Loyola Marymount University
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Loyola Marymount University, also referred to as LMU, is a private, co-educational Roman Catholic university in the United States. Located in Los Angeles, California, the university is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. LMU was created in 1973 by the merger of two Catholic colleges in Los Angeles.
The first predecessor to LMU was founded in 1911 as Los Angeles College by the Society of Jesus, and changed its name to Loyola College of California in 1918. Loyola opened a law school in 1920, moved to its present campus in the Westchester district of Los Angeles in 1929, and became Loyola University in 1930.
Loyola Law School did not move with the rest of the university, but remains to this day in a location just west of downtown Los Angeles. The current law school campus was designed by Frank Gehry and is a pleasant exception to its dreary surroundings in the Pico-Union neighborhood.
In 1933, the religious order of The Sacred Heart of Mary opened Marymount Junior College, an all-women's school in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. The school became Marymount College when it started awarding bachelor's degrees in 1948, and moved to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1960. In 1968, Marymount College moved its operations to Loyola's campus. At the same time, a third Catholic order, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Orange, joined the consortium that operated the two schools. The two colleges merged in 1973, creating today's Loyola Marymount University.
During the summer, the LMU campus plays host to a large number of precocious children. It is the primary West Coast site for the Center for Talented Youth summer program operated by Johns Hopkins University.
Loyola Marymount university is widely remembered for its 1989-1990 Paul Westhead basketball team which made the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The team mourned the death of its star player Hank Gathers during the WCC Tournament game against the University of Portland. The cinderella team would go dancing all the way to the Elite Eight round defeating the likes of defending champion the University of Michigan until its defeat to the eventual champion UNLV. That team would never be forgotten with memories of Bo Kimble's left-handed free throw in honor of Hank and the fact that the team averaged well of 100 points a game throughout the season and tournament.
Famous alumni
- Rick Adelman, coach of the NBA's Sacramento Kings
- Johnnie Cochran, attorney; defended O.J. Simpson (J.D. graduate of the law school)
- Linda Cardellini, actress in Scooby-Doo and ER
- Bob Denver, actor (graduate of Loyola University)
Noted professors
- Reverend William Fulco
External links
- Loyola Marymount University (http://www.lmu.edu/)
- Official LMU athletics site (http://www.lmulions.com)
- LMU library (http://lib.lmu.edu/)