University of Michigan Ann Arbor

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is top ranked among the world's top universities academically. The "U of M" has the largest number of living alumni at 420,000 as well as having one of the largest research expenditures of any American university. In addition to having the largest living alumni, it is the oldest university in the state of Michigan.

Originally founded in 1817 in Detroit while Michigan was still a territory, the campus was moved to the city of Ann Arbor in 1837. In 2006, "U.S. World & News Report" ranked the undergraduate division 25th in the United States and has placed a number of its graduate and professional programs within the nation's top ten.

Those programs include; engineering, education, law, business, library science, political science, medicine and sociology. In addition to the great academics, the university also excels at athletics. Michigan's most notable teams are for football, ice hockey and basketball.

The first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a sophomore, taught by two professors. Eleven students graduated in the first commencement in 1845. By 1866, the enrolment had increased to 1205 students. Women were not admitted into the university until 1870. Even though it had been so many years until the first females were admitted, the University of Michigan was only the third school to do so. During the time period of 1900 to 1920, many new facilities were constructed on campus.

Those facilities include buildings for dental and pharmacy programs, Hill Auditorium, a chemistry building, a large hospital and library complexes, a building for the natural sciences and two residential halls. The University of Michigan became a major recipient of government grants for strategic research during the Cold War. During the 1970s, budget constraints hindered the university's physical development and academic standing. When the 1980s rolled around, increased funds were devoted to research in the social and physical sciences. For some the 1980s and most of the 1990s, "U of M" devoted large amounts of resources to renovating its massive hospital complex and improving the academic facilities on the North Campus.The University of Michigan's library system is one of the largest in the United States.

It comprises 19 individual libraries with 24 separate collections, which roughly calculates to 7.96 million volumes. The growing at the rate of volumes is about 150,000 each year. A skywalk on Central Campus connects the two prominent libraries( Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library and Shapiro Undergraduate Library).

The Ann Arbor campus is divided into a Central Campus, North Campus and South Campus. Together, the three campuses include more than 300 major buildings, with a combined area of more than 29 million square feet. Ann Arbor's Unversity of Michigan is truly a magnificent school to visit or attend. The athletics alone attact countless people a year, whether it be at a live game or on television. This university attracts many students worldwide every year, but only accepts the brightest high-school students. The requirements to attent the University of Michigan are high, but that is why it has been one of the most sucessful schools in the county for well over 100 years.

By: Michael Russell