The University of Arkansas: A Comprehensive Overview

The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System. Established under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862, the university has grown into a comprehensive institution with a rich history and a strong commitment to education, research, and outreach.

Historical Roots and Establishment

The University of Arkansas was established under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862. The university's location was determined by bids from state towns and counties. The citizens of Fayetteville and Washington County pledged the most: $130,000 toward securing the university.

Campus Overview

The university campus consists of 378 buildings spread across 512 acres (2.07 km2) of land in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The campus sweeps across hilltops on the western side of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Old Main: The Heart of Campus

Completed in 1875, Old Main, a two-towered brick building designed in the Second Empire style, was the primary instructional and administrative building. Built with local brick and sandstone, Old Main serves as the university's signature building. The building has remained on campus despite its recommended removal in the 1925 master plan from the architects of Jamieson and Spearl. Its design was based on the plans for the main academic building at the University of Illinois, which has since been demolished. At Arkansas, the taller tower is the bell tower, and the shorter tower is the clock tower. Old Main contains classrooms, the restored Giffels Auditorium, as well as the administrative offices of the J.

Architectural Evolution

Construction began on Old Main in 1873 and was completed by 1875 in the Second Empire architectural style. This plan included destruction of all existing campus buildings and reconstruction in the Collegiate Gothic style. Several buildings were built in this style near the core of campus, including the Vol Walker Hall, Engineering Hall, Chemistry Building, Agriculture Building, and Home Economics Building. The Fine Arts Center was designed by Fayetteville native Edward Durell Stone, who also designed Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The buildings are indicative of Stone's idiosyncratic modern style which included patterns of ornament.

Senior Walk: A Walk Through History

Beginning with the class of 1876, the names of students at the University of Arkansas are inscribed in "Senior Walk" and wind across campus for more than four miles. More recently, the names of all the recipients of honorary degrees were added, including J.

Chi Omega Greek Theatre

One unusual structure at Arkansas is the Chi Omega Greek Theatre, a gift to the school by the sorority's national headquarters. It marked the first time a national sorority presented a memorial of its foundation to the institution where it was founded. Chi Omega was organized in 1895, at the University of Arkansas, and is the mother (Psi) chapter of the national organization. The largest crowd ever assembled in the theatre was for a concert by the Army Air Corps Band during World War II.

Dickson Street

The east end of the University of Arkansas campus is adjacent to Dickson Street, which is one of the premier entertainment districts in the state.

Integration and Diversity

The University of Arkansas has a complex history regarding race and integration.

Early African American Students

The first African American student, James McGahee, attended the University of Arkansas in 1872, following the university's opening in 1871 during the Reconstruction era, to "prepare for the ministry of the Episcopal Church". He is noted as having a grade average deemed excellent. Alongside McGahee, two other African American men, Mark W. Alexander and Isom Washington, are noted as having attended Arkansas Industrial College, however no record of their enrollment has been found.

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The Tillman Era

Congressman John N. Tillman served as president of the University of Arkansas from 1905 to 1912. In the Arkansas State Senate he proposed the Separate Coach Law of 1891, a Jim Crow law to segregate African American passengers.

Integration Efforts

The University of Arkansas admitted Silas Herbert Hunt of Texarkana, an African American veteran of World War II to the university's School of Law in 1948. Hunt's enrollment was regarded as the first successful school integration below the Mason-Dixon line of that era. While Hunt was admitted into the university, his attendance was not met without controversy. African American students were permitted to attend the university, under the condition that they enroll as graduate or law students, and be taught in segregated classes. Unfortunately, Silas Hunt was only able to complete one year of education. Roy Wilkins, administrator of the NAACP, wrote in 1950 that Arkansas was the "very first of the Southern states to accept the new trend without fighting a delaying action or attempting to… limit, if not nullify, bare compliance."

Post-Hunt Integration

In the fall of 1948, changes were made to the university's segregation policy, which allowed for the admittance of African American students into regular classes. The first to follow Hunt was a law school student by the name of Jackie L. Shropshire, would later go on to become the university's first black graduate in 1951. 1952 University of Arkansas Medical School graduate Edith Irby Jones, who was also admitted to the University of Arkansas in 1948, would be the first African American to be admitted in any Southern school. Several African American students followed in his footsteps, attending various graduate programs at the university. Arkansas was freely admitting African American students as early as 1957, while many southern states still prohibited black students from attending all white universities.

Modern Initiatives

In 2004, the university provided resources to help support the program, establishing the John White Scholarship, Sankofa Registered Student Organization, and Ghana study abroad tour. In 2008, The Black Studies program was renamed the African and African American Studies (AAST) program and expanded its course offerings and student enrollment. In 2014, the program moved to a new space in Memorial Hall and was added to the University Core. A year later, an online minor and graduate certificate in African and African American Studies was established. The university hosted its first annual AAST Graduate Fellows search symposium in 2016 and established the Roy S. Bryce-Laporte scholarship later in 2018. In 2019, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted to rename halls B and C of the Northwest Quad in honor of Gordon Morgan and Margaret Clark, respectively. The university has also hosted guest lectures by Aldon D.

Academic Programs and Research

The U of A offers 220 baccalaureate, master’s, doctoral, professional and specialist degree programs through its 10 schools and colleges. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching places the U of A in its highest research category, making it the state’s only doctoral-granting, research university with a very high level of research activity.

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Notable Discoveries and Innovations

Vitamin E was co-discovered by UA Agricultural Chemistry Professor Barnett Sure. Sure co-discovered vitamin E and extended knowledge of how vitamin E, amino acids, and B-vitamins function on reproduction and lactation. In the 1920s, Loy Barton, an engineering graduate student at the University of Arkansas, set forth the principle of high-level Class B plate modulation for radio transmission and developed the technology that allowed small- and medium-size AM radio stations to flourish across the United States. A $50,000 grant from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to Professors Dwight F. Mix and J.E. During the 1980s, Professors Allen Hermann and Zhengzhi Sheng of the Department of Physics researched superconductivity, the phenomenon whereby Direct Current (DC) electricity, once started, can flow essentially forever. The Thallium-based material they discovered at Arkansas held the world's record for high temperature, 125K, for five years (1988-93) and drew international attention to the university. University of Arkansas plant pathologists conducted research in the early 1970s that led to COLLEGO, the first biological herbicide for weed control in a field crop. Other UA scientists and students worked on the project that resulted in EPA registration of COLLEGO by Upjohn in 1982 for control of northern jointvetch in rice and soybeans. The work provided a model used worldwide to develop biological herbicides. Distinguished Professor Peter Stuart Ungar, a palaeoanthropologist and palaeoecologist in the Department of Environmental Dynamics, has pioneered novel methods of reconstructing the diets of extant and extinct animals.

Athletics

The mascot for the University of Arkansas is the Razorback, a type of wild boar, and Arkansas teams are often referred to as the Hogs (shortened version of Razorbacks). From 1971 through 2007, Arkansas had separate men's and women's athletic departments.

Football

A football team began representing the University of Arkansas in 1894 and has since become one of the nation's top 25 programs in terms of all-time wins at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. The program was a charter member of the Southwest Conference (SWC) in 1915 and remained in that conference until departing for the Southeastern Conference in 1991, where Arkansas has remained. From 1915 to 1991, the Razorbacks won the SWC championship 13 times and the national championship in the 1964 season, with great success coming under coaches Frank Broyles, Lou Holtz and Ken Hatfield. Today, the team plays its home games on campus at Donald W.

Basketball

The Razorback women's basketball team, like the men's basketball team, plays home games in Bud Walton Arena, often referred to as the "Basketball Palace of Mid-America." The building is located on the University of Arkansas campus. The women's basketball team completed its 39th season in 2014-15, and has made 21 post season appearances.

Baseball

The Arkansas baseball team has had success both in the Southwest Conference, and in the Southeastern Conference. Between 1979 and 1989, the Diamond Hogs appeared in the College World Series four times, including a runner-up finish in 1979. Since joining the SEC, the team has been to the 2004, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2022 College World Series. The team plays home games in Baum Stadium, recognized in 1998 by Baseball America magazine as being one of the top collegiate ballparks in America, and was #3 in 2009 according to Rivals.com. The stadium has recently undergone expansion, including 20 new skyboxes (34 in all) and seats behind the bullpen in left field, and further expansion to enclose the park with seating has been included in the Athletic Facilities Master Plan. On April 7, 2009, a stadium record 11,044 fans saw a 7-3 Razorbacks victory over the #1 Arizona State Sun Devils.

Softball

The Arkansas Razorback softball team plays their home games at Bogle Park, located on the University of Arkansas campus. Bogle Park was made possible thanks to the lead gift made by Bob and Marilyn Bogle and the Bogle family, who have also made significant contributions to the university and the Athletics Department over the course of many years. An event celebrating the naming was held Friday, October 26, 2009.

Track and Field/Cross Country

The most successful program in NCAA history, the Arkansas men's track and field and cross country teams are the most decorated teams in the athletics department. The program has won a total of 41 national titles (19 Indoor Championships, 11 Outdoor Championships, and 11 Cross Country Championships), the last being the 2013 Indoor Track and Field National Championship (the 2004 and 2005 Outdoor Championships were later vacated due to NCAA infractions). One of its most famous stars is graduate Alistair Cragg who competed for Ireland at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. Other Olympians have included Michael Conley, Daniel Lincoln, Graham Hood, Wallace Spearmon, Paul Donovan, and Matt Hemingway. The team has a home indoor track at the Randal Tyson Track Center and outdoor field at John McDonnell Field, which hosted the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships. The team won the 2009, 2010, and 2012 SEC Indoor Track Championships, along with the 2009 and 2011 SEC Outdoor Championships and the 2010, 2011 and 2012 SEC Cross Country Championships. The women's track and field team won its first national championship at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships, held in Fayetteville. Coached by Lance Harter, team members took first place in pole vault, the 3000-meter run and the distance-medley relay. Top competitors include Olympians Veronica Campbell-Brown and Deena Kastor, who set the American marathon record at the 2006 London Marathon. Since then, the team has won four NCAA Division I championships, two in indoor track and field, and two in outdoor track and field. The team also swept the 2019 calendar, winning the indoor, outdoor and cross country national championships. The women's teams at the University of Arkansas are also referred to as the Razorbacks. There are 11 varsity women sports: basketball, cross country, indoor and outdoor track, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, and volleyball. Among the most successful women's teams are volleyball, with 11 SEC Western Division titles; cross country, with more SEC championships than any member institution; basketball, with 12 postseason appearances in 30 years, including the 1998 NCAA Final Four; track & field, with six SEC titles and the first back-to-back women's SEC triple crowns; and gymnastics, nationally ranked since the start of the program in 2002, with five NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship appearances. In 2019, Jordyn Wieber was hired as the University of Arkansas head coach, following the retirement of Mark Cook. Wieber was one of the "Fierce Five" in the 2012 Summer Olympics. The gymnastics team, referred to as the GymBacks, practice at the Bev Lewis Center for Women's Athletics and compete in Barnhill Arena. As for the 2020 season, the team now holds seven beam titles and nine floor titles. The GymBacks started the 2020 season ranked #19 by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association. The Razorback volleyball team practices and plays in the legendary Barnhill Arena, which used to house the men's and women's basketball teams before moving to Bud Walton Arena in 1993. As of 2013, the volleyball team had made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2016, the swim and dive team placed 11th at the SEC Conference Championship and, the following year, the team placed 10th. The 2020-21 season was kicked off on November 7, with the team facing the Missouri Tigers. There were fourteen events held that day and the Razorbacks won seven of them.

Student Life

The most recognized student organization on campus is the Associated Student Government, sometimes simply called "ASG." The student government is active in managing student fees, meeting with key university administrators and i…

Campus Environment

The University of Arkansas offers a vibrant college experience, noted for its beautiful campus and friendly atmosphere. Student life is lively, with a strong emphasis on Greek life, numerous clubs, and social events, although some students wish for more diversity on campus. Overall, the sense of community and the engaging environment at the University of Arkansas stand out, making it an attractive option for prospective students.

University of Arkansas System

Altogether there are thirteen branches and six other units in the University of Arkansas System, including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock; four-year campuses in Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Monticello, and Pine Bluff; and two-year community or technical college campuses in Batesville, De Queen, Helena-West Helena, Hope, Mena, North Little Rock, and Morrilton.

Other Institutions in the System

University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR): Founded as Little Rock Junior College in 1926, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) is Arkansas’s premier metropolitan university.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock is the only academic health sciences university in the state of Arkansas.
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB): At UAPB, students broaden their horizons, experience leadership opportunities, establish lifelong friendships, gain real-world experience that will allow them to compete, and excel in the global marketplace. UAPB offers over 40 degree programs. It consistently ranks as one of the most affordable universities in Arkansas, and one of the most affordable HBCUs in the nation. (Bestvalueschools.com). Campus life offers opportunities to walk the yard as a Greek, become a part of Division I athletic teams, and play or groove with the M4Marching Band-known as the Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South.

Admissions and Cost

Admissions is somewhat competitive as the Arkansas acceptance rate is 72%. The Niche True Cost estimates what you'll actually pay.

Tuition and Financial Aid

In-State Tuition is $10,104 per year. Out-of-State Tuition $29,966 per year. Average Total Aid Awarded $8,109 per year. At least 74% of our students receive financial aid each year. The half-off scholarship allows first-time freshmen to receive up to 50% off their tuition and fees.

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