Университет Пуэрто-Рико, Рио-Пьедрас: История и современность

Public land grant research university in San Juan, Puerto Rico
The university serves more than 18,000 students, 20% of whom are graduate students, and grants an average of over 3,000 degrees a year. Its academic offerings range from the bachelor to the doctoral level with 70 undergraduate programs and 19 graduate degrees including 71 specializations in the basic disciplines and professional fields. UPR‐RP has consistently granted the largest number of doctorate degrees to Hispanic students under the United States jurisdiction.

In the year 1900 the Escuela Normal Industrial (Normal Industrial School) was established in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, as the first institution of higher education in Puerto Rico dedicated to train those who would become teachers and educators. At the time it only had 20 students and 5 professors. A year later (1901) the institution was moved to an area previously occupied by farmland immediately north of the town of Río Piedras, today part of the municipality of San Juan. The Normal School was established in La Convalecencia, which was one of the residences of the former Spanish Governors. The school enrolled 273 students on its first year, and its first bachelor's degrees were granted four years later in 1907. The students of the university also had a strike in the Spring of 2017 during which the school was shut down for several months.

The Río Piedras Campus is located in the northern end of the downtown area of Río Piedras, a former town but now a district (barrio) of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The campus is easily accessible via public transportation by means of the Tren Urbano metro system with a station (Universidad) located in campus, and the public bus system of San Juan (AMA). The campus is home to a rich diversity in architecture and urban planning with old and modern buildings that showcase the architectural development of the past 120 years in Puerto Rican architecture.

In 1936, architect Rafael Carmoega, working under the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), designed the distinctive University of Puerto Rico clock tower based on the 1924 Parsons Plan. The iconic university clock tower was built in 1937 and christened as the Franklin Delano Roosevelt tower, in honor of the president and his interest in the building of the university. La Torre (as The Tower is nicknamed in Spanish) is located at the entrance of the Román Baldorioty de Castro Building. Right below the tower there is a monument to the nations of the Americas portraying the coats of arms of all American states within a bronze circle, as a symbol of the Panamerican Union. Under the supervision of architect Rafael Carmoega, a group of local architects designed what is known as El Cuadrángulo (The Quadrangle), a plaza like quadrangle. The campus's central quadrangle and tower were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

The University of Puerto Rico was established in Río Piedras in 1903. The first buildings were the Normal School (1902), the Model School (1903), and the Principal's Residence (1903), next to the Central Road (today Ponce de Leon Avenue). Over the years, the development of the university occurred somewhat spontaneously. In 1908 the architectural firm of Clark, Howe and Homer designed a new façade for the Model School in the California Mission Style. In 1909 a milk processing building was constructed in an agricultural area, east of the academic center. Arts and Crafts' Workshop buildings, a Library and a Gymnasium were planned, as well as the grandstand and the fence (all demolished now). In 1912 construction began for the Memorial Hall (Baldorioty Building) and buildings for the Law School and the School of Pharmacy were in the works in 1918. In 1924 the Chicago firm of urbanists Bennett, Parsons and Frost were contacted to design a master plan for the future development of the university. It was not until 1935, with the establishment of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) and the large sum of federal funds that it invested for public works in Puerto Rico, that the partial design and construction of the so called Parson Plan began. However, from the 1940s onward a new architectural paradigm, which discarded historical vocabularies and incorporated attitudes learned from Germany and from the studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, stemmed from German émigré Henry Klumb. For 20 years Klumb was sole architect for the University of Puerto Rico, designing buildings for the campuses at Río Piedras and Mayagüez until in 1966. At that time chancellor Jaime Benítez assigned the design of the General Studies Building to the architectural firm of Toro & Ferrer. Other buildings for the university have been designed by architects Antonio Marqués Carrión (sports facilities, 1971); José Firpi (student residence Torre Norte, 1971); the firm of Reed, Torres, Beauchamp & Marvel (new Education Faculty Building, 1974 and the first expansion to the Faculty of Natural Sciences Building, 1978); the firm of García & Landray (second expansion the Faculty of Natural Sciences Building, 1989); GDO Arquitectos (School of Architecture Building, 2001) and Toro Ferrer (new General Studies Building, 2007). In addition to La Torre and The Quagrangle, several buildings in the UPR RP campus have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, such as the former female residence hall "Residencia de Señoritas" building which now houses administrative offices.

The university library serves the research and teaching needs of the university community. It also extends its services to the Puerto Rican community at large. The system comprises eighteen specialized and general libraries, with holdings totaling more than 4,000,000 items, access to which may be gained through the university's online catalog. Of special interest are the Caribbean and Latin American Studies Library and the Puerto Rican Collection, both located in the José M. Lázaro Building. In addition to the traditional library services, such as reference, circulation, reserves, photocopying, local interlibrary loan, and the compilation of bibliographies and acquisition lists, the Library System also participates in on line interlibrary loans with many libraries worldwide. Other services include Dial Order, DIALOG, microfilming, reproduction of photographs, library instruction and orientation, lectures, and exhibits. The Integration of the Information Competencies to the Curriculum Projects promotes the development of information competencies around the campus. The Library System offers facilities for the blind and physically handicapped. The graduate and special collections in the Business Administration, Planning, Public Administration, Social Work, and Library Science programs are integral parts of the Library System, but the libraries of the School of Law, Natural Sciences Faculty, and the School of Architecture, also located on the university campus, operate independently.

The Information Systems Office serves the educational, research and administrative efforts of the institution. As a member of Internet2 and the Internet, the university enjoys instant communication with institutions all over the world for the purposes of correspondence and information access. Improvements to existing telecommunications infrastructure include the installation of structured cabling in campus buildings and fiber optics as a means of interconnecting them. Currently, campus buildings are configured to ATM (155Mbits / s) and Gigabit Ethernet interfacing equipment, providing greater capacity to transfer video, voice and data. The campus is capable of offering video conferencing over ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), or via the Internet in H.323 format.

The Museum of Art, History, and Anthropology (MAHA) was created in 1951 by legislative act to "complete and preserve our art, history, and anthropological heritage," as a means to educate and enrich our culture. The current building, designed by the architect Henry Klumb, was inaugurated in 1959. Since its establishment, the museum has actively contributed to the growth of Puerto Rican cultural life by holding art, historical, and anthropological exhibits and sponsoring lectures, seminars, publications, and workshops–to the benefit of both the academic and the general communities.

The Río Piedras Campus is a collegiate university. The Chancellor of the Campus is the top academic and administrative officer and presides over its two deliberative bodies: the Administrative Board and the Academic Senate.

The Administrative Board, composed of the deans, two senators representing the faculty, and one student senator, advises the Chancellor in matters pertaining to the university program. The Board makes recommendations on leaves and faculty aid applications, and grants promotions and tenures.

The Academic Senate, in turn, is the official academic forum. It is composed of the deans, the director of the library system, elected faculty representatives from all the colleges and schools, student senators, and representatives from the staff of academic advisors. Its members participate on the institutional processes, establishing academic rules and collaborating with other organisms of the University of Puerto Rico system.

Colleges have a dean, an associate dean, assistant deans, department chairs, and other administrative directors. In August 2019, the president elect of the College of Business Administration Student Council, Alberto J. Lebrón, established the university's first independent college board, founding the UPRRP College of Business Administration Directive Board, composed of two representatives from each of the college's associations and student council directives, with Lebrón serving as the board's first chairman. Each college also has several committees established; examples being the school or college's advisors committee, the curriculum committee, and the accreditation committee.

The campus (and each school/college) has three administrative divisions known as a 'Deanery' or 'Dean's Office'. These include:

Academic Affairs (DAA in Spanish, Decanato de Asuntos Académicos) promotes academic excellence, giving guidance and orientation for successful planning with the Campus Strategic Plan. It implants academic policies, and looks for the effective improvement of all personnel. It promotes and designs institutional research and coordinates accreditation processes. It evaluates the programs offered at the university, while trying to improve institutional effectiveness. It is responsible for the suitable development of the services in the Libraries, Registrar, Admissions, and Continuing Education. It advises the Rector and the adequate units, such as the Administrative Council and the Academic Senate on the development of new politics, and efficacy of processes, planification, and academic decisions. It is organized with a dean heading it, with the help of the Associate Dean and 3 Auxiliary Deans, each assigned a certain area of concern such as Foreign Students, General Studies, Business Faculty, the Library System, etcetera. Three schools are under the Dean of Academic Affairs. These include the School of Communication, the Graduate School of Planning and the Graduate School of Informatic Sciences and Technologies and they are represented on the Administrative Board by the Dean of Academic Affairs.

The Deanery of Administration is the unit that offers essential services to the university community: it implements and guards for the proper fulfillment of the regulations that rule over administrative processes of the Campus and the entire University System. It plans, coordinates, evaluates and supervises labors related with different administrative and operative processes, but over all, they ensure quality services that have a positive aspect on student life, teaching and learning scenarios, investigation areas, labor areas of conformities, according to the Campus mission and the Public Administration that commands the university.

The university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". It supports research centers and institutes including the Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies that conducts long term environmental research on Caribbean islands and similar tropical areas and is part of a global research network, and the Institute of Caribbean Studies (est. 1958) (which publishes the journal Caribbean Studies, ) and the Institute of Psychological Research, among others.

UPRRP is ranked 220th in the U. S. in Biological Sciences in the 2011 edition of U. S. News & World Report. UPRRP is ranked 129th in the U. S. in Chemistry in the 2011 edition of U. S. News & World Report.

The School of Architecture of the University of Puerto Rico offers a Bachelor of Environmental Design and a Master of Architecture. The Master of Architecture professional degree is offered by the School, accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). The UPR School of Architecture was established thanks to legislation approved in Puerto Rico in 1958 for such purpose. That same year and to that effect, Puerto Rican architect Santiago Iglesias Jr. presented a resolution at the annual convention of the American Institute of Architects, celebrated in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1965, Puerto Rican architect Jesús Eduardo Amaral, was selected as an executive consultant and given the responsibility to establish the school. Proposals were submitted to UPR's Río Piedras Chancellor Jaime Benítez and finally in 1966, the School was officially recognized by the Council of Superior Education.

The College of Business Administration, previously College of Commerce, was established on University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras in 1926 with a roll of 70 students on a nocturnal program. From its beginning, it has offered preparation of university level in many areas of Business Administration. It also offers a bachelor's degree in administration of office systems, which substituted the secretarial sciences bachelor's degree. In 1958 the Center for Commercial Investigations and for Academical Initiatives with the purpose of promoting investigation and contribute in the creation of knowledge in the area of Business Administration. Eventually, Cooperative Education, Link (Enlace), International Commerce Development and Enterprise Development programs, in order to have a narrower collaboration with business world. In the academic year of 1970–71, the Graduated School of Business Administration began offering master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) making it the first of its kind in the Caribbean. In addition to master's degree the School offers altogether with Law School and the Doctoral Program of Business Management the MBA/JD Program which is built towards guidance on professional practice, whilst the Doctoral Program is orientated towards research. Student enrollment in the College of Business Administration is approximately 2,800 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. This college enrollment is the third highest in the Río Piedras Campus. Nearly 530 Bachelor's degrees and 50 Graduate degrees are conferred annually. 63% of the students of the college are female, similar to the 67% of population of Río Piedras Campus being female. In November 2013, the School of Business and the Graduate School of Business, became the first and only public study centers in business, accredited in Puerto Rico and Latin America by the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

The Graduate School of Business Administration (EGAE) educates aspiring entrepreneurs and business administrators.

The School of Communication (COPU, formerly known as Comunicación Pública in Spanish, from where the acronym comes COmunicación PUblica) was established in 1972 with a master's degree in public Communication. It offers bachelor's and master's degrees.

The Eugenio María de Hostos College of Education (in Spanish Facultad de Educación Eugenio María de Hostos) is the biggest and oldest college of the University of Puerto Rico, founded on October 1, 1900, as the Normal School of Teachers (Escuela Normal para Maestros) in the Puerto Rican eastern city of Fajardo. The college has an estimate of 3,400 students who study in six different colleges of the university. The college headquarters are located in the New Building of Education in the south of the campus, and administrate nine buildings in all the campus, including a house in downtown Río Piedras district in San Juan. The college moved to Río Piedras once the university was founded on March 12, 1903.

The University High School was built in the year 1913. It is currently operated by the Faculty of Education of the University of Puerto Rico. It currently has around 500 students from seventh to twelfth grade.

The General Studies Division was created in 1943 and became a college in 1945. The creation of the general studies program was the cornerstone of the 1942 University Reform. Within the university's system, the college has the particularity of being constituted as a multi and interdisciplinary one, wherein three great sections of knowledge converge: Humanities (including Vernacular Spanish, its literary and linguistic components), Social Sciences and Natural Sciences, and English for Academic Purposes, including its literary and linguistic components. The College of General Studies offers these courses, which will vary depending on the requirements asked by the different Colleges the student heads to: Humanities, Spanish, English, Biological Sciences, Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences. The main building of the College of General Studies is called Domingo Marrero Navarro, after one of its deans.

Established in 1943, the faculty currently has about 2,000 students in the undergraduate program and about 300 students in its graduate program. This faculty offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in various disciplines such as fine arts, drama, Hispanic studies, English, comparative literature, philosophy, history, modern languages, linguistics, music, translation, interdisciplinary studies, among others. It has various investigation centers, as well as seminars, specialized libraries in fine arts, philosophy, music and English, and publishes several educational magazines.

The College of Social Sciences (CISO, Ciencias Sociales in Spanish, from where the acronym comes CIencias SOciales) was established in 1943, with the mission of teaching universal knowledge on the social sciences, advancing the social comprehension of the nation. The college offers undergraduate studies in the Departments of: anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, social sciences (general), economics, social work, geography and labor relations. The college offers graduate studies in the Departments of: rehabilitation counselling, public administration, social work, economics, sociology and psychology.

Encompasses continuing education and professional studies offerings.

The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras is a founding member of the island wide Inter University Athletic League (LAI) and participates in all of the sports included in that organization. The university competes at the NCAA Division II level as an Independent for various sports including basketball.

One of the most enriching aspects of student life in Río Piedras is the vast number of cultural and social events organized by the university. In addition to the usual academic conferences and lectures, there are a host of activities to choose from on any given day. Cultural Activities, run by the dean of students, is the central agency at Río Piedras that plans and sponsors major events on and off campus. They run a busy schedule with a cultural activity virtually every day of the week and on many weekends, too. The Serie de Cine al Aire Libre runs every month throughout the school year, presenting classic and contemporary films in the Baldorioty de Castro Plaza in front of the Tower. Admission is always free. Additionally, there are indoor concerts by musical groups such as the Orquesta Filarmónica de Puerto Rico, the Tuna of UPR Río Piedras, and the voice emsambles of the campus, Coro de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (founded in 1936 by Augusto Rodríguez), and Coralia, the concert choir.