Miami University

:This is an article about Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. For the article on the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, see University of Miami.

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Miami University, founded in 1809, is the second oldest college west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is located in Oxford in southwestern Ohio about thirty miles northwest of Cincinnati. The Miami in this school's name refers to the Miami River valley, cut by two medium-sized rivers, the Little Miami River and the Great Miami River, that flow through southwestern Ohio; the rivers were in turn named after the Miami Indians who lived in that area before European settlement.

Related Topics:
1809 - Allegheny Mountains - Oxford - Ohio - Cincinnati - Little Miami River - Great Miami River - Miami - Indian

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Miami was named one of the original Public Ivies in Richard Moll's 1985 book entitled, 'The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Undergraduate Colleges'. Miami is known as the "Cradle of Coaches" because several prominent football coaches worked there before achieving greater fame at more prominent college programs or the NFL. Among these coaches were Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, Weeb Ewbank, and Bo Schembechler. Because it is home to a number of Alpha Chapters, Miami University is also considered the Mother of Fraternities.

Related Topics:
Public Ivies - 1985 - Cradle of Coaches - Football - NFL - Earl Blaik - Paul Brown - Sid Gillman - Woody Hayes - Ara Parseghian - Weeb Ewbank - Bo Schembechler - Fraternities

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Miami graduated an American President (Benjamin Harrison), putting it in a prestigious category of a league of Presidential alma maters. It is also the alma mater of many Ohio Governors.

Related Topics:
Benjamin Harrison - Presidential alma maters - Ohio Governors

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For many years, the athletic teams at Miami were nicknamed Redskins, but in 1997, the nickname was changed to RedHawks. Some controversy surrounded this change and some aspects of the old identity persist. The RedHawks participate in NCAA Division I in all sports (I-A in football). Its primary conference is the Mid-American Conference; its hockey program competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Yager Stadium is home to Miami football.

Related Topics:
1997 - NCAA - Football - Mid-American Conference - Hockey - Central Collegiate Hockey Association - Yager Stadium

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Miami is also famous for its School of Education, the McGuffey School, named for Professor William Holmes McGuffey, who taught there and wrote America's most widely used pioneer text books while at the college.

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Miami University was first provided for under the Northwest Ordinance, which would regulate the free states of the Midwest. On May 5, 1792, "the President of the United States was authorized to grant letters patent to John Cleves Symmes and his associates . . . provided that the land grant should include one complete township . . . for the purpose of establishing an academy and other public schools and seminaries of learning. After Ohio became a state in 1803, the State legislature assumed responsibility for making sure that John Cleves Symmes would set aside a township of land for the support of an academy. Such a law was passed by the State legislature April 15, 1803. . . . Finally, on February 17, 1809, the State legislature created Miami University and provided that one complete township in the State of Ohio in the district of Cincinnati was to be vested in Miami University for its use, benefit, and support."http://www.lib.muohio.edu/epub/govlaw/OHIST/mucent.txt This was known as the "College Township".

Related Topics:
Northwest Ordinance - Midwest - May 5 - 1792 - John Cleves Symmes - 1803 - State legislature - April 15 - February 17 - 1809 - College Township

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Miami was chartered by the government, but was considered a private college engaged in classical training. Antebellum Miami University took students from all over the West, and was known as the "Yale of the West". It was at one point the 4th largest university after Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth. As the East-West rivalries subsided, but the North-South rivalries surged, Miami University split apart at the time of the Civil War. Most graduates volunteered for the Union, more than any other school except the military academies. The majority of those that didn't, primarily from Southern states (such as Jefferson Davis' nephew) volunteered in the Confederate armies. Because its students had left for war, because many alumni and professors died in the War, because the West opened up to other universities, and because Southern families no longer sent their sons to the North for an education, "Old Miami" passed on and Miami University nearly died. The university, unable to pay its huge debts, closed in 1873 and did not reopen until 1885.

Related Topics:
Harvard - Yale - Dartmouth - Civil War - Jefferson Davis - Confederate - 1873 - 1885

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With the help of alumni and Ohio legislators, "New Miami" was restarted as a coeducational school of education and liberal arts. Although Ohio State University had been launched in the interim, Miami University gained a fair share of Ohio students by the 1890s, and by the 1950s had massively grown. The rural Oxford campus with Georgian architecture is considered to be similar to Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia campus and one of the most beautiful in the U.S; Robert Frost once called it "the prettiest campus there ever was." http://www.pfd.muohio.edu/treewalk/index.jsp

Related Topics:
Ohio State University - 1890s - 1950s - Georgian architecture - Thomas Jefferson - University of Virginia - Robert Frost

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Several women's colleges in Oxford were associated with or effectively merged with Miami University including the Western College for Women (now the Western College Program), a daughter school of Mount Holyoke. Miami University was coeducational long before most schools in the Ivy League. Miami has been a non-sectarian school as were other pioneer universities in the Midwest, though its early leaders were often Presbyterians.

Related Topics:
Western College for Women - Western College Program - Mount Holyoke - Coeducation - Ivy League - Midwest - Presbyterians

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Miami University's current enrollment is approximately 15,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students. In addition to its Oxford campus, Miami has additional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, Ohio, and a European Center in Luxembourg.

Related Topics:
Hamilton - Middletown, Ohio - Luxembourg

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Miami University is known around the Greek World for the Miami Triad, three fraternities founded in the 19th Century that spread throughout the United States. These were Beta Theta Pi(1839), Sigma Chi (1855), and Phi Delta Theta (1848). The Delta Zeta sorority was also founded at Miami University in 1902 as was the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity in 1906.

Related Topics:
19th Century - Beta Theta Pi - Sigma Chi - Phi Delta Theta - Delta Zeta - Phi Kappa Tau

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The Oxford campus has become the first major public school in the United States to abolish tuition differentials between state residents and nonresidents. As of the 2004–05 academic year, all students pay tuition of over $19,000 per year, although Ohio residents are guaranteed scholarships of at least $10,000. http://www.aol.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_46/b3908089.htm

Related Topics:
Tuition - 2004 - 05 - Scholarship

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