University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university established in the Arizona Territory. The University of Arizona is one of three universities governed by the Arizona Board of Regents., the university enrolled 54,384 students in 22 separate colleges/schools, including the Eller College of Management, the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, the College of Medicine – Phoenix, the College of Medicine – Tucson, and the James E. Rogers College of Law.
The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". UA also is a member of the Association of American Universities. The University of Arizona is affiliated with two academic medical centers, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix.
Known as the Arizona Wildcats, the UA's intercollegiate athletic teams were members of the Pac-12 Conference of the NCAA. The university joined the Big 12 Conference on August 2, 2024. UA athletes have won national titles in several sports, most notably men's basketball, baseball, and softball.
History
After the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862, the push for a university in Arizona grew. The Arizona Territory's "Thieving Thirteenth" Legislature approved the University of Arizona in 1885 and selected the city of Tucson to receive the appropriation to build the university. Tucson hoped to receive the appropriation for the territory's mental hospital, which carried a $100,000 allocation instead of the $25,000 allotted to the territory's only university. Flooding on the Salt River delayed Tucson's legislators, and by they time they reached Prescott, back-room deals allocating the most desirable territorial institutions had been made. Tucson was largely disappointed with receiving what was viewed as an inferior prize.With no parties willing to provide land for the new institution, the citizens of Tucson prepared to return the money to the Territorial Legislature until two gamblers and a saloon keeper decided to donate 40 acres to the Board of Regents. Construction of Old Main, the first building on campus, began on October 27, 1887, and classes met for the first time in 1891 with 32 students in Old Main, which is still in use today. Because there were no high schools in Arizona Territory, the university maintained separate preparatory classes for the first 23 years of operation.
In 1924, during Cloyd Marvin's tenure as president, the university was recognized by the Association of American Universities.
Modern times
Three professors were murdered at the school in a shooting in 2002. The perpetrator, who then shot himself, was a student who had failed out of the school. He mailed a 22 page letter to the Arizona Daily Star announcing his reasons, naming two of the killed professors in the letter; following the shooting, the Daily Star made the controversial decision to publish the letter.On April 17, 2020, the University of Arizona announced temporary pay cuts and furloughs to its 15,000 employees as its Tucson campus shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All employees making up to $150,000 per year were furloughed, with the length determined by each employees' salary. For employees making more than $150,000 per year, pay cuts of 17% or 20% were instituted.
Also in 2020, the University of Arizona announced it had purchased Ashford University from Zovio and renamed it The University of Arizona Global Campus. The purchase was heavily criticized, particularly by University of Arizona faculty members. As Ashford was being purchased by the University of Arizona, it was the subject of an investigation by the Attorney General of Massachusetts, a lawsuit from the Attorney General of California, and a formal notification of concern from the university's accreditor.
A university professor was murdered on campus in October 2022, by a former student. Following the crime, the university commissioned an independent investigation of campus safety. Following that investigation and one of their own that faulted the university for failing to act on warnings and protect the campus, the university's faculty senate voted "no confidence" in the president and many other leaders at the university.
In 2023, the University of Arizona faced a financial crisis, allegedly "losing track of more than $240 million through accounting errors and flawed financial projections." Subsequent investigative reporting by The Arizona Republic linked much of the crisis to the university's purchase of Ashford University, accusing university administrators of knowing that Ashford was experiencing "a downward enrollment spiral that began years before and dismal graduation and retention rates".
In April 2024, the UA chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine joined student protests across the USA against the war in Gaza, during what they called "Israeli Apartheid Week". The encampment was attacked and dispersed by police firing rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper balls. Bystanders and press were also hurt in the police violence. The students were protesting against UA involvement with companies supporting the "genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine" and called for divestment.
Campus
The main campus' 179 buildings sit on in central Tucson, about northeast of downtown. Roy Place, a prominent Tucson architect, designed many of the early buildings, including the Arizona State Museum buildings and Centennial Hall. Place's use of red brick set the tone for the red brick facades that are a basic part of nearly all UA buildings: almost every UA building has red brick as a major component of the design, or at the very least, a stylistic accent to harmonize it with the other campus buildings. In the early 1930s, Place updated the campus master plan, conceived by his architectural partner John Lyman in 1919 and modeled after the University of Virginia.The campus is roughly divided into quadrants. The north and south sides of campus are delineated by a grassy expanse called the Mall, which stretches from Old Main eastward to the campus' eastern border at Campbell Avenue. The west and east sides of campus are separated roughly by Highland Avenue and the Student Union Memorial Center.
The science and mathematics buildings tend to be clustered in the southwest quadrant; the intercollegiate athletics facilities to the southeast; the arts and humanities buildings to the northwest, with the engineering buildings in the north central area. The optical and space sciences buildings are clustered on the east side of campus near the sports stadiums and the main library.
Speedway Boulevard, one of Tucson's primary east–west arterial streets, traditionally defined the northern boundary of campus but since the 1980s, several university buildings have been constructed directly on, and north of, this street, expanding into a neighborhood traditionally filled with apartment complexes and single-family homes. The university has purchased a handful of these apartment complexes for student housing in recent years. Sixth Street typically defines the southern boundary, with single-family homes south of this street.
The Stevie Eller Dance Theater, opened in 2003 as a dedicated performance venue for the UA's dance program, one of the most highly regarded university dance departments in the United States. Designed by Gould Evans, a Phoenix-based architectural firm, the theater was awarded the 2003 Citation Award from the American Institute of Architects, Arizona Chapter.
The Computer Science department's webcam provides a live feed of the campus as seen from the top of the Gould-Simpson building. The Berger Memorial Fountain at the west entrance of Old Main honors the UA students who died in World War I, and dates back to 1919. The University of Arizona generates renewable energy with solar panels that have been installed on campus buildings. In 2011, the Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the university a College Sustainability Report Card grade of "B." In 2015, the university opened the ENR2, housing the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment set to be one of its "greenest" buildings on campus with features like a cutting edge air conditioning system and 55,000-gallon water-harvesting tank. Designed to resemble a slot canyon in the Sonoran Desert, the 150,000 sq. ft. building focuses on adaptation and reducing our carbon footprint.
Student Union Memorial Center
The Student Union Memorial Center, on the north side of the Mall east of Old Main, was completely reconstructed between 2000 and 2003. It replaced a structure originally opened in 1951 with additions during the 1960s and early 1970s.The building was designed to mirror the USS Arizona. A variety of sculptures pepper the premises, decorating the air with the chimes of dog tags or the colors of refracted light in honor of those who have served. A bell housed on the USS Arizona, one of the two bells rescued from the ship after the attack on Pearl Harbor, has a permanent home in the clock tower of the Student Union Memorial Center. The bell arrived on campus in July 1946. The bell was rung seven times on the third Wednesday of every month at 12:07 pm – symbolic of the battleship's sinking on December 7, 1941 – to honor individuals at the UA, as well as after home football victories, over any team except other Arizona schools. In December 2020, it was announced that at the request of the U.S. Navy, who still officially owns the bell, and in the interest of preservation of the historic artifact, that the bell would no longer be rung.
Arboretum
Much of the main campus has been designated an arboretum. Plants from around the world are labeled along a self-guided plant walk. The Krutch Cactus Garden includes the tallest Boojum tree in the state of Arizona. Two herbaria on the university campus are referred to as "ARIZ" in the Index Herbarium.The campus also boasts hundreds of olive trees many of which were planted by Prof. Robert H. Forbes. Many of these trees are over a hundred years old.