Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/41155
THIS IS THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Born on 40 acres of land donated by a saloon-keeper and two gamblers, and funded by a $25,000 consolation prize in Tucson's competition for the Territorial capital, the University of Arizona rose from the desert floor of the true old West. Nobody wanted it, and fewer believed it would last. Fortunately, they were wrong, and the bet laid down by E.B. Gifford, Ben C. Parker and W.S. "Billy" Read on Nov. 27, 1886, has paid off into one of the finest research institutions in the world. When the first 32 students arrived at the only building on campus in 1891, they began a tradition that has now entered its third century. The hitching posts for horses required to reach the edge of town may be gone, but "Old Main" remains as witness to the University's growth into a 400-acre Research I institution with nearly 200 buildings, more than 35,000 students, and a faculty and staff of 12,000. Arizona's first university is the largest employer in Pima County and the fourth-largest in Arizona with a payroll of half a billion dollars. The UA offers more than 325 degree fields in a dozen different colleges and another similar group of specialized schools. It's hard to believe that in the early days there were more students in the preparatory department finishing the equivalent of high school than there were University students. The number of University graduates never reached more than 10 per year until a decade of rapid expansion beginning in 1910, which saw the Territory become a state and the small outpost in the Sonoran Desert grow into a true educational institution. Today, the University of Arizona is one of the top 20 research universities in the nation and has played a part in groundbreaking projects ranging from the exploration of Mars to the development of new cancer treatments and pioneering breakthroughs in heart transplantation. UA's observational, theoretical and space astronomy programs have been ranked No. 1 in the country by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and recent other rankings placed 17 of the school's graduate programs among the top 20 in the nation. In addition, the Nobel Prize, three Pulitzer Prizes and the National Medal of Science have been bestowed upon Arizona educators. 20 PREVIOUS 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 NEXT BACK TO INDEX