Summary
Coordinates: 39°44′26″N 84°10′48″W / 39.74056°N 84.18000°W / 39.74056; -84.18000
The University of Dayton (UD) is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The full-time undergraduate student enrollment is around 7,500, and total student enrollment is about 11,000.
The University of Dayton is one of the ten largest Roman Catholic schools in the United States and is the largest of the three Marianist universities in the nation. It is also home to one of the largest campus ministry programs in the world. The university offers more than 70 academic programs in arts and sciences, business administration, education and allied professions, engineering and law. It was first in the country to offer an undergraduate degree program in human rights.
History
In 1849,[5] Rev. Leo Meyer purchased the land for the future university from John Stuart with a medal of St. Joseph, and a promise of US$12,000 during a cholera epidemic. As a condition of purchase, Rev. Meyer promised to maintain the grave site of Stuart's daughter. The land, known then as Dewberry Farm, was 125 acres (0.5 km2) and was primarily vineyards and orchards.[6]
In 1850 the university was founded as a day school and boarding school for boys called St. Mary's School for Boys, later St. Mary's Institute. In 1913, the city of Dayton suffered a massive flooding when the Great Miami River overflowed. The university responded by sending faculty, Marianist brothers, and students out in rowboats to rescue Dayton citizens.[7] In 1920, to reflect UD's commitment to its community, it took its current name. In 1935, the University of Dayton began admitting women, making it the first coeducational Roman Catholic university in the United States. As of 2011, UD is the largest private university in Ohio.[8]
Campus
The University of Dayton main campus is compact and easy to navigate; one is generally able to cross campus in less than 10 minutes. Many historic buildings survive from the early years of the University; newer buildings fit in with the established architecture (with a few exceptions, including ArtStreet, Roesch Library, and Miriam Hall).
The fields are being used for intramural sports, and the College Park Center houses the UD Department of Public Safety (26-officer Police Department, Parking Services, and Student Volunteer Rescue Squad), on-campus maintenance, the University's Department of Visual Arts, and Dayton Early College Academy (DECA) charter school. Burt-Hill Architecture is developing the long-term plan for the property.
Kettering Labs is the home of the Engineering departments. This building includes classrooms, labs, offices, a machine shop, and a wind tunnel.
The Science Center (the joint name for Sherman Hall, Wohlleben Hall, and a connecting central atrium) is home to the Math and Science departments. This building includes class rooms, laboratories, offices, and auditoriums. Sherman and Wohlleben Halls were independent buildings until renovations in 2003 connected them with an atrium and study space.[9]
The Humanities building is home of the English, Foreign Languages, Philosophy, and Religious Studies departments. This building includes classrooms and offices.
In December 2009, the University of Dayton Research Institute announced that they would be relocating to the former NCR world headquarters building, now the River Campus. The former HQ and 115 acres (0.47 km2) came under acquisition of the University of Dayton at a purchase price of $18 million.[10] Along with UDRI, the 1700 South Patterson Building that sits on that land will house the Alumni Center envisioned in the University's master plan, as well as for graduate classes, executive development programs and conferences.[11]
Tuition, fees, and financial aid
As of 2012 annual undergraduate tuition and fees at the University of Dayton were reported to be $48,000.[12] According to the university 90% of its students receive financial aid of some sort, including loans and work-study.
Housing
Founders Hall
Marianist Hall
Marycrest Complex
Stuart Complex
Upperclassmen Housing
The Ghetto and Darkside
Athletics
The Dayton Flyers compete in the Atlantic Ten Conference in all sports except football, in which they compete in the Pioneer Football League. The Flyers' mascot is "Rudy Flyer," a pun based on the university's initials, "U.D." Rudy is a barnstorming pilot who wears 1930s-1940s-era goggles and a leather pilot's helmet. The nickname "Flyers" is a tribute to the Wright Brothers who began their careers and invented the airplane in Dayton.
Flyers basketball is one of the biggest sports attractions in the Dayton area with the Flyers perennially ranking in the NCAA Division I top 30 in basketball attendance.[13] The men's basketball team has advanced to the NCAA tournament numerous times and holds a 13-15 all time NCAA tournament record.[14] The team reached the NCAA finals against UCLA in 1967 and won the NIT in 1962, 1968, and 2010.
Football has similarly experienced considerable success throughout its history at Dayton. UD has won two NCAA Division III titles (in 1980 & 1989) and advanced to the title game three other times. Since moving to NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) in 1993, the Flyers have won eight PFL championships and in 2002 and 2007 were the NCAA Division I-AA/FCS Consensus Mid-Major Football National Champion.[15]
Dayton's historic rivalries in most sports have involved fellow Southwest Ohio schools—the University of Cincinnati, Miami University, and Xavier University. Dayton and Xavier play for the Blackburn/McCafferty Trophy during their regular season home-home men's basketball matchups.
UD offers a wide variety of varsity athletic opportunities to men (baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis) and women (basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, volleyball).[16]
Many of these varsity athletic teams are supported by the Red Scare, UD's spirit group made up of 1,300 undergrads. From its inception in 1996 until 2006, Red Scare was focused primarily on men's basketball. In 2007, the focus of Red Scare expanded to other sports including baseball and softball in the spring, football, men's and women's soccer, and volleyball in the fall, and men's and women's basketball in the winter. The Red Scare expanded other sports' fan base with the creation of a points system called "Spirit Points." Students are given points for each sporting event they attend. These points are then used to obtain a quality seat at the men's basketball game.[17]
In addition to varsity athletics, there are numerous club[18] and intramural[19] sports available to students including ice hockey. In January 2006, the university opened its new RecPlex, a $25 million state of the art sports and recreational facility for students of the university.[20]
Intercultural and Study Abroad programs
University of Dayton students have the opportunity to study at either of the other Marianist universities in the United States: Chaminade University of Honolulu (Honolulu, Hawaiʻi) or St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Texas). These intercultural exchange opportunities allow students experience with majority Asian-American culture in Honolulu and Latino-American culture in San Antonio.
The University of Dayton participates in exchange agreements with several overseas institutions for a semester or year of study. These locations are as follows: Nanjing, China; Shanghai, China; Helsinki, Finland; Bourges, France; Angers, France; Lille, France; Nice, France; Paris, France; Augsburg, Germany; Maynooth, Ireland; Rome, Italy; Seoul, Korea; Ifrane, Morocco; Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Madrid, Spain; and San Sebastián, Spain.
UD also offers many study-abroad summer programs, which typically last about one month. These locations are as follows: Quito, Ecuador; London, England; Winchester, England; Paris, France; Leipzig, Germany; Delhi, India; Bangalore, India; Dublin, Ireland; Florence, Italy; Rome, Italy; and Sorrento, Italy.
Greek life
Dayton has fourteen fraternities and nine sororities on campus. 20% of students participate in Greek Life.
Fraternities Alpha Nu Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha, Phi Sigma Kappa, Pi Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Kappa Alpha Psi
Sororities Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Sigma Rho, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Alpha Iota, Theta Phi Alpha, Zeta Phi Beta, and Zeta Tau Alpha
Rankings
In the 2010 edition of U.S. News and World Report's annual "America’s Best Colleges" issue, The University of Dayton broke the top 100 and ranked 99th of the top "national universities." However in the 2011 edition, the university fell down to 101. It also ranked 85th among private schools and 5th among Catholic institutions.[21]
Research
The University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) employs nearly 400 full-time researchers.[22] Established as the research arm of the University of Dayton in 1956, UDRI broke the $1 billion mark in sponsored research at the end of 2003. In fiscal year 2005, sponsored research at UDRI topped $70 million. In 2004 and 2005, the Research Institute was ranked number two in the nation in federal- and industry-funded materials research by the National Science Foundation. In Ohio, UDRI is the top nonprofit institution that receives contracts from the Department of Defense.[23] Along with UDRI, The Center for Tissue Regeneration and Engineering at Dayton (TREND) is another research center located at the University of Dayton.
In 2010 General Electric announced that it would be locating a new $51 million research center on the University of Dayton's campus. The center will be used for collaboration between University Researchers and GE to create new electrical power technologies.[24]