University of Nevada, Reno
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"University of Nevada" redirects here. For the similarly-named university in Las Vegas, see University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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| Motto | Omnia Pro Patria (All for our Country) |
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| Established | 1874 |
| Type | Public, State Assisted |
| President | Dr. Milton Glick |
| Faculty | 999 (Headcount) |
| Students | 15,948 |
| Undergraduates | 12,764 |
| Postgraduates | 3,184 |
| Location | Reno, Nevada, United States |
| Campus | Urban, 255 acres (1 km²) |
| Colors | Silver and Blue |
| Nickname | Nevada Wolf Pack |
| Website | http://www.unr.edu |
The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR or Nevada) is a university that is located in Reno, Nevada and is known for its programs in agricultural research, animal biotechnology, and mining-related engineering and natural sciences. Additionally, the university is fast becoming known for its journalism school, which has produced several Pulitzer Prize winners, and for its program in seismology, which is one of the most technologically advanced in North America.
The university is also home to the University of Nevada School of Medicine, which was founded in 1969. The medical school specializes in family medicine.
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[edit] History
The University of Nevada was originally founded in Elko, Nevada in 1874 as a small, makeshift prep school that really could not be considered a true university. In 1885, the state legislature voted to close the Elko institution and the fledgling institution was moved from Elko to its current home in Reno, where classes began two years later.
After several decades of struggling to implement requirements of federal Morrill land-grant legislation, the university made large strides toward becoming the modern institution it is today with the opening of the Desert Research Institute in 1960 and a medical school in 1967. The University of Nevada, Reno remained the only four-year academic institution in the state of Nevada until 1965, when the current-day University of Nevada, Las Vegas attained university status as Nevada Southern University.
[edit] Campus
The campus is located on top of a hill north of downtown Reno overlooking Truckee Meadows and the downtown casinos. Modeled in the style of Thomas Jefferson's "academic village" (most notable for its use at the University of Virginia), the campus is considered one of the prettiest in the western United States.
The university's first building, Morrill Hall (completed in 1887), still stands on the historic "quad" at the campus' southern end. Lincoln Hall (all-male dormitory) and Manzanita Hall (all-female dormitory) were both completed in 1896, making them the oldest residence halls west of the Mississippi River.
Across the campus of the university exists the University of Nevada, Reno Arboretum, which was established in 1985, contains a collection of trees, shrubs, flowers, ornamentals and native flora, including over 60 genera and about 200 species of trees, many with several cultivars present. Thirty-six mature elm trees line the Quad.
The campus contains a statue of John William Mackay (namesake of Nevada's Mackay School of Mines, later renamed the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering), created by Mount Rushmore designer Gutzon Borglum.
[edit] Academics
Bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs are offered through the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources; the College of Business Administration; the College of Education; the College of Engineering; the College of Human and Community Sciences; the College of Liberal Arts; the College of Science; the Cooperative Extension Service; the Graduate School; the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering; the Reynolds School of Journalism; and the School of Medicine.
Nevada is one of the few universities in the western hemisphere to sponsor a center dedicated to Basque studies (Including Basque language), due to the large Basque population in northern Nevada.
The university and surrounding community is served by several campus libraries. Between them, over a million books and bound periodicals are in circulation in addition to government documents, audio-visual matierials, and various databases. The libraries are: Noble H. Getchell (main library), DeLaMare (engineering, computer science, mining, and geology), Life and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences, W. M. Keck Earth Sciences and Mining Reasearch Information Center, Savitt Medical, and the Mary B. Ansari Map Library.
[edit] Student Government
The Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) represents the undergraduate population at the university. ASUN has three branches: executive, legislative and judicial.
The president of ASUN, executive vice president, and vice presidents for clubs and organizations and programming constitute the executive. The Executive Council consists of the aforementioned executive officers and the speaker of the student senate.
The Senate is the legislative branch ASUN. Consisting of 22 senators elected from each of the university's colleges and schools, the Senate takes action on matters on behalf of the student body. The Senate's membership is apportioned by population in each college. The College of Liberal Arts (the largest), for instance, has seven seats in the Senate while the Reynolds School of Journalism has only one. The speaker of the Senate, also a senator, chairs all Senate meetings.
The Judicial Council, comprised of seven justices and two alternates, hears matters related to the ASUN Constitution and other matters that require peer review, such as alleged violation of university policies. Justices serve a two-year term.
Elections are held on an annual basis for executive and legislative officers. GPA and completed credit requirements determine who is eligible for office. Credit requirements are graduated; the more senior the office in ASUN, the more credits must be completed in order to be eligible for office.
ASUN is duly constituted under the laws of the state of Nevada, the university's Board of Regents policies and is bound by its own Constitution.
[edit] Athletics
Though often known as UNR within the state, the university prefers to be called simply Nevada for athletics purposes; its sports teams are nicknamed the Wolf Pack (always two words). They participate in the NCAA's Division I (I-A for football) and in the Western Athletic Conference.
[edit] Recent successes
In recent years, several Nevada athletic programs have been on the rise. In March 2004, the Wolf Pack men's basketball team qualified for the NCAA tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history. The team earned a repeat trip in 2005 and beat Texas in the first round before falling to eventual national runner-up Illinois. The team returned for 2006 as a #5 seed but was upset in the first round by former Big Sky Conference rival Montana. The Nevada rifle team placed second in the 2004 NCAA Rifle team championship, losing to national champion Alaska Fairbanks.
On November 26, 2005, the Nevada Wolf Pack football team clinched a share of their first Western Athletic Conference championship, along with Boise State University, by pulling off an upset against 16th-ranked Fresno State. A month later, it won the Hawaii Bowl by defeating the University of Central Florida, 49-48.
[edit] Rivalries
Annually, Nevada's football team plays its primary rival, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for the Fremont Cannon in the Battle for Nevada. Nevada's primary out-of-state rival, particularly in football, is Boise State University.
[edit] Mascot
The Wolf Pack's mascot is an anthropomorphized wolf named Alphie, who took over the duties of cheering from his uncle, Wolfie, in 1999.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Nevada's independent, weekly student newspaper, The Nevada Sagebrush, has been in continuous publication since 1893, making it one of the oldest newspapers still in publication in the state of Nevada. Prior to 2004, the newspaper called itself simply the Sagebrush. It was recently a finalist for a Pacemaker at the 2006 ACP student journalism awards.
There is a controversy over whether the university should be called UNR or Nevada. It stems from the sentiment of the Board of Regents that the university is not the sole University of Nevada in the state, and hence should always be identified by its full name, the University of Nevada, Reno. However, some claim that since it was the first university in the state, its historical name should be its official designation, as it is in many other multi-campus public university systems such as the University of Michigan. Several of the university's institutions retain the wording "University of Nevada", including the alumni association, the student government, the campus bookstore, and the athletics department (which refers to the school's teams simply as "Nevada").
The University of Nevada's classically-styled campus has served as the setting for many movies, including:
- Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944)
- Apartment for Peggy (1948)
- Mother Is a Freshman (1949)
- Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949)
In 2004 an 11-year-old child in Japan murdered one of her classmates and became known in the media as Nevada-tan, because of a widely distributed photo of her wearing a University of Nevada sweatshirt.
The university has a thriving Greek community including the fraternities Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Chi, Kappa Alpha Psi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Nu Alpha Kappa, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Kappa Phi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Tau Kappa Epsilon, and sororities Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Delta Chi, Lambda Phi Xi, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Kappa, and Zeta Phi Beta. The school is also home of a secret society called Coffin and Keys.
[edit] Notable alumni
[edit] Pulitzer Prize
- Ron Einstoss, 1955 - Awarded in 1966 for coverage of the Watts Riot
- Susan Forrest, 1982 - Awarded for general news reporting in 1988
- Kristen Go, 1998 - Awarded in 1998 for her coverage of the Columbine High School tragedy
- Warren Lerude, 1961 - Awarded in 1977
- Edward Montgomery, 1934 - Awarded for distinguished local reporting in 1952
- Howard Sheerin, 1931 - Awarded for public service in 1956
[edit] Arts and media
- Walter Van Tilburg Clark - Author of The Ox-bow Incident
- Dolora Zajick - Opera singer
[edit] Athletics
- Chris Ault, 1969 - Head Coach of Wolf Pack football team
- Nate Burleson, 2003 - Wide Receiver, Seattle Seahawks
- Nick Fazekas, 2007 (?) - Basketball player
- Joseph Salvatore Gilbert - Boxer on reality tv show The Contender
- Trevor Insley, 1999 - NCAA Division I-A all-time receiving yards leader
- Edgar Jones, 1979 - Former professional basketball player, drafted into the Milwaukee Bucks in 1979.
- Mills Lane, 1963 - NCAA boxing champion, boxing referee, lawyer, judge
- Brock Marion, 1989-92 - Professional football player, Detroit Lions
- Marion Motley, 1940-42 - Professional Football Hall of Famer
- Charles Mann, 1980-82 - Former professional football player and Pro Bowler, Washington Redskins
- Kirk Snyder, 2004 - Basketball player, New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets
- Kirk Triplett - Professional PGA golfer
- Charles Wright - Professional wrestler (gimmicks included The Godfather, Kama, and Papa Shango)
[edit] Politics and public service
- Helen Delich Bentley - Former Congresswoman from Maryland
- Ernest S. Brown, 1926 - U.S. Senator from Nevada
- Richard Bryan, 1959 - Former governor of Nevada and US Senator
- Jim Gibbons - Governor Elect of Nevada
- Brian Sandoval, 1986 - U.S. District Court judge.
[edit] Other notables
- Jennifer Harman, ? - Professional poker player, first woman to win two bracelets in World Series of Poker open events
- Darren Mack, (1983) - Sniper murder suspect in death of Charla Mack and Reno, Nevada Family Court Judge Chuck Weller
- William Zamboni, ? - Pioneer in plastic surgery and limb reattachments.
[edit] External links
- http://www.unr.edu/ Official university site
- http://basque.unr.edu/ University of Nevada, Reno Center for Basque Studies
- http://www.nevadasagebrush.com/ Nevada's official school newspaper, The Nevada Sagebrush
- http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/ Official Nevada athletics site
- http://www.unr.edu/quadcam.html See Nevada's "Quad Cam" for a live view of the lower campus
- http://www.unrbands.com/ University of Nevada Bands
- http://nevada.rivals.com/forum.asp Wolf Pack Fan Site
- http://www.unr.edu/arts
- http://asun.unr.edu Associated Students of the University of Nevada
- http://www.packpatriot.com/ Conservative alternative campus newspaper
- http://www.turnnevadablue.com/ Liberal alternative campus newspaper
| Western Athletic Conference |
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| Boise State • Fresno State • Hawai'i • Idaho • Louisiana Tech • Nevada • New Mexico State • San José State • Utah State |
