Тулейнский университет: История и современность

University in New Orleans, Louisiana, US

Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it was turned into a comprehensive public university as the University of Louisiana by the state legislature in 1847. The institution became private under the endowments of Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1884 and 1887. The Tulane University Law School and Tulane University Medical School are, respectively, the 12th oldest law school and 15th oldest medical school in the United States. Tulane has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1958 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Alumni include twelve governors of Louisiana; one Chief Justice of the United States; various members of Congress, including a Speaker of the U. S. House; two Surgeon Generals of the United States; 23 Marshall Scholars; 18 Rhodes Scholars; 15 Truman Scholars; 155 Fulbright Scholars; four living billionaires; and a former President of Costa Rica. Two Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university.

The university was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana The university became the second medical school in the South, and the 15th in the United States at the time. In 1847, the state legislature established the school as the University of Louisiana, After reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges because of an extended agricultural depression in the South which affected the nation's economy. Paul Tulane, owner of a prospering dry goods and clothing business, donated extensive real estate within New Orleans for the support of education. This donation led to the establishment of a Tulane Educational Fund (TEF), whose board of administrators sought to support the University of Louisiana instead of establishing a new university. In response, through the influence of former Confederate general Randall Lee Gibson, the Louisiana state legislature transferred control of the University of Louisiana to the administrators of the TEF in 1884. The university was privatized, and is one of only a few American universities to be converted from a state public institution to a private one. Paul Tulane's endowment to the school specified that the institution could only admit white students, and Louisiana law passed in 1884 reiterated this condition. In 1884, William Preston Johnston became the first president of Tulane. He had succeeded Robert E. Lee as president of Washington and Lee University after Lee's death. He had moved to Louisiana and become president of Louisiana State University in 1880. In 1885, the university established its graduate division, later becoming the Graduate School. One year later, gifts from Josephine Louise Newcomb totaling over $3.6 million, led to the establishment of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College within Tulane University. Newcomb was the first coordinate college for women in the United States and became a model for such institutions as Pembroke College and Barnard College. In 1925, Tulane established the independent Graduate School. Two years later, the university set up a School of Social Work, also the first in the southern United States. University College was established in 1942 as Tulane's division of continuing education. By 1950, the School of Architecture had grown out of Engineering into an independent school. In 1958, the university was elected to the Association of American Universities, an organization consisting of 62 of the leading research universities in North America. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine again became independent from the School of Medicine in 1967. It was established in 1912. Tulane's School of Tropical Medicine also remains the only one of its kind in the country. On April 23, 1975, US President Gerald Ford spoke at Tulane University's Fogelman Arena at the invitation of F. Edward Hebert, the US representative of Louisiana's 1st Congressional District. During the historic speech, Ford announced that the Vietnam War was "finished as far as America is concerned" one week before the fall of Saigon. Ford drew parallels to the Battle of New Orleans and said that such positive activity could do for America's morale what the battle did in 1815. During World War II, Tulane was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V 12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission. In 1963, Tulane enrolled its first African American students.

In July 2004, Tulane received two $30 million donations to its endowment, the largest individual or combined gifts in the university's history. The donations came from James H. Clark, a member of the university's board of trustees and founder of Netscape, and David Filo, a graduate of its School of Engineering and co founder of Yahoo!. A fund raising campaign called "Promise & Distinction" raised $730.6 million by October 3, 2008, increasing the university's total endowment to more than $1.1 billion; by March 2009, Yvette Jones, Tulane's Chief Operating Officer, told Tulane's Staff Advisory Council that the endowment "has lost close to 37%", affected by the Great Recession. In 2021, Tulane had to evacuate all students and close down for a month due to damage from Hurricane Ida. No classes took place for two weeks, then there were virtual classes for the remaining two weeks.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and its damaging effects on New Orleans, most of the university was closed for the second time in its history—the first being during the Civil War. The closing affected the first semester of the school calendar year. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's distance learning programs and courses stayed active. The School of Medicine relocated to Houston, Texas for a year. Aside from student athletes attending college classes together on the same campuses, most undergraduate and graduate students dispersed to campuses throughout the U. S. The storm inflicted more than $650 million in damages to the university, with some of the greatest losses impacting the Howard Tilton Memorial Library and its collections. Facing a budget shortfall, the Board of Administrators announced a "Renewal Plan" in December 2005 to reduce its annual operating budget and create a "student centric" campus. Addressing the school's commitment to New Orleans, a course credit involving service learning became a requirement for an undergraduate degree. In 2006 Tulane became the first Carnegie ranked "high research activity" institution to have an undergraduate public service graduation requirement. In May 2006, graduation ceremonies included commencement speakers former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who commended the students for their desire to return to Tulane and serve New Orleans in its renewal.

Tulane's primary campus is located in Uptown New Orleans on St. Charles Avenue, directly opposite Audubon Park, and extends north to South Claiborne Avenue through Freret and Willow Street. The campus is known colloquially as the Uptown or St. Charles campus. It was established in the 1890s and occupies more than of land. The campus is known both for its large live oak trees as well as its architecturally historic buildings. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. The campus architecture consists of several styles, including Richardsonian Romanesque, Elizabethan, Italian Renaissance, Mid Century Modern, and contemporary styles. The front campus buildings use Indiana White Limestone or orange brick for exteriors, while the middle campus buildings are mostly adorned in red St. Joe brick, the staple of Newcomb College Campus buildings. Loyola University is directly adjacent to Tulane, on the downriver side. Audubon Place, where the President of Tulane resides, is on the upriver side. The President's residence is the former home of "banana king" Sam Zemurray, who donated it in his will. The centerpiece of the Gibson Quad is the first academic building built on campus, Gibson Hall, in 1894. The School of Architecture is also located on the oldest section of the campus, occupying the Richardson Memorial Building. The middle of the campus, between Feret and Willow Streets, and bisected by McAlister Place and Newcomb Place, serves as the center of campus activities. The Lavin Bernick Center for University Life, Devlin Fieldhouse, McAlister Auditorium, Howard Tilton Memorial Library, and most of the student residence halls and academic buildings populate the center of campus. The Howard Tilton Memorial Library was under construction from 2013 to 2016. The library now has two additional floors including the Rare Books room. The facilities for the Freeman School of Business line McAlister Place and sit next to the Tulane University Law School. The middle campus is also home to the historic Newcomb College Campus, which sits between Newcomb Place and Broadway. The Newcomb campus was designed by New York architect James Gamble Rogers, noted for his work with Yale University's campus. The Newcomb campus is home to Tulane's performing and fine arts venues. The back of campus, between Willow Street and South Claiborne, is home to two residence halls, Reily Recreation Center and Turchin Stadium, the home of Green Wave baseball. In January 2013, ground was broken on Tulane's Yulman Stadium between Reily Recreation Center and Turchin Stadium. Tulane Green Wave football had played in the Mercedes Benz Superdome after Tulane Stadium's demolition in 1980. They now play in Yulman Stadium, which opened in September 2014. After Hurricane Katrina, Tulane has continued to build new facilities and renovate old spaces on its campus. The newest dorm building, Weatherhead Hall, was completed in 2011 and houses sophomore honor students giving it the nickname "SoHo" amongst students. Construction on Greenbaum House, a Residential College, began in January 2013 and was completed by Summer 2014. The Lallage Feazel Wall Residential College, was completed in August 2005 and took in its first students when Tulane re opened in January 2006. Usually an honors dorm, Wall accommodated students of all academic standings during the COVID 19 pandemic. The Lavin Bernick Center for University Life (LBC) was renovated to be a green, environmentally friendly building and opened for student use in January 2007. In 2009, the university altered McAlister Drive, a street that ran through the middle of the uptown campus into a pedestrian walkway renamed McAlister Place. The area was resurfaced, and the newly added green spaces were adorned with Japanese magnolias, irises and new lighting. In late November 2008 the City of New Orleans announced plans to add bicycle lanes to the St. Charles Avenue corridor that runs in front of campus. In 2019, a new student space called The Commons was opened by President Mike Fitts, located in the middle of the uptown campus. The Commons is the central dining area on campus. Catering to most dietary restrictions, The Commons directly connects to the Lavin Bernick Center and also has a library and classrooms on its upper floors.

Tulane University Health Sciences campus is located in the downtown New Orleans Central Business District between the Mercedes Benz Superdome and Canal Street in 18 mid/high rise buildings, which house the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and the main campus of the Tulane Medical Center. In addition to medical and public health education, the Health Sciences campus is the central location for biomedical research. Students and faculty from the Health Sciences campus are also involved in community wide health promotion, such as community health fairs and distributing condoms to address the high rate of STIs in New Orleans. In 2014, the Tulane School of Social Work relocated from the Uptown campus to the Health Sciences campus, with facilities located in a renovated historic building on Elk Place;
Tulane University Square, of space and of surrounding land, is located on Broadway and Leake Avenue adjacent to the Mississippi River. Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington, La., one of eight such centers funded by the National Institutes of Health;
F. Edward Hebert Research Center, near Belle Chasse, La., which provides facilities for graduate training and research in computer science, bioengineering, and biology;
Satellite campuses of the School of Continuing Studies, Tulane's open admissions school of continuing studies, located in downtown New Orleans, in Elmwood, Louisiana, and in Biloxi, Mississippi. From 2010 to 2017 Tulane also operated a satellite campus in Madison, Mississippi. Cali, Colombia; Santiago, Chile; Shanghai, China; and Taipei, Taiwan where the business school offers an executive MBA program. Tulane also has signed an educational affiliation agreement with International University in Geneva. Tulane Law School offers classes through a European summer abroad program, utilizing many prestigious universities throughout several countries. In 2009, the school had programs in England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Tulane hosted an Environmental Summit at its law school in April 2009, an event that all students could attend for free. Many students from Tulane's two active environmental groups, Green Club and Environmental Law Society, attended. These student groups push for global citizenship and environmental stewardship on campus. In 2007 Tulane made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10%, getting students involved by providing an Energy Smart Shopping Guide and electronics "greening" services from IT. In 2010 Tulane completed its renovation of 88 year old Dinwiddie Hall, which was subsequently LEED Gold certified. A new residential college, Weatherhead Hall, opened in 2011 as housing for sophomore honors students. The residence – colloquially known as SoHo – has also applied for LEED Gold certification. Tulane received an "A−" on the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card, garnering an award as one of the top 52 most sustainable colleges in the country.

Tulane University, as a private institution, has been governed since 1884 by the Board of Tulane (also known as the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund) that was established in 1882. There have been 15 presidents of Tulane since then. The board comprises more than 30 regular members (plus several members emeriti) and the university president. In 2008, Tulane became one of 76 U. S. colleges and the only Louisiana college to maintain an endowment above $1 billion.

Tulane has been portrayed in several books, television shows and films. Several movies have been filmed at the Uptown campus, especially since tax credits from the state of Louisiana began drawing more productions to New Orleans in the early 2000s. The uptown campus has hosted two movie premieres from 2006 to 2007.