academy were filmed at Tulane.
Movies
Taxi Driver: In the scene where Robert De Niro's character shoots a robber saving the owner who is wearing a Tulane T-Shirt.
The Pelican Brief: The 1992 John Grisham suspense/thriller The Pelican Brief, which involves a fictional second-year Tulane Law School student and her professor as characters, was adapted for a 1993 movie, also filmed on Tulane's uptown campus and the president's house at Two Audubon Place.
The Brooke Ellison Story: Tulane's academic quad substituted for Harvard University's campus in Christopher Reeve's last film.
Runaway Jury: The library of the Tulane President's House served as the judge's chambers.
All the King's Men: Tulane's McAlister Auditorium hosted the U.S. premiere of the movie on September 16, 2006.
College: The university was one of the filming locations.
Welcome to Academia: The University was one of the main filming locations.
No Mercy: A Tulane sweatshirt is worn by William Atherton's character.
JFK: Tulane Law School graduate Jim Garrison was played by Kevin Costner in this Oliver Stone film
Computer games
Laura Bow Series by Sierra Entertainment (including games The Colonel's Bequest and The Dagger of Amon Ra): Laura Bow, the main character is a Tulane University student.
by Sierra Entertainment: Tulane University is one of the game locations.Further Information
Get more info on 'Tulane'.
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