Университет Делавэра: История и современность

Public university in Newark, Delaware, U. S.

The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD or Delaware) is a privately governed, state assisted land grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD offers four associate's programs, 163 bachelor's programs, 136 master's programs, and 64 doctoral programs across its ten colleges and schools. The main campus is in Newark, with satellite campuses in Dover, Wilmington, Lewes, and Georgetown. With 24,221 students as of Fall 2023, According to the National Science Foundation, UD spent $186 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 119th in the nation. It is recognized with the Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. UD students, alumni, and sports teams are known as the "Fightin' Blue Hens", more commonly shortened to "Blue Hens", and the school colors are Delaware blue and gold. UD sponsors 21 men's and women's NCAA Division I sports teams and have competed in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) since 2001. The men’s division 1 is hockey team competes in the ESCHL.

The University of Delaware traces its origins to 1743, when Presbyterian minister Francis Alison opened a "Free School" in his home in New London, Pennsylvania. During its early years, the school was run under the auspices of the Philadelphia Synod of the Presbyterian Church. The school changed its name and location several times. It moved to Newark by 1765 and received a charter from the colonial Penn government as the Academy of Newark in 1769. In 1781, the academy trustees petitioned the Delaware General Assembly to grant the academy the powers of a college, but no action was taken on this request.

In 1818, the Delaware legislature authorized the trustees of the Newark Academy to operate a lottery in order to raise funds with which to establish a college. Commencement of the lottery, however, was delayed until 1825, in large part because some trustees, several of whom were Presbyterian ministers, objected to involvement with a lottery on moral grounds. In 1832, the academy trustees selected the site for the college and entered into a contract for the erection of the college building. Construction of that building (now called Old College) began in late 1832 or in 1833. In January 1833 the academy trustees petitioned the Delaware legislature to incorporate the college and on February 5, 1833, the legislature incorporated Newark College, which was charged with instruction in languages, arts and sciences, and granted the power to confer degrees. All of the academy trustees became trustees of the college, and the college absorbed the academy, with Newark Academy becoming the preparatory department of Newark College. Newark College commenced operations on May 8, 1834, with a collegiate department and an academic department, both of which were housed in Old College. In January 1835, the Delaware legislature passed legislation specifically authorizing the Newark Academy trustees to suspend operations and to allow the educational responsibilities of the academy to be performed by the academic department of Newark College. If, however, the college ever ceased to have an academic department, the trustees of the academy were required to revive the academy. In 1841 and 1842 separate classroom and dormitory buildings were constructed to teach and house academic department students. These buildings would later form the east and west wings of the Newark Academy Building located at Main and Academy Streets. In 1843, the name of the college was changed to Delaware College. The college was supported by a state authorized lottery until 1845. By the late 1840s, with the loss of lottery proceeds, the college faced serious financial problems. A scholarship program was adopted to increase enrollment and revenues. Although enrollment did increase to levels that would not be surpassed until the 1900s (there were 118 college students in 1854), the plan was fiscally unsound, and the financial condition of the school deteriorated further. Introduced by Congressman Justin S. Morrill of Vermont in 1857 and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, the Morrill Land Grant College Act granted public lands to each state in order to establish schools to teach agriculture and engineering. On Jan. 12, 1869, the Board of Trustees of Delaware College signed an agreement to become the state's land grant institution. In exchange, the state received a one half interest in the property of the college and the authority to appoint half of the members of the board of trustees. The Morrill Land Grant College Act granted Delaware the title to 90,000 acres in Montana which it sold and invested the profits into bonds used to fund the college. Delaware College's new status as a semipublic college led to the termination of its official connection with the private academy. In 1869, the Newark Academy was revived as a separate institution operating under the 1769 charter. In 1870, Delaware College reopened. It offered classical, scientific and, as required by its land grant status, agricultural courses of study. In an effort to boost enrollment, women were admitted to the college between 1872 and 1885. In 1887, Congress passed the Hatch Act, which provided Delaware College with funding with which to establish an agricultural experiment station. In 1890, the college purchased nine acres of land for an experimental farm located next to its campus. In 1890 the college became the recipient of more federal aid when the New Morrill Act was passed. It provided for annual payments to support land grant colleges. Under the law, the State of Delaware initially received $15,000 per year, which was to be increased by $1,000 per year until it reached $25,000. Delaware College received 80% of this money. (It did not receive all of it because the law provided that in states in which land grant colleges did not admit black students, an equitable amount of the granted money had to be used to educate the excluded students. Delaware College had never admitted black students (although it had admitted Native American and Asian students), and as a result the state of Delaware established Delaware State College near Dover for black students, which opened in 1892.) In 1891 and 1893 Delaware College received appropriations from the State of Delaware for the construction of new buildings. One new building built with this money was Recitation Hall. As a result of this additional funding, Delaware College was invigorated. New buildings, improved facilities, and additional professors helped the college attract more students. Student life also became more active during this period. In 1889 the first football game involving a team representing the college was played. Also in 1889, the college adopted blue and gold as the school's colors. It was not until 1914, though, that the Women's College opened on an adjoining campus, offering women degrees in Home Economics, Education, and Arts and Sciences. Brick archways at Memorial Hall separated the Men's and Women's campuses and gave rise to the legend of the Kissing Arches (where students would kiss good night before returning to their respective residence halls). In 1921, Delaware College was renamed the University of Delaware. It officially became a coeducational institution in 1945 when it merged with the Women's College of Delaware. The university grew rapidly during the latter half of the 20th century. After World War II, UD enrollment skyrocketed, thanks to the G. I. Bill. In the late 1940s, almost two thirds of the students were veterans. Since the 1950s, UD has quadrupled its enrollment and greatly expanded its faculty, its academic programs and its research enterprise. In 2010–11, the university conducted a feasibility study in support of plans to add a law school focused on corporate and patent law. At its completion, the study suggested that the planned addition was not within the university's funding capability given the nation's economic climate at the time. The university has developed the site into the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. The site is the new home of UD's College of Health Sciences, which includes teaching and research laboratories and several public health clinics. The STAR Campus also includes research facilities for UD's vehicle to grid technology, as well as Delaware Technology Park, SevOne, CareNow, Independent Prosthetics and Orthotics, and the East Coast headquarters of Bloom Energy. In 2020, UD opened the Ammon Pinozzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center, which became the new home of the UD led National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals. Also, Chemours recently opened its global research and development facility, known as the Discovery Hub, on the STAR Campus in 2020. The new Newark Regional Transportation Center on the STAR Campus will serve passengers of Amtrak and regional rail.

The student body at the University of Delaware is primarily an undergraduate population. For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), Delaware received 33,965 applications and accepted 24,679 (72.7%). The university is need blind for domestic applicants. Of those accepted, 4,617 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 18.7%.

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs across four departments: animal and food sciences, entomology and wildlife ecology, plant and soil sciences, and applied economics and statistics. As of fall 2019, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources had 81 faculty, 892 undergraduate students and 212 graduate students.

The College of Arts and Sciences has 23 academic departments. It is the largest of UD's colleges, with 6358 undergraduate students, 1132 graduate students and more than 600 faculty members, as of fall 2019.

The College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE) is made up of the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, the Department of Earth Sciences, and the School of Marine Science and Policy. There are four programs in the School of Marine Science and Policy: Marine Biosciences, Oceanography, Physical Ocean Science and Engineering, and Marine Policy. The college offers over nine undergraduate majors, 17 graduate degrees and two professional certificates. Fall 2019 enrollment included 397 undergraduate students and 183 graduate students. for 2022 and the undergraduate program as #53 for 2021. U. S. News & World Report ranked the undergraduate chemical engineering program #7 in the country for 2021 and the graduate chemical engineering programs as #8 in the country for 2022. The College of Engineering is home to seven academic departments offering bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree programs. Areas of research focus include advanced manufacturing and materials, coastal and environmental engineering, translational biomechanics, engineered therapeutics and scholarship of engineering education. Undergraduate degrees are offered in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, computer science, construction engineering and management, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, information systems, materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering. As of fall 2019, the College of Engineering had 177 full time faculty, 2,492 undergraduate students and 927 graduate students.

The Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) at the University of Delaware is the oldest solar energy research institute in the world. It was established by Karl Boer in 1972 to pioneer research on thin film solar cells and today is one of the only laboratories in the world with expertise in Si, CdTe, and CuInSe2 based solar cells. This included the development of one of the first solar powered homes, a structure still utilized by the university's student run ambulance service, the University of Delaware Emergency Care Unit. Recently the IEC was the number one recipient of the DOE Sunshot Initiative and was awarded 5 grants totaling $9.1 million to research next generation solar cells to reduce the cost of solar cells by 75% by the end of the decade.

The Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) launched on October 23, 2009. DENIN is charged with conducting research and promoting and coordinating knowledge partnerships that integrate environmental science, engineering and policy.

The University of Delaware Energy Institute (UDEI) was inaugurated September 19, 2008. UDEI has been selected to receive a $3 million a year grant for advanced solar research.

The John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance was established in 2000 at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. Its aim is to propose changes in corporate structure and management through education and interaction. The Center provides a forum for those interested in corporate governance issues.

In February 2017, the School of Public Policy and Administration announced the creation of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Institute (Biden Institute), named after alumnus Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States, who at the time had recently finished his term as the 47th vice president.

In 2015, the UD Board of Trustees elected Dennis Assanis as the 28th President of the University of Delaware; he took office in June 2016. He succeeded Nancy , former Dean of the university's College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, who served as interim president in 2015–16. She was named 27th president of the university near the end of her service; she was the institution's first female president. served after the departure of President Patrick Harker in 2015 to serve as the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

The university receives funding from a variety of sources as a consequence of its historical origins. Among those sources is the State of Delaware budget. In fiscal year 2020, the 10% of the university's revenue came from government grants. Tuition, room, board, and fees were 57% of the university total revenue.

The University of Delaware was the first American university to begin a study abroad program, which was later adopted by many other institutions. The program began when Professor Raymond Watson Kirkbride took a group of eight students to Paris, France, during the fall semester of 1923. Since this initial trip, the University of Delaware has expanded its study abroad program, which now encompasses more than 40 countries. About one third of UD undergraduate students take advantage of study abroad experiences prior to completing their bachelor's degrees. Delaware's study abroad program offers many options for students. Undergraduates have the option of studying abroad for a five week winter or summer session, or an entire semester.

In November 2007, it was announced that the University of Delaware and Delaware State University would have their first game against each other, the game being in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. The game was played on November 23, with University of Delaware winning 44–7. Delaware has won all of the regular season match ups, which have been called the Route 1 Rivalry. In all, the two schools played eight games between 2007 and 2017. Games are scheduled for 2019 and 2020. In 2019, UD and DSU announced that they have scheduled six games against each other from 2024 through 2030, including the first two games at DSU's Alumni Stadium.

The University of Delaware has a variety of musical performance opportunities available to students, including a wind ensemble, orchestra, and jazz and symphonic band. There are also a number of jazz groups available, including two large ensembles, and a smaller group that focus on improvisation. All ensembles are open by audition to all students at the university, and can be taken either for credit or for no credit. The school also has a steel drum ensemble, and an early music ensemble. There are also a variety of choral ensembles, including the University of Delaware Chorale, an all women's choir, and three choirs, also open to community members, that constitute the Schola Cantorum. The music department's home is the Amy E. du Pont Music Building, named for Amy Elizabeth du Pont, a prominent benefactor of the university during the 20th century. In addition, the University of Delaware has a marching band, the University of Delaware Fightin' Blue Hen Marching Band. The band ranges from 300 to 350 members every year and can be seen performing at every home football game as well as at various festivals and competitions, including the Collegiate Marching Band Festival in Allentown. Additionally, the marching band was selected to perform in the 56th Presidential Inaugural Parade in 2009. In 2006, the new Center for the Arts building opened. This building has a number of recital halls and a large number of practice rooms, most with upright pianos. The practice rooms are locked and cannot be used by students who are not music majors or in an official UD ensemble. The university employs a tiered access system, with larger rooms and rooms with grand pianos being reserved for certain groups of students. In addition the music department also uses their old building, with offices, classrooms, practice rooms, and recital halls. This building has public access practice rooms with pianos. In 2005, the University of Delaware Chorale, under the direction of Paul D. Head and accompanied by Betsy Kent, were invited to perform at the American Choral Directors Association's International Convention in Los Angeles. In April 2007, the Chorale won the Grand Prix at the Tallinn International Choral Festival in Estonia, having scored higher than 40 other choirs from around the world. In 2010 the Chorale competed in two categories of the 42nd Annual Tolosa Choral Competition in Tolosa, Spain; they received a Bronze and a Silver award. UD 16, a chamber ensemble of Chorale, also competed in Tolosa in two categories and won two Silver awards. In the Summer of 2012 the Chorale was the only American College Choir to be invited to the International Society for Music Education Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece; the UD Steele Ensemble was also invited. On that same tour, the chorale placed in a close second at the Grand Prix of the 25th Bela Bartok International Choral Competition. In 2000, the music department purchased an 18th century Ceruti violin for professor and violinist Xiang Gao. In December 2019, the Department of Music in the College of Arts and Sciences was officially renamed the School of Music. The university also has a student run radio station, 91.3 WVUD, as well as several a cappella groups including one all female, one all male, and five mixed groups, several of which compete regularly at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). The most successful group is Vocal Point, who placed third at ICCA finals in 2014. In 2020, The A Cappella Archive ranked UD Vocal Point at #12 all time among ICCA competing groups. In addition, the University of Delaware currently has two music fraternities: Phi Mu Alpha for men and Sigma Alpha Iota for women. Both organizations are active in the music community; hosting a variety of recitals and service events in and around the Newark area.

For the 2022–23 academic year, undergraduate tuition per semester is $14,822 for Delaware residents and $36,082 for non residents. Total cost of attendance for the 2022–23 academic year (tuition, mandatory fees, room and board) is $32,444 for Delawareans and $54,964 for non residents.

There are currently two student publications at Delaware: The Review and UDress, as well as radio and television stations.

In October 2021, a sophomore male student was accused of assaulting a female student in an off campus apartment, allegedly having held her captive there for about four hours after choking her unconscious and threatening to kill her. This all happened before throwing her down a flight of stairs. Although he was later arrested on assault, kidnapping and other charges and suspended from the university and barred from its campus, many students protested the perceived inaction from the university which took five days to issue a statement about the incident. The university's lack of a timely response was also highlighted by a student in 2019 who protested after the Title IX process was extended to 100 days instead of the mandated 60 days.

In the fall of 2007, the university implemented a new residence life education program that was criticized for forcing students into polarizing discussions. The program was abandoned in November of the same year.

The university agreed to lease 43 acres on the STAR campus to The Data Centers (TDC) for the construction of the data center. The data center plan included a combined heat cycle natural gas fired power plant capable of generating 248 megawatts of power. TDC claimed that the power plant was critical to ensuring an uninterrupted electrical power supply to the facility, which is critical for data integrity. The TDC business plan also called for sale of excess electricity. Portions of the Newark community questioned the business plan, claiming that the power plant is not an auxiliary part of the data center but a separate industrial use, which would violate the zoning of the STAR campus. On April 28, 2014, the City of Newark Board of Adjustment upheld its April 19, 2014 ruling that the power plant is an accessory to the data center and that no rezoning was required. The ruling is presently under appeal. The University of Delaware's Sustainability Task Force sent an open letter to President Harker citing concerns that the project violates the university's strategic plan and Climate Action Plan. On May 4, 2014, the University Faculty Senate voted 43 to 0 (with 8 abstentions) to recommend to the administration that it not allow construction of The Data Center on UD's STAR campus if The Data Center includes any fossil fuel burning power plant. On July 10, 2014, the university announced that it was terminating the lease for the project.

Notable alumni of the University of Delaware include 46th President of the United States, 47th Vice President of the United States, and former U. S. Senator Joe Biden (B. A. 1965); First Lady of the United States Jill Biden (B. A. 1976); former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (B. A. 1984); campaign manager David Plouffe (B. A. 2010); Vice Chancellors of the Delaware Court of Chancery Sam Glasscock III (B. A. History 1979, M. M. P. Marine Policy 1989) and Paul A. Fioravanti Jr. (B. A. Political Science); Nobel Prize winning microbiologist Daniel Nathans (B. S. 1950); Nobel Prize winning organic chemist Richard F. Heck; Director of Research Division at NASA Henry C Brinton (B. S. Physics, 1957); Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Louise Mushikiwabo (M. A. 1988); former president of Emory University James W. Wagner (B. A. 1975); former Chicago Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy; Super Bowl XLVII's MVP Joe Flacco; 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon (B. A. 1987); and 2008 John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt (B. A. 1993).