University of Richmond

University of Richmond

University of Richmond Logo
Motto	Verbum Vitae et Lumen Scientiae (Word of life and the light of knowledge )
Type	Private
Established	1830
Endowment	$1.2 billion (FY 2005) NACUBO
President	William E. Cooper
Academic staff	312 FT
Undergraduates	2,976
Postgraduates	1,300
Location	Richmond , Virginia , USA
Campus	Suburban, 350 acres (1.4 km²)
Athletics	19 sports teams
Mascot	Spider
Website	richmond.edu

The University of Richmond describes itself as "a premier, private, liberal arts university featuring highly selective, primarily undergraduate programs, as well as graduate programs in arts and sciences, business and law." The University of Richmond (also known as "UR" or "U of R") is located in Richmond, Virginia. Founded by Virginia Baptists in 1830 as a seminary for men, the school was incorporated ten years later as Richmond College. Today, the University of Richmond is a liberal arts university with 3,000 undergraduate students and 1,300 graduate students in law, business, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

History

During the American Civil War, Richmond College was used first as a hospital for Confederate troops and later as a Union barracks. By the end of the war, the college was bankrupt and unable to continue functioning. In 1866, James Thomas donated $5,000 to the college, which brought about the reopening of the school. In 1870, the T.C. Williams School of Law opened.

In 1894, the university elected Dr. Frederic W. Boatwright president. President Boatwright served for 51 years in this capacity. In recognition of his service, the university's main library, Boatwright Memorial Library, is named after him.

Looking out over Westhampton Lake from Tyler Haynes Commons

In 1914, President Boatwright moved the campus from its original location in what is now the Fan district, to its current location the then-rural Westhampton area west of Richmond. In conjunction with this move, a new college for women known as Westhampton College was also opened on the new campus. The campus, consisting of collegiate gothic brick buildings, is considered one of the most beautiful in the country and was awarded this distinction by the Princeton Review in 2000. In 1921, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences opened, followed by the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business in 1949, and the School of Continuing Studies in 1962. In 1969, E. Claiborne Robins, a trustee and alumnus, donated $50 million to the university, the largest gift made to an institution of higher education at the time. Today, the university's $1.2 billion endowment ranks 42nd in North America.

In 1987, a donation of $20 million by Robert S. Jepson, Jr. facilitated the opening of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, the first such school in the United States. In 1990, the missions of Richmond and Westhampton Colleges were combined to form the School of Arts and Sciences.

On January 12, 2006, William E. Cooper announced that he would step down as president of the University of Richmond, effective June 30, 2007. A national search for President Cooper's successor is currently underway.

Academics

The University of Richmond admitted about 47% of applicants for the class of 2009, and the middle 50 percent range of SAT I scores for the class is 1260–1370 (based on the 1600 point scale that has been phased out with the new SAT format). In its "America's Best Colleges 2006" issue, U.S. News and World Report ranked Richmond 34th in its prestigious “Top Liberal Arts Colleges” list. For the previous eleven years, UR had been ranked as the #1 school in the magazine's "Master's Universities - South" category, but an official reclassification by the Carnegie Foundation resulted in UR's inclusion among national liberal arts colleges. Business Week recently ranked the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business as the 25th best undergraduate program in the nation.

Only about 15% of Richmond's students are from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Because it is a private university and also because its student body is from all over the nation, Richmond does not directly compete against Virginia public universities like the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary, which are also bigger schools and are obligated to meet in-state student quotas. Peer universities that Richmond competes with academically include Duke University, Vanderbilt University, Boston College, Washington and Lee University, and Wake Forest University.

Athletics

Richmond's official mascot is the spider. Richmond is the only university in the country with the spider as its mascot. The university's athletic programs compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference in all sports except women's golf, which competes as an associate member of the Colonial Athletic Association. UR's basketball program has developed a reputation as a "giant killer" in the NCAA tournament, defeating the Charles Barkley-led Auburn Tigers in 1984, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in 1988 by defeating defending national champion Indiana and Georgia Tech, and becoming the first 15-seed to knock off a 2-seed when the Spiders defeated Syracuse in 1991. The Spiders hold the distinction of being the only basketball program to win NCAA tournament games as a 12, 13, 14, and 15 seed.

In 2007, UR's football program and the other eleven Atlantic 10 football programs will begin playing under the banner of the Colonial Athletic Association.

See also: University of Richmond Stadium

Miscellaneous

The University of Richmond campus was used to film the pilot of Commander in Chief as well as the movie Cry_Wolf. Much of Cry_Wolf was filmed on the Westhampton side of campus, with several dormotories, including South Court, serving as locations. Several episodes of the television show Dawson's Creek were also filmed on campus, referring to Richmond only as a nameless "beautiful Ivy League campus." The filming itself took place in Stern Quad and inside the Jepson Alumni Center. From 1990-2003, the Shanghai Quartet served as quartet-in-residence at UR, and their relationship with the university continues with their roles as Distinguished Visiting Artists. In 2004, contemporary music sextet eighth blackbird (spelled in all lowercase) was named ensemble-in-residence. Camp Concert Hall, located on campus, is a favorite recording venue for National Public Radio (NPR).

In 2001, the university purchased the former Reynolds Metals Executive Office Building from Alcoa. While the exact financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, the purchase involved a sizable gift component from Alcoa to the university. The 250,000 square-foot building, designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft, opened in 1958, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and incorporates nearly 1.4 million pounds of aluminum. The building currently serves as the headquarters of Philip Morris USA, which is leasing it from the university.

External links

• University of Richmond
• Richmond Spiders
• School of Arts and Sciences
• Robins School of Business
• School of Law
• Jepson School of Leadership Studies
• School of Continuing Studies
• Message Board for Spider Athletics
• Official Richmond Spiders Merchandise
• Employment at the University of Richmond