The University of Texas at Austin (also referred to as the University of Texas, UT, UT Austin, or Texas) is a public A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions. In some regions of the world prominent public institutions are highly influential centers of research university located in Austin Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 15th-largest in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006. According to the 2008 U.S. Census, Texas, United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, and is the flagship A flagship is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, a designation given on account of being either the largest, fastest, newest, most heavily armed or, for publicity purposes, the best known. In military terms, it is a ship used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships. The term originates from the custom of the commanding officer to fly institution of The University of Texas System The University of Texas System comprises fifteen educational institutions in Texas, of which nine are for academy universities and six are health institutions. The UT System also offers online courses and degrees from UT institutions via the UT TeleCampus. The system is headquartered in Downtown Austin.[6][7][8][9] The main campus is located approximately 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from the Texas State Capitol The Texas State Capitol is located in Austin, Texas and is the fourth building in Austin to serve as the seat of Texas government. It houses the chambers of the Texas Legislature and the office of the governor of Texas. It was originally designed in 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, who was fired in 1886, and was constructed from 1882–88 under. Founded in 1883, the university has the fifth-largest This list of largest United States university campuses by enrollment includes only individual four-year campuses, not four-year universities. Universities can have multiple campuses with a single administration single-campus enrollment in the nation as of fall 2009 (and had the largest enrollment in the country from 1997–2003), with over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 16,500 faculty and staff. It currently holds the largest enrollment The List of largest Texas universities by enrollment includes only the top ten universities in Texas as reported by the Texas Education Agency and respective universities of all colleges in the state of Texas.[10]
The University of Texas at Austin was named one of the original eight Public Ivy Public Ivy is a term coined by Richard Moll in his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities to refer to universities which "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price." Public Ivies are considered, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, to institutions[11] and was inducted into the American Association of Universities in 1929.[12] The university is a major center for academic research, with research expenditures exceeding $590 million in 2009.[13] The University of Texas at Austin operates various auxiliary facilities aside from the main campus, including the J. J. Pickle Research Campus The J. J. Pickle Research Campus in Austin, Texas, United States is owned and operated by the University of Texas at Austin. It is located in northwest Austin, approximately nine miles (14 km) north of the main UT campus and just south of the The Domain. The 475 acre (1.9 km²) site is bordered on the north by Braker Lane, on the west by US 183,. In addition, the university was recognized by Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is an American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the United States. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for as "America's Best Sports College" in 2002.[14] Its sports program has been dubbed the most successful in all of college sports.[15]
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History
Main article: History of the University of Texas at Austin The idea behind opening universities in Texas was originally conceived in 1827 under an article in the Constitución de Coahuila y Texas. Upon Texas's independence, the Congress of the Republic of Texas adopted the Constitution of the Republic, which made its own provision to establish a system of public education in Texas. President Mirabeau BEstablishment
The first mention of a public university in Texas can be traced to the 1827 constitution for the Mexican In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory, which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain which would eventually become Mexico state of Coahuila y Tejas Coahuila y Tejas was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution. Although an article promised to establish public education in the arts and sciences, no action was taken by the Mexican government. But after Texas obtained its independence The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the following day after errors were noted in the text from Mexico in 1836, the Congress of Texas adopted the Constitution of the Republic The Constitution of the Republic of Texas was written in 1836 between the fall of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio and Sam Houston's stunning victory at San Jacinto. The constitution was written quickly and while on the run from Santa Anna, which included a provision to establish public education in the republic The Republic of Texas was an independent state in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846, including two universities or colleges. On January 26, 1839, the Congress of Texas agreed to eventually set aside fifty leagues A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league most frequently refers to the distance a person or a horse can walk in an hour, however, the league has multiple values of land towards the effort; in addition, 40 acres (160,000 m2) in the new capital of Austin were reserved and designated "College Hill."[16]
In 1846, Texas was annexed The Texas Annexation of 1845 was the voluntary annexation of the Republic of Texas to the United States of America as the twenty-eighth state. It quickly led to the Mexican War in which the U.S. captured further territory west to the Pacific Ocean. Texas claimed but never controlled parts of present-day Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and into the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. The state legislature passed the Act of 1858, which set aside $100,000 in United States bonds In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity. A bond is a formal contract to repay borrowed money with interest at fixed intervals towards construction of a university. In addition, the legislature designated land, previously reserved for the encouragement of railroad construction, toward the universities' fifty leagues. However, Texas's secession Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals from the Union and the American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast prevented further action on these plans.
The university's Old Main Building in 1903After the war, the 1862 Morrill Act For fifteen years prior to the first introduction of the bill in 1857, there was a political movement calling for the creation of agriculture colleges. The movement was led by Professor Jonathan Baldwin Turner of Illinois College. On February 8, 1853, the Illinois legislature adopted a resolution, drafted by Turner, calling for the Illinois facilitated the creation of what is now Texas A&M University Texas A&M University, often referred to as A&M or TAMU, is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The seventh-largest university in the United States, A&M enrolls over 48,000 students in ten academic colleges. Texas A&M's, which was established in 1876 as the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas.[16] The Texas Constitution of 1876 The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Texas mandated that the state establish a university "at an early day," calling for the creation of a "university of the first class", styled "The University of Texas." It revoked the endowment of the railroad lands of the Act of 1858 but appropriated 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2) in West Texas. In 1883, another two million were granted, with income from the sale of land and grazing rights The concept of grazing rights in the United States descends directly from the English concept of the commons, a piece of land over which other people — often neighbouring landowners — could exercise one of a number of traditional rights, such as allowing their cattle to graze upon it. Prior to the mid-18th century, grazing rights in the United going to The University of Texas and Texas A&M.[16]
In 1881, Austin was chosen as the site of the main university, and Galveston was designated the location of the medical department. On the original "College Hill," an official ceremony began construction on what is now referred to as the old Main Building in late 1882. The university opened its doors on September 15, 1883.
Expansion and growth
The Tower The Main Building is a structure at the center of the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Main Building's iconic 307-foot (94 m) tower has 28 floors and is one of the most recognizable symbols of the University, as well as the city., completed in 1937, stands 307 ft (94 m) tall and dons different colors of lighting on special occasions. The Main Building is a structure at the center of the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Main Building's iconic 307-foot (94 m) tower has 28 floors and is one of the most recognizable symbols of the University, as well as the city.The old Victorian The term Victorian architecture can refer to one of a number of architectural styles predominantly employed during the Victorian era. As with the latter, the period of building that it covers may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria after whom it is named, in keeping with a British and French-Gothic The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began in the 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms, in contrast to the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. In England, the centre of this revival, Main Building The Main Building is a structure at the center of the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Main Building's iconic 307-foot (94 m) tower has 28 floors and is one of the most recognizable symbols of the University, as well as the city. served as the central point of the campus's 40-acre (160,000 m2) site, and was used for nearly all purposes. But by the 1930s, discussions arose about the need for new library space, and the Main Building was razed in 1934 over the objections of many students and faculty. The modern-day tower and Main Building were constructed in its place.
In 1910, George Brackenridge donated 500 acres (2.0 km2) located on the Colorado River The Colorado River is the 18th longest river in the United States and the longest river with both its source and mouth within Texas; however its drainage basin and some of its usually dry tributaries do extend into New Mexico. The 862-mile long river flows generally southeast from Dawson County through Marble Falls, Austin, Bastrop, Smithville, La to the university . A vote by the regents to move the campus to the donated land was met with outrage, and the land has only been used for auxiliary purposes such as graduate student housing. Part of the tract was sold in the late-1990s for luxury housing, and there are controversial proposals to sell the remainder of the tract.
As a result of the controversy, in 1921, the legislature appropriated $1,350,000 for the purchase of land adjacent to the main campus. But expansion was hampered by the constitutional restriction against funding the construction of buildings. With the discovery of oil Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, toxic, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, and other organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling. It is refined and separated, most easily by on university-owned grounds in 1923, the institution was able to put its new wealth towards its general endowment fund. These savings allowed the passing of amendments to make way for bond issues in 1931 and 1947, with the latter expansion necessary from the spike in enrollment following World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·. The university built 19 permanent structures between 1950 and 1965, when it was given the right of eminent domain Eminent domain , compulsory purchase (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Australia) or expropriation (South Africa and Canada) is the inherent power of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the. With this power, the university purchased additional properties surrounding the original 40 acres (160,000 m2).
Recent history
On August 1, 1966, Texas student Charles Whitman barricaded the observation deck in the tower of the Main Building. With two rifles, a sawed-off shotgun and various other weapons, he killed 10 people on campus from the observation deck below the clocks on the tower and three more in the tower as well as wounding two more inside the observation deck. Whitman had been a patient at the University Health Center, and on March 29, preceding the incident, had conveyed to Psychiatrist Maurice Heatley, his feelings of overwhelming hostilities and that he "felt like going up in the tower and shooting people with a deer rifle".[17] Following the Whitman incident, the observation deck was closed until 1968, and then closed again in 1975 following a series of suicide Suicide is the act of a human being intentionally causing his or her own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair, or attributed to some underlying mental disorder which includes depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism and drug abuse. Financial difficulties, interpersonal relationships and other undesirable situations play jumps during the 1970s. In 1998, after installation of security fencing and other safety precautions, the tower observation deck reopened to the public.
Completed in 1969, Jester Center was the largest residence hall in North America and was the largest building project in university history. It includes two towers: a 14-level and 10-level residences with a capacity of 3,200.
The first presidential library In the United States, the Presidential library system is a nationwide network of 13 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration . These are not libraries in the modern sense, but rather repositories for preserving and making available the papers, records, on a university campus was dedicated on May 22, 1971 with former President Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969 after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963. He is one of four Presidents who served in all four elected Federal offices of the United States: Congressman, Senator, Vice President and, Lady Bird Johnson Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources and made that her major initiative as First Lady. After and then-President Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States from 1969–1974 and was also the 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961). Nixon was the only President to resign the office and also the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency in attendance. Constructed on the eastern side of the main campus, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum is one of 13 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The library houses 45 million pages of historical documents, including the papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson and those of his close associates and others. The library was dedicated on May 22, 1971, with is one of twelve presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration The United States National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents. NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative.
The University of Texas has experienced a wave of new construction recently with several significant buildings. On April 30, 2006, the school opened a new 155,000-square-foot (14,400 m2) facility named the Blanton Museum of Art. The museum, the largest university art museum in the United States, is home to more than 17,000 works from Europe Europe is one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and, the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language and Latin America Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages (i.e., those derived from Latin) – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² (7,880,000 sq mi), almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area. As of 2009, its.[18] In August 2008, the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center opened for conferences, seminars and continuing education and executive-education programs. The hotel and conference center are part of a new gateway to the university extending the South Mall. Later the same month, after three years of renovations were completed, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium , located in Austin, Texas, is home to the University of Texas Longhorn football team. The current official stadium capacity is 94,113, the largest football venue in the state of Texas, the largest in the Big 12 Conference, and is the fifth largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA became the largest stadium (by seating capacity) in the state of Texas. In addition to numerous improvements, DKR now seats 100,119, up from the previous 94,113.[19] In 2009, demolition of the old Experimental Sciences Building (ESB) was completed and construction began on a replacement to be named the Norman Hackerman Building (NHB) in honor and memory of Dr. Norman Hackerman, chemist, professor and president emeritus.[20]
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during 1970s oil boom, dies at 87 Washington Post He was valedictorian of his high school class and graduated from the University of Texas. In 2008, the University of Texas at Austin named its Center for ... Eagerness to share is Briscoe's legacy Austin American-Statesman Texas Press Association State Capital Highlights: Gov. Dolph Briscoe, who led ... Blanco County News
