Miami University (Ohio)

Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest university in Ohio and the tenth-oldest public university in the United States. The university enrolls 18,600 students in Oxford and maintains regional campuses in nearby Hamilton, Middletown, and West Chester. Miami also operates the international Dolibois European Center in Differdange, Luxembourg.

Miami University provides a liberal arts education; it offers more than 120 undergraduate degree programs and over 70 graduate degree programs within its seven schools and colleges in architecture, business, engineering, humanities and the sciences. It is a member of the University System of Ohio. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

Miami University has a long tradition of Greek life; five social Greek-letter organizations were founded at the university, earning Miami the nickname "Mother of Fraternities". Today, approximately one-third of the undergraduate student population are members of the Greek community. Miami's athletic teams compete in the NCAA Division I and are collectively known as the Miami RedHawks. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in all varsity sports except ice hockey, which competes in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

History

Old Miami (1809–1873)

The foundations for Miami University were first laid by an Act of Congress signed by President George Washington, stating an academy should be northwest of the Ohio River in the Miami Valley. The land was within the Symmes Purchase; Judge John Cleves Symmes, the land's owner, purchased it from the government with the stipulation that he set aside land for an academy. Congress granted one township to the Ohio General Assembly in the District of Cincinnati to build a college, two days after Ohio was granted statehood in 1803. The Ohio Legislature selected a township off Four Mile Creek, passed "An Act to Establish the Miami University" on February 2, 1809, and created a board of trustees. The township originally granted to the university was known as the College Township and was renamed Oxford, Ohio, in 1810.

The university temporarily halted construction due to the War of 1812. Cincinnati tried—and failed—to move Miami to the city in 1822. Miami created a grammar school in 1818 to teach frontier youth, but it was disbanded after five years. Though financed by means of a government land grant, Miami University initially was inaugurated and operated by Presbyterians, with explicit legislative encouragement for religious education having been enshrined in the Northwest Ordinance. Robert Hamilton Bishop, a Presbyterian minister and professor of history, was appointed to be the first president of Miami University in 1824, stating in his inaugural speech that all teaching at Miami University should be based in the Bible.

The first day of classes at Miami was on November 1, 1824. At its opening, there were 20 students and two faculty members in addition to Bishop. The curriculum included Greek, Latin, algebra, geography, and Roman history; the university offered only a Bachelor of Arts. An "English Scientific Department" was started in 1825, which studied modern languages, applied mathematics, and political economy. It offered a certificate upon completion of coursework instead of a diploma. The school provided public prayers twice a day and required all students to partake in a public worship every Sunday.

Miami students purchased a printing press and in 1827 published their first periodical, ''The Literary Focus''. It promptly failed, but it laid the foundation for the weekly ''Literary Register''. '' The Miami Student'', founded in 1867, traces its foundation back to the ''Literary Register'' and claims to be the oldest college newspaper in the United States. A theological department and a farmer's college were formed in 1829; the farmer's college was not an agricultural school, but a three-year education program for farm boys. William Holmes McGuffey joined the faculty in 1826 and began his work on the ''McGuffey Readers'' while in Oxford. By 1834 the faculty had grown to seven professors and enrollment was at 234 students. Eleven students were expelled in 1835, including one for firing a pistol at another student. McGuffey resigned and became president of Cincinnati College, where he urged parents not to send their children to Miami.

Alpha Delta Phi opened its chapter at Miami in 1833, making it the first fraternity chapter west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1839, Beta Theta Pi was created; it was the first fraternity formed at Miami.

In 1839 Old Miami reached its enrollment peak, with 250 students from 13 states; only Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth were larger. President Bishop was forced to resign by the board of trustees in 1840 due to the failure of his appeals for unity in face of the Old School–New School controversy, which had caused factions to rise against each other trying to take over the university's administration. Old School adherents won out by focusing on his anti-slavery beliefs, lenient disciplinary methods, and an agreement he had struck with the New School Lane Seminary, allowing students of both institutions to learn at the other. He was replaced as president by George Junkin, former president of Lafayette College, a strict Old School adherent with strong anti-Methodist and pro-slavery views; Junkin resigned in 1844, having proved to be unpopular with students. By 1847, enrollment had fallen to 137 students.

Students in 1848 participated in the "Snowball Rebellion". Defying the faculty's stance against fraternities, students packed Old Main, one of Miami's main classrooms and administrative buildings, with snow and reinforced the snow with chairs, benches and desks from the classroom. Those who had participated in the rebellion were expelled from the school and Miami's student population was more than halved. By 1873, enrollment fell further to 87 students. The board of trustees closed the school in 1873 and leased the campus for a grammar school. The period before its closing is referred to as "Old Miami."

New Miami (1885–present)

The university reopened in 1885, having paid all of its debts and repaired many of its buildings; there were 40 students in its first year. Enrollment remained under 100 students throughout the late 1800s. Miami focused on aspects outside of the classics, including botany, physics, and geology departments. With its reopening a change in religious policy occurred, the school no longer required faculty to be ordained Presbyterian ministers. In 1888, Miami began inter-collegiate football play in a game against the University of Cincinnati. By the early 1900s, the state of Ohio pledged regular financial support for Miami University and enrollment reached 207 students in 1902. The Ohio General Assembly passed the Sesse Bill in 1902, which mandated coeducation for all Ohio public schools. Miami lacked the rooms to fit all of the students expected the next year, and Miami made an arrangement with the Oxford College for Women to rent rooms. In the same year, David McDill became Miami's first non-Presbyterian president, stressing its non-denominational, but Christian nature during his inauguration. By 1905 faculty personnel belonging to Presbyterian churches constituted 13 out of 27 positions, still a relative but no longer an absolute majority.

In 1902, the Ohio legislature also authorized the establishment of the Ohio State Normal School "to provide proper theoretical and practical training for all students desiring to prepare themselves for the work of teaching." The normal school was Miami's first professional college and would evolve into the College of Education, Health, and Society. Miami's first African-American student, Nelly Craig, graduated from the Ohio State Normal School in 1905. Hepburn Hall, built in 1905, was the first women's dorm at the college. By 1907, the enrollment at the university passed 700 students and women made up about a third of the student body. Andrew Carnegie pledged $40,000 to help build a new library for the university. The McGuffey Laboratory School opened in 1910 and was soon housed with the teacher preparation students in the new McGuffey Hall, completed in 1917 and named to honor former professor William Holmes McGuffey.

Enrollment in 1923 was at 1,500 students and had reached 2,200 students by the early 1930s. In 1928, Miami founded the School of Business Administration and acquired the Oxford College for Women. The next year, the School of Fine Arts was established. The conservative environment found on campus called for little change during the problems of the Great Depression and only about 10 percent of students in the 1930s were on government subsidies. During World War II, Miami changed its curriculum to include "war emergency courses", a Navy Training School took up residence on campus, and the population of the university consisted of a majority of women. Due to the G.I. Bill, enrollment at Miami had grown to 5,000 by 1952.

In 1954, Miami created a common curriculum for all students to complete to have a base for their other subjects. By 1964, enrollment reached nearly 15,000. To accommodate the growing number of students, Miami University opened its first regional campuses at Miami University Middletown in 1968. The Dolibois European Center was also established in 1968 in Luxembourg City, which would move to Differdange Castle in 1997; it is home to a study abroad program where students live with Luxembourgish host families and study under Miami professors.

On April 15, 1970, a student sit-in at Rowan Hall, home of Miami's Naval ROTC program, in opposition to the Vietnam War resulted in 176 students being arrested. Edgar W. King Library was completed in 1972. In 1974, the Western College for Women in Oxford was sold to Miami, and President Phillip Shriver oversaw the creation of an interdisciplinary studies college known as the Western College Program.

Responding to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, trustees changed the athletic teams nickname from the "Redskins" to the "RedHawks" in 1997. The School of Engineering and Applied Science was created in 1999. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Miami University for its 200th anniversary. In the same year, the Farmer School of Business building was completed on the East Quad and the Miami University Voice of America Learning Center opened in West Chester, Ohio. In 2014, the Armstrong Student Center was completed to replace the Shriver Center, which was repurposed. All campuses were closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reopening partially that fall. Miami established the Honors College, its first residential college, the following year. The Clinical Health Sciences and Wellness Facility opened in 2023 to combine clinical and academic health departments and services. The McVey Data Science building opened in 2024, funded by alumnus Richard McVey to house departments in computer science, statistics and analytics.

Campuses

Oxford

Miami University's main campus is in Oxford, Ohio; the city is in the Miami Valley in southwestern Ohio about northwest of Cincinnati and southwest of Dayton. Oxford is a college town, with over 70% of the residents attending college or graduate school.

Development of the campus began in 1818 with a multipurpose building called Franklin Hall; Elliott Hall, built in 1825, is Miami's oldest standing building and residence hall. Miami is renowned for its campus beauty, having been called "The most beautiful campus that ever there was" by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost, a friend of then Miami artist-in-residence Percy MacKaye. Miami's campus buildings are predominantly built in the style of Georgian Revival architecture, most of which are built "to human scale" at three stories or less. The area of Miami's Oxford campus consists of 2,138 acres (8 km²).

There are four museums on campus, including the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum, William Holmes McGuffey Museum, and the Karl Limper Geology Museum.

Academic buildings

The original portion of campus starts at the intersection of South Campus Avenue and East High Street, where the Phi Delta Theta Gates lead into the slant walk path. In this area are the oldest academic buildings, including Hall Auditorium and McGuffey Hall, built in 1909, and Alumni Hall, built in 1910. Harrison Hall and King Library are also in this area. Going eastward along East Spring Street are Irvin Hall and Kreger Hall before the Armstrong Student Center, the largest building on campus. Surrounding Bishop Woods are Hughes Laboratories, Laws Hall, Shideler Hall, and Upham Hall.

Buildings north of East High Street begin at the McVey Data Science Building on Tallawanda Road. Going eastward is the campus of the College of Engineering and Computing, which includes Benton Hall and Garland Hall/Engineering Building. Clustered around North Patterson Avenue are Pearson Hall, the Psychology Building, and the Farmer School of Business. The Farmer School of Business is housed in a building designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York City and Moody Nolan of Columbus which was the first building on the Oxford campus to receive a LEED certification.

There are four streets south of East Spring Street with academic buildings. On South Campus Avenue is the Clinical Health Sciences and Wellness Facility. On Oak Street are Williams Hall and Phillips Hall; in between Spring and Maple Street is McMillan Hall; and between Maple and South Patterson Avenue are the Shriver Center, Hiestand Hall and Art Building, and the Center for Performing Arts. Also along Patterson Avenue is Bachelor Hall before the entrance to Western Campus, which includes Boyd Hall, Hoyt Hall, Peabody Hall, and Presser Hall.

Historic landmarks

* The Dewitt Log Homestead was built in 1805 and is the oldest extant structure in Oxford Township.
* Elliott and Stoddard Halls, built in 1825 and 1836, are the oldest buildings on campus.
* Langstroth Cottage is a National Historic Landmark built in 1856. It was the home of L. L. Langstroth who conducted research and breeding of honey bees.
* William H. McGuffey House is a National Historic Landmark built in 1833. It was the home of author and professor William Holmes McGuffey and believed to be the site where he wrote the first four McGuffey Readers.
* The former Oxford Female Institute in uptown Oxford served as a university dorm until 2001 and has since been leased as the Oxford Community Arts Center.
* The Western Female Seminary Historic District denotes the Romanesque and Colonial Revival architecture of the former Western College campus. The Western Campus was also home to the orientation sessions for the volunteers of Freedom Summer in June 1964, a significant campaign of the civil rights movement.

Dolibois European Center

The John E. Dolibois European Center in Differdange, Luxembourg, serves as a study abroad campus for students and houses about 125 students per semester. It offers continuing classes pertaining to students' studies, typically in architecture, business, French, German, history, and political science. Students live in homestays with Luxembourgish host families and are encouraged to travel in Europe through university-led study programs and in their free time. It was established in 1968 and named after Miami alumnus John E. Dolibois, former United States Ambassador to Luxembourg.

Regional campuses

Miami University has three satellite campuses. Miami University Middletown, was founded in 1966 as Ohio's first regional campus. Miami University Hamilton, located in Hamilton, Ohio, was established in 1968, and the Miami University Voice of America Learning Center, located in West Chester, Ohio, was established in 2009 to house the Farmer School of Business MBA program.

Miami's regional campuses are non-residential and offer a handful of bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, one certificate program, as well as beginning course work for most four-year degrees, and the MBA and MEd programs at Oxford. Combined, Miami's regional campuses enroll 4,664 students. Middletown and Hamilton compete in independent sports as members of the Ohio Regional Campus Conference, competing under the monikers "Middletown ThunderHawks" and "Hamilton Harriers".

Organization and administration

Miami University has seven primary academic divisions, which include five undergraduate colleges in addition to a residential honors college:
*College of Arts and Science
*Farmer School of Business
*College of Creative Arts
*College of Education, Health, and Society
*College of Engineering and Computing
*Graduate School
*College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science (Miami Regionals)

As a public university, Miami is part of the University System of Ohio. It is governed by a board of trustees which oversees the administration of the university and holds subcommittees on investment, finance and audit, and academic and student affairs. This includes oversight on programs offered by the university and financial expenditures. The board has 17 members, nine of which are voting members appointed by the governor of Ohio. Six are university alumni who reside outside of Ohio, while the remaining two are enrolled students of the university.

The office of the president manages Miami University's fiscal and business operations, supporting the academic and research missions across all campuses. The office works with the board of trustees to set the vision, direction, and priorities of the university, in addition to serving as a university figurehead and liaison. The 22nd and current president is Dr. Gregory P. Crawford, who entered the role in 2016. Crawford previously served as vice president and associate provost at the University of Notre Dame.

Other administrative departments include that of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, which includes the deans of each of the eight academic colleges and the Dolibois European Center. The Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Services and Treasurer's department oversees university finances, procurement, and audits. The office of the Vice President for Student Life, Senior Vice President for University Advancement, Vice President for Information Technology, and Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management round out the university's administrative faculty.

As of the end of fiscal year 2023, Miami University's financial endowment was $739 million.

Academics

Miami University is a large, primarily residential teaching university with a focus on undergraduate studies. The university offers more than 100 majors, 48 minors, and 11 co-majors. In the 2022–2023 academic year, the most popular majors were finance, marketing, psychology, computer science, and biology.

Miami offers master's degrees in more than 50 areas of study and doctoral degrees in 12, the largest of which are doctoral degrees in psychology. To enroll in graduate courses, students must first be accepted into the Graduate School, and then into the department through which the degree is offered. Although tuition for the Graduate School is roughly the same as for an undergraduate degree, most of the graduate programs offer graduate assistantships as well as tuition waivers.

As of 2024, Miami's annual tuition was $18,162 for Ohio residents and $40,822 for out-of-state residents. Its in-state tuition rate is the highest of all public universities within the University System of Ohio.

Undergraduate admissions

Miami University extends offers of admission to applicants after holistic review that includes examination of academic rigor and performance, admissions test scores, personal essays, and recommendations. Admission to Miami University is classified as "more selective" by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and ''U.S. News & World Report''. The Princeton Review gives Miami University an "Admissions Selectivity Rating" of 88 out of 99.

For first-year undergraduates enrolled in fall 2025, Miami University received 42,751 applications and accepted 30,102 (70.4%). Of the 42.8% of admitted students who submitted ACT or SAT test scores, the middle 50% ranges (25th percentile–75th percentile) were 25–31 and 1220–1390, respectively.

Miami University's freshman retention rate is 89.2%, with 83% going on to graduate within six years. Miami University is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 21 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 28 freshman students were National Merit Scholars.

Curriculum

The College of Arts and Science is the oldest and largest college at Miami, with almost half of the undergraduate student body enrollment. It offers 70 majors covering a broad range of areas of study across the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as well as pre-law, pre-medical and interdisciplinarity programs. The curriculum emphasizes creativity, research, and global perspectives. 10 of the 12 doctoral degrees offered by Miami are provided through the College of Arts and Science.

Miami's Farmer School of Business is a nationally recognized school of business that offers nine majors. The school also offers graduate MBA, accountancy, and economics degrees. It is named after Miami University alumni and benefactors Richard T. Farmer, founder of Cintas, and his wife Joyce Barnes Farmer.

Miami's College of Creative Arts offers 14 majors through its five departments: architecture and interior design, art, emerging technology in business & design, Music, and Theatre. Each department has its own portfolio or audition admission requirements, which are separate from the standard admissions requirements for the university. Art and music majors choose concentrations within their programs.

The College of Education, Health & Society offers 20 undergraduate majors spanning six departments, which include educational leadership, educational psychology, family science and social work, kinesiology and health, sports leadership and management, and teacher education. As of fall 2009, nearly 3,500 full-time and part-time undergraduates were enrolled in the school.

The College of Engineering and Computing offers 10 accredited majors at the Oxford campus, and moved into a new $22 million engineering building in 2007. The college has five departments, including chemical, paper, and biomedical engineering; computer science, cybersecurity, and software engineering; electrical and computer engineering; mechanical and manufacturing engineering; and interdisciplinary programs. The school also offers four master's degrees in computer science, chemical engineering, computational electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering.

The Miami University Honors College was established in 2021, replacing the former university honors program on campus. Around 400 students are admitted to the Honors College every year and are required to produce publishable research. Based in Peabody Hall on the Western Campus, the Honors College is Miami's only residential college and fosters one-on-one interaction with faculty-in-residence.

Libraries and publications

Edgar W. King Library is the primary academic library at Miami. It opened as an undergraduate library when the south section was completed in 1966; it became the main library when the north section was completed in 1972. King Library is home to Miami University Libraries’ humanities, government, law, and social sciences collections as well as the Walter Havighurst special collections and university archives. It additionally houses King Café, centers for academic writing, information management and digital scholarship, and a library makerspace.

In addition to King Library, the university's library system also includes the Wertz Art & Architecture Library in Alumni Hall, the Rentschler Library at Miami University Hamilton and the Gardner-Harvey Library at Miami University Middletown

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