Tulane University

Tulane University

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Tulane University Seal

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Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian university located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Tulane hosts colleges and schools centered around liberal arts, sciences and certain professions. A common Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences serves both the men's undergraduate Tulane College and the once-separate women's Newcomb College, also for undergraduates. The University also supports the following professional schools:

• School of Architecture
• A.B. Freeman School of Business
• School of Engineering
• Law School
• School of Medicine
• School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
• School of Social Work

A separate Graduate School offers advanced degrees in engineering, sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the fine arts. Tulane also has a University College which provides continuing education courses for the New Orleans community.

Statistics

The following statistics from a university press release (http://www2.tulane.edu/article_news_details.cfm?ArticleID=5365) reflect some of the changes at Tulane between 1998 and 2004:

• Undergraduate applications received annually have more than doubled since 1998, growing from 7,780 to 17,548.
• The average SAT scores for incoming students has risen from 1278 to 1347.
• Application acceptances have lowered from 79% of applicants to 44%.
• Funding for research and development has nearly doubled, from $68 million to $130 million.
• The National Institutes of Health funding ranking has risen from 96 to 78.

Campuses

The main campus occupies over 100 acres (0.4 km²) in uptown New Orleans, near the Audubon Zoo and just a streetcar ride away from downtown. Other locations include:

• the F. Edward Hebert Research Center, near Belle Chasse, Louisiana, which provides facilities for graduate training and research in computer science, bioengineering, and biology;
• Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington, Louisiana, one of eight such centers funded by the National Institutes of Health;
• Tulane University Health Sciences Center, located in downtown New Orleans, which houses the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine;
• the satellite campuses of University College, Tulane's open admissions college, located in downtown New Orleans and in Biloxi, Mississippi;
• Houston, Texas, where the business school offers an executive MBA program.

History

The University dates from 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana. With the addition of a law department, it became The University of Louisiana in 1847, a public university. 1851, saw the establishment of an Academic Department, the forerunner of the College of Arts and Sciences.

It closed 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, the Louisiana state legislature transferred control of the University of Louisiana to the administrators of the TEF in 1884. This act created the Tulane University of Louisiana.

In 1885, a Graduate Division started, the predecessor to the Graduate School. One year later, gifts from Josephine Louise Newcomb totalling over $3.6 million led to the establishment of H. Sophie Newcomb College within Tulane University. Newcomb was the first coordinate college for women in the United States.

In 1894 a College of Technology formed, the forerunner to the College of Engineering. In the same year the university moved to its present-day uptown campus on St. Charles Avenue, five miles by streetcar from downtown.

The student newspaper, the Tulane Hullabaloo, was founded in 1905.

An Architecture Department originated within the College of Technology in 1907. One year later, Schools of Dentistry and Pharmacy appeared, both temporarily: Dentistry ended in 1928, and Pharmacy six years later.

In 1914, Tulane established a College of Commerce, the first business school in the South.

1925 saw the formal establishment of the Graduate School. Two years later, the University set up a School of Social Work .

University College dates from 1942. The School of Architecture grew out of Engineering in 1950. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine dates from 1967.

The student-run radio station of the university, WTUL-FM, began broadcasting on campus in 1971.

The Jambalaya, Tulane's yearbook, published annually since 1897, published its last edition (Volume 99) in 1995, due to funding and management problems.

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 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 David Filo, a graduate of its School of Engineering. The gifts had particular significance, since Tulane had had one of the lowest endowmsnts ($722 million as of June 2004) among the 62 members of the Association of American Universities.

Athletics

Tulane is a member of Conference USA in athletics and fields NCAA Division I teams in 16 sports.

Tulane's athletic tradition is tied to its football team, which began playing in 1893 and hit its stride in 1900 with a perfect 5-0 season, beating the Southern Athletic Club, Alabama, Millsaps, LSU, and Ole Miss. In a 1912 game against Southwestern Louisiana, Tulane set records of 15 rushing touchdowns and 95 points that still stand. In 1925 the Green Wave again went undefeated, with only a tie against Missouri to blemish its record. The administration declined a Rose Bowl invitation, however, in order to keep the students in class. The next year saw the completion of a new stadium on campus. Tulane's third and fourth perfect regular seasons came in 1929 and 1931, with a single loss to Northwestern in Chicago marring the 1930 campaign. The 1931 team did go to the Rose Bowl, losing 21-12 to USC.

In 1933 Tulane joined the Southeastern Conference as a charter member. In 1939 the team completed its fifth unbeaten season losing a close 14-13 battle to Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl. Tulane left the SEC in 1966 amid a long series of disappointing campaigns. They had some success in the 1970s with three bowl invitations in the decade. The next 16 years were largely disappointing and Tulane started fresh with a new conference in 1996 and a new coach, Tommy Bowden in 1997. Bowden's second season was to be Tulane's fifth perfect season and the first since 1931. Quarterback Shaun King led the wave to a 12-0 season and a final No. 7 national ranking. Despite a perfect regular season, the Green Wave was not invited to a BCS bowl game -- a fact that highlighted a perception of inequity in how college football championships and revenues were managed.

In 2003 the University undertook a comprehensive review of its athletics department commitments in light of the long term goals and mission of the school. The outcome of the review was a renewed commitment to fielding a strong Division I athletic program, but also a resolution to make Tulane a model program in terms of academic performance, graduation rates, financial viability, and support for the overall university mission. To that end, President Scott Cowen began a dialogue with other university presidents calling for a change to the existing system in large sports that rewards established powers at the expense of less successful programs. His criticisms in particular of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in football led to the creation of the Presidential Coalition for Athletics Reform and opened the door for hearings on college athletics revenues in the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 2003. On February 29, 2004 the BCS met in Miami, Florida and agreed to amend revenue distribution and open the series to more opportunities for non-BCS teams.

Tulane's men's basketball program fell victim to one of the biggest scandals of the 1980s in college sports when four players, including star guard John (Hot Rod) Williams were accused of taking money and cocaine to alter the final point spreads of games they played in. Clyde Eads and Jon Johnson were granted immunity and testified against Williams, the alleged ringleader. Although he was indicted, the judge eventually declared a mistrial and no sentence was handed down. Williams spent the next nine years with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. Tulane's administration decided to suspend the men's basketball program, though. It was resurrected four years later under new head coach Perry Clark who rapidly rebuilt the program to unprecedented success, including a 1991 season that started 13-0 and ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The last few years have seen Tulane's Baseball team consistently ranked among the best in the nation.

With comparatively high admissions standards and a reputation for academic achievement, Tulane attracts athletes who value educational as well as athletic opportunities. In 2003 Tulane's graduation rate for student-athletes istood at 79%, ranking 14th among all Division I programs.

Tulane Traditions

Tulane's athletic teams are currently known as the Green Wave, which was adopted during the 1920 season after a song titled The Rolling Green Wave written and published October 20, 1920 by Earl Sparling, then-editor of the Tulane Hullabaloo. Prior to that, the "official" name of the teams were The Olive and Blue for the school colors on their uniforms. Unofficially the teams were referred to as The Greenies or The Greenbacks for many years.

The school's fight song (or "war song") was the winner of a contest conducted by the Tulane Alumni in 1925. The song was written by Marten ten Hoor and Walter Goldstein:

Here's a song for the Olive and the Blue
Here's a cheer for the team that's tried and true,
Here's a pledge of loyalty to thee,
Oh, Tulane Varsity,
Here's to the Greenbacks that never will say die
And here's to the hearts that are true,
To the men of Tulane, who are fighting for her name
For the Olive and the Blue.

(CHORUS)
Roll, Green Wave, roll them down the field!
Hold, Green Wave, that line must never yield!
When those Greenbacks go charging thru the line,
They're bound for Victory,
Hail Green Wave, for you we give a cheer.
Hail Green Wave, for you we have no fear,
So ev'ry man on ev'ry play,
And then we'll win the game today,
Hurrah for Old Tulane.

In 1963 Rix Yard, then Athletic Director and Eldon Endacott, manager of the university bookstore contacted Art Evans, a commercial artist who had already designed the Boilermaker mascot for Purdue University and the University of Southern California Trojan, to create a new mascot for Tulane athletics. His design for a mean-looking anthropomorhic wave-crest was officially adopted in 1964. In 1986 a new logo consisting of a white block "T" with green and blue waves crossing its center was adopted as the primary symbol for official uniforms, though the "angry wave" continued to be used unofficially in licensed products, and a costumed Green Wave, nicknamed Gumby, served as the mascot. In 1998 a full redesign of all athletic logos and marks was commissioned which replaced the "angry wave" and "wavy T" designs with a green and blue oblique T crested by a foamy wave. Gumby was replaced with a new pelican mascot (recalling the university seal, and the fact that a pelican was often used in the first half of the century as the emblem of Tulane's athletic teams.). The name "Riptide" was selected for the performing pelican in a vote of the student body.

Notable People

• List of Tulane University people

External links

• Tulane University website (http://www.tulane.edu/)
• Student newspaper (http://www.thehullabaloo.com/), the Hullabaloo
• Official Tulane athletics site (http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/)
• University's Special Collections (http://specialcollections.tulane.edu/)