University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (sometimes referred to as KU) is an institution of higher learning located in Lawrence, Kansas. The University was founded in 1864. It had a fall 2003 enrollment of 29,272.
The University's School of Medicine is located at Kansas City, Kansas. The KU Edwards Campus is located in Overland Park http://edwardscampus.ku.edu. There are also campuses in Parsons, Topeka and Wichita.
KU is home to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics and to Kansas Public Radio. Radio station KANU was one of the first public radio stations in the nation. The university is host to several notable museums including the Kansas Natual History Museum, the KU Museum of Anthropology, and the Spencer Museum of Art.
Academics
The University is a large state sponsored university. In addition to a large liberal arts college, it has schools of Education, Medicine, Pharmacy, Fine Arts, Business, Journalism, Engineering, Architecture and Urban Design, Social Welfare and Law.
Notable Faculty
- James Gunn Hugo award winning science fiction author and creative writing professor.
Computing
KU's academic computing department was an active participant in setting up the internet and is the developer of the seminal LYNX text based web browser. Lynx itself provided hypertext browsing and navigation prior to Tim Berners Lee's invention of HTTP and HTML. See [[1]].
Athletics
The school's sports teams wearing crimson and blue are called the Jayhawks. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A, and in the Big XII Conference.
In NCAA DI play, the Jayhawks participate in basketball, baseball, cross country, football, golf, rowing, soccer (women only), softball, swimming (women only), tennis (women only), track, and volleyball (women only).
Football
KU Football dates from 1890. While not a national powerhouse like KU's basketball team, the Jayhawk football team has had notable alumni including Gale Sayers, a two time all-american. KU has played in the Orange Bowl twice 1948 and 1968.
Basketball
The men's basketball team is a perennial national contender, even though their last national championship was in 1988. In addition, Allen Fieldhouse is considered one of the greatest places to play basketball in the nation. Kansas has counted among its coaches Dr. James Naismith (the inventor of basketball), Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Phog Allen (sometimes dubbed "Father of Basketball Coaching"), and Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown. Ironically, Naismith is the only Kansas coach to have a losing record for his tenure in Lawrence.
The Jayhawks have won 4 national championships. The 1922 and 1923 championships were retroactively awarded by the Helms Foundation in 1936. The 1952 and 1988 championships were won in the NCAA tournament. They have the third most all-time wins in NCAA history, behind Kentucky and North Carolina. The coaches most responsible for Kentucky and North Carolina being ahead of Kansas in wins are Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith, the two coaches with the most wins in NCAA history. They were both players for Kansas under Phog Allen.
KU Basketball Coaches:
- Dr. James Naismith 1898-1907
- Dr. Forrest "Phog" Allen 1907-1909, 1920-1956
- W.O. Hamilton 1909-1919
- Dick Harp 1956-1964
- Ted Owens 1964-1983
- Larry Brown 1984-1988
- Roy Williams 1988-2003
- Bill Self 2004-present
Famous KU Basketball Players:
- Phog Allen 1905-1907
- Dean Smith 1952-1953
- Wilt Chamberlain 1956-1958
External links
- University of Kansas (KU) homepage
- KU Edwards Campus homepage
- Official Kansas athletics site
- KUSports.com - A site on KU sports run by the Lawrence Journal-World
- History of the Jayhawk mascot