The University of Notre Dame is a leading Roman Catholic institution of higher learning located in Notre Dame, Indiana, immediately northeast of South Bend, Indiana, United States. Notre Dame, meaning "Our Lady" in French,Curiously, the University of Notre Dame is not pronounced the French way of . refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Notre Dame's picturesque campus sits on 1,250 acres (5 km²) containing two lakes and 136 buildings.
The school was founded in 1842 by the Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC and six Holy Cross Brothers who were members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, founded in Le Mans, France in 1837. Recent historical study has shown that the Potawatomi Indians, partly due to the strong faith of Leopold Pokagon, also played an integral role in the founding of Notre Dame both before and during Sorin's presence in Northern Indiana.
The University's Catholic character is physically manifest throughout the Notre Dame campus. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart is centrally located on campus. A statue of Mary stands atop the Main Building's dome, there are chapels in every residence hall, and crucifixes in most classrooms on campus. 82% of the student body self-identifies as Catholic.
The Indiana General Assembly granted the school its charter on January 15, 1844 under the name University of Notre Dame du Lac. While the translation of the French is "Our Lady of the Lake," the university actually has two lakes on its campus. According to legend, when Father Sorin arrived to found the school, it was November and everything was frozen. He thought there was only one lake, and named the university accordingly.
Location
Main buildings from the air.
The university is located in north central Indiana about 4 miles from the Michigan state line and just north of South Bend, Indiana.
Government
University governance is headed by a body of twelve self-perpetuating members called "fellows". Six of the fellows must be priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and the remaining six fellows are laypeople. Three of the priest fellows are always the current university president, the provincial superior of the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and the local superior of the congregation at Notre Dame. The chairman of the board of trustees is also always a fellow. The rest of the fellows are selected for staggered six-year terms. The fellows meet at least annually and are competent to amend the university's statutes and bylaws and to elect and remove trustees. The board of trustees is much larger than the fellows and currently numbers fifty-seven, composed mostly of laypeople. The board meets tri-annually and is responsible for electing the officers of the university as well as exercising the rest of the corporate powers of the university.
The university president is responsible for the overall administration of the university and is ultimately responsible for the hiring of faculty and staff. The president must always be a priest and a member of the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Rev. John Jenkins, CSC, DPhil, is the 17th and current president of the university. He is a full professor in the department of Philosophy. He succeeded the Rev. Edward Malloy, CSC, PhD on July 1, 2005.
Presidents of the university
# Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC (1841â€"1865)# Rev. Patrick Dillon, CSC (1865â€"1866)# Rev. William Corby, CSC (1866â€"1872 & 1877â€"1881)# Rev. Auguste Lemonnier, CSC (1872â€"1874)# Rev. Patrick J. Colovin, CSC (1874â€"1877)# Rev. Thomas Walsh, CSC (1881â€"1893)# Rev. Andrew Morrissey, CSC (1893â€"1905)# Rev. John W. Cavanaugh, CSC (1905â€"1919)# Rev. James Burns, CSC (1919â€"1922)# Rev. Matthew Walsh, CSC (1922â€"1928)# Rev. Charles O'Donnell, CSC (1928â€"1934)# Rev. John Francis O'Hara, CSC (1934â€"1940)# Rev. J. Hugh O'Donnell, CSC (1940â€"1946)# Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, CSC (1946â€"1952)# Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC (1952â€"1987)# Rev. Edward Malloy, CSC (1987â€"2005)# Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC (2005â€"present)
According to the Bylaws and Academic Articles of the university, the university faculty are grouped into colleges, schools, institutes, and the library system.
Colleges
Established as the university's first and only college in 1842, the College of Arts and Letters is the largest of the four faculty colleges. Housing eighteen departments in the fine arts, the humanities, and the social sciences, the college awards the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in over fifty majors or concentrations. The university's first academic curriculum was modeled after the Jesuit ratio studiorum from Saint Louis University. According to the university website, undergraduate studies in the college offer students "a contemporary version of the traditional liberal arts education." The college also offers graduate studies in most of its departments, typically leading to the PhD, as well as a professional Master of Divinity program.
The science faculty of the university serves as the College of Science. The university first awarded Bachelor of Science degrees in 1865. Today, the College of Science offers curricula leading to the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and PhD degrees in the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. It also offers an undergraduate Pre-professional Studies program to prepare college students to study medicine.
The College of Engineering was established as a distinct unit of the University in 1920, although a program in civil engineering was offered in 1873. The engineering faculty is now organized into the departments of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering, and has curricula leading to Bachelor, Master, and PhD degrees in all those disciplines and Environmental Sciences.
Established in 1921, the Mendoza College of Business consists of the university's business faculty. It offers the Bachelor of Business Administration degree with concentrations in Accountancy, Finance and Business Economics, Management, Marketing, and Management Information Systems, and was recently ranked 3rd in the country out of business schools for undergraduates by Business Week. The college also offers professional studies leading to the Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Accounting degrees and is ranked among the Top Tier MBA schools in the United States by US News and Business Week 2004 rankings. The Mendoza College of Business also offers an extensive executive education program.
Schools
Notre Dame Law School is the body of law scholars at the university. Notre Dame was the first Catholic university in the United States to have a law program, which was started in 1869 and has consistently ranked among the top 25 law schools in the nation over the past decade according to US News and World Report. Its national program is designed to equip students to practice law in any US jurisdiction. The Law School grants the professional Juris Doctor degree as well as the graduate Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees.
The architecture faculty of the university is organized into the School of Architecture. Courses in architecture were taught at the university as early as 1869, with the School of Architecture offering formal instruction in architecture since 1898. Today, the school offers a five-year undergraduate program leading to the Bachelor of Architecture degree. The program is accredited by the National Architecture Accrediting Board and the curriculum conforms to NAAB requirements for the professional degree in architecture. The school also offers graduate studies leading to the Master of Architecture degree.
Institutes
Many of the faculty of the university participate in one or more of the university's 84 interdisciplinary research institutes and centers. Notable institutes are the Medieval Institute and the Kroc Institute for International Peace studies. The complete list of institutes, centers, and laboratories can be found here.
The library faculty of the university are divided into two groups: the University Library system and the Kresge Law Library. The University Library system is the major group of libraries on campus. Its main building is the fourteen-story Theodore M. Hesburgh Library, but it also includes branch libraries for Architecture, Chemistry & Physics, Engineering, the Life Sciences, and Mathematics as well as information centers in the Mendoza College of Business and the Kellog/Kroc Institute for Peace Studies, and a slide library in O'Shaughnessy Hall. The library system holds 2 million volumes and 2.5 million microform units and subscribes to 22,600 serial publications. The Kresge Law Library, which is the library of the Law School, currently holds 324,000 volumes and 294,000 microform units and subscribes 6,200 serial publications.
Students
According to the university's academic code, students are classified as either undergraduate students, graduate students, or two kinds of professional students: law students or graduate business students. Each group has its own separate student government organization. The administration of the college or school in which a student has their primary course of study serves as his or her academic administrators. There are two exceptions to this rule: first year undergraduate students, whose administration is the First Year of Studies program, and graduate students, whose administration is the Graduate School.
The First Year of Studies program was established in 1962 and is the program to which all incoming first-year students are admitted. Students do not declare a major during this time. Through the structure of the curriculum, the First Year of Studies responds to the uncertainty regarding the choice of college and major that many first-year students experience. The first-year curriculum also accommodates the academic needs of students who have already committed to a specific academic program. The program includes academic advising and a Learning Resource Center, which provides time management, collaborative learning, and learning strategy tutorials as well as subject tutoring. Fifty percent of all freshmen students score between a 31 and 34 on their ACT's.
Founded in 1918, the Graduate School is a body of administrators who coordinate master and doctoral studies in the colleges of the university and the School of Architecture. They approve the graduate programs proposed by the academic departments of the colleges and ultimately admit graduate students to studies and confer graduate degrees. The academic departments, though, provide academic and research advising for the students, do most of the admission decision making, and ultimately certify to the Graduate School the readiness of the student for the granting of graduate degrees.
Residence Halls
Notre Dame undergraduate students live in 27 single-sex residence halls, each with its own distinct subculture as well its own chapel inside. The dorms are located on five quads: North Quad, South Quad, West Quad, Mod Quad, and God Quad. According to the Office of Residence Life and Housing (known affectionately as ResLife), 80% of undergraduates live on campus.http://orlh.nd.edu/housing/undergraduate/general/facts.htm
Since there is no Greek society on campus, many students continue in the same residence hall for all four years. This dorm loyalty coupled with the competitive nature of Notre Dame students makes for some very fierce interhall rivalries. These rivalries are bolstered by the fact Notre Dame's intramural program, the Office of RecSports, is ranked first in the nation by the Princeton Review.http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetails.asp?CategoryID=7&TopicID=52 Furthermore, Notre Dame is the only university (besides the service academies) to offer full contact, full pads, intramural football. Alongside a prevelent campuswide sports obsession, the interhall football program was a contributing factor in Sports Illustrated ranking Notre Dame as the #2 "Jock School" in the country in 1997.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/1997/jockschools/topten2.html
The University of Notre Dame is 18th in the 2006 U.S. News and World Report "National Universities" ranking for undergraduate studies.http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php
Notre Dame's undergraduate School of Architecture is ranked 12th Nationally.
Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business is ranked 3rd Nationally for undergraduates.http://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate/06rankings
The University of Notre Dame is the highest ranked Catholic-affiliated National University for Undergraduate Studies in the U.S. News survey.
Notre Dame ranks fourth in a listing of "dream schools" cited in a survey of college applicants and parents by the Princeton Review. (Other schools included NYU, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Duke, Columbia and Princeton)
Hispanic Magazine ranks Notre Dame ninth on its list of the top 25 colleges for Latinos.
Notre Dame athletic teams are known as the Fighting Irish (though students are called "Domers"). Exactly where and how Notre Dame's athletic nickname came to be never has been perfectly explained. According to the University's website, there are several legends. One story suggests the moniker was born in 1899 with Notre Dame leading Northwestern 5-0 at halftime of a game in Evanston, Illinois. The Wildcat fans began to chant, "Kill the Fighting Irish, kill the Fighting Irish," as the second half opened. Another tale has the nickname originating at halftime of the Notre Dame- Michigan game in 1909. With his team trailing, one Notre Dame player yelled to his teammates - who had names like Dolan, Kelly, Glynn, Duffy and Ryan - "What's the matter with you guys? You're all Irish and you're not fighting worth a lick." Notre Dame came back to win the game and the press, after overhearing the remark, reported the game as a victory for the "Fighting Irish."
The most generally accepted explanation is that the press coined the nickname as a characterization of Notre Dame athletic teams, their never-say-die fighting spirit and the Irish stereotype qualities of grit, determination, and tenacity. The term likely began as an abusive expression tauntingly directed toward the athletes from the small, private, Catholic institution. Notre Dame alumnus Francis Wallace popularized it in his New York Daily News columns in the 1920s. Another such example is that of Father Corby and the Irish Brigade of the American Civil War, dubbed "The Fighting Irish."
The school has a comprehensive and nationally competitive Division I athletic program, but it is most famous for its football program. Notre Dame fielded its first football team in 1879. With eleven consensus NCAA football championships, over 800 all time wins, seven Heisman Trophy winners, famous head coaches, a.744 winning percentage and the most consensus All-Americans of any school, Notre Dame football is considered the most storied program in the history of college football. The school has many rivalries in football, the most famous ones being with USC, Navy, Michigan State, and Michigan. Notre Dame played in arguably the greatest and most watched college football game in history: the famous (or infamous) 10-10 tie against Michigan State at Spartan Stadium in 1966. Other Notre Dame rivalries include those with Purdue, and Pittsburgh. Former rivalries include a very intense rivalry in the 1980s with Miami, and a rivalry with Penn State, which will be renewed in 2006 and 2007.
Charlie Weis was appointed head football coach in December 2004. On October 28, 2005, his contract was extended through 2015.
Frank Eck Stadium from the air.
Notre Dame has success in other sports also. The men's basketball team has made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances and made it to the Final Four in 1978. They are also known for ending UCLA's 88 game winning streak in 1974.
Notre Dame's women's basketball team also has made numerous tournament appearances, and won the National Championship in 2001.
Notre Dame's men's and women's fencing teams have won multiple national titles as well - the men's team won titles in 1977, 1978 and 1986 while the women's team won the 1987 title. After the NCAA replaced the individual men's and women's national titles with a combined fencing championship, Notre Dame won national titles in 1994, 2003 and 2005.
Notre Dame entertained the possibility of joining the Big Ten Conference in all sports in 1999, but the idea was met with fierce resistance from alumni and the student body even though the Notre Dame Faculty Senate voted nearly unanimously to seek admittance into the league. Ultimately, the school elected to maintain its football independence and Big East affiliation. Rumors of discussion amongst administration officials about changing Notre Dame's conference affiliation resurfaced in 2003, but no official action has been taken by Notre Dame or any conference.
Dr. Kevin White is the current Director of Athletics at Notre Dame.
* http://www.nd.edu â€" Official university site * http://vocation.nd.edu â€" The Congregation of Holy Cross, Indiana Province * http://www.und.com â€" Official Notre Dame athletics site * http://campusministry.nd.edu â€" Official Notre Dame Campus Ministry site * http://www.nd.edu/maps â€" Campus maps * http://al.nd.edu â€" College of Arts and Letters * http://scholastic.nd.edu â€" Notre Dame Scholastic Magazine * http://www.ndtv.net â€" Notre Dame Television *
