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Youngstown State University

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Youngstown State University
File:Ysulogo.gif
MottoAnimus Liberatus ('The mind freed', or 'The spirit freed')
TypePublic (state university)
Established1908
PresidentDavid C. Sweet
Academic staff
2,105 (Fall, 2005, all campuses)
Undergraduates11,803 (Fall, 2005)
Location
Youngstown
,
Ohio
,
United States
Campus140 acres
ColorsRed and White
Mascot
File:You 2738.gif
Pete Penguin
Websitewww.ysu.edu

Youngstown State University, founded in 1908, is an accredited university located in Youngstown, Ohio. As of 2005, there were 13,101 students and a student-faculty ratio of 19:1. Records show that 11,803 of the students are undergraduates. Beyond its current student body, YSU claims more than 77,000 alumni.

History

The university's origins trace back to 1908, when the local branch of the YMCA established a school of law within the Youngstown Association School. In 1921, the school became known as the Youngstown Institute of Technology and offered its first evening courses. In 1928, a year after establishing the College of Arts and Sciences, the institute once again changed its name to Youngstown College. In 1955, Youngstown College was renamed as Youngstown University, an indication of the school's broadening curriculum.

On September 1, 1967, after becoming a public institution, Youngstown University became officially known as Youngstown State University. The following spring, YSU opened a Graduate School and College of Applied Science and Technology; and in 1974, the College of Fine and Performing Arts was established.

Statistics

As of fall 2005, the student body totaled 13,101, 1,298 of whom are graduate students. YSU has 2,105 full and part-time employees, and 407 full-time faculty, 83 percent of whom have Ph. D's or terminal degrees. The university also boasts a student to faculty ratio of 19:1.

Tuition for students living in Ohio is $6,333 plus fees, $8,355 plus fees for students coming from the regional service area, and $11,541 for students from out of state. Room and board costs an additional $6,280. YSU will often note that these tuitions are the lowest of any public university in Ohio.

Area between Jones Hall and Maag Library (on right)

YSU is primarily a commuter school, with most students living at home or in residence off campus, but approximately 1,000 students live in residence halls on campus. Another 400 live in the University Courtyard apartment complexes just off of campus. About 13% of the student body are international students from 55 countries.

YSU is currently trying to get more students to live on campus, with initiatives such as mandatory on-campus housing for students in the Leslie Cochran University Scholars program. One of the goals for the university's centennial in 2008 is to have 20 percent of the student body living on campus.

There are over 500,000 volumes at the campus' Maag Library, and participation in the OhioLINK program gives access to the collections of 84 other Ohio institutions. The Wilcox Curriculum Resource Center in Beeghly Hall complements the resources available at Maag.

YSU is participating in the Early College program, through which students from the Youngstown City School District can take courses for college credit while in high school. The program is in its second year, and has approximately 150 ninth and tenth graders enrolled.

Campus

YSU lies on a 140 acre campus just north of downtown Youngstown. Although it is not located near any outstanding geographical features, that has not stopped Youngstown State's campus from being noted for its landscaping, which is dissimilar from that of many other urban universities. YSU's geographical center has a park-like atmosphere, featuring a rather-hilly terrain and a variety of trees and plant life, as well as tables and chairs that surround a campus fountain.

Most buildings on campus have been built within the last half-century, making them newer than most buildings in downtown Youngstown, where most buildings were constructed before the Great Depression.

Buildings

Jones Hall

Jones Hall, often the building that welcomes people coming onto the YSU campus, is also one of the campus's oldest buildings, having been built in 1931, when YSU was known as Youngstown College. Its history as the "main building" of the campus continues today, as it is perhaps the best-known and most photographed building of the whole campus. Today, it hosts many of the administrative offices.

The Rayen College of Engineering and Technology is housed in Moser Hall, completed in 1967. The university's geological and environmental sciences department shares the space, and also sponsor the Clarence R. Smith Mineral Museum.

The newest addition to YSU is the Andrews Wellness and Recreation Center. Completed in time for the fall 2005 semester, the Andrews Center gave YSU a complete gym facility, as well as a climbing wall and racquetball courts.

Bliss Hall, completed in 1977 and featuring two auditoriums, is the home of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. Next door to Bliss is the McDonough Museum of Art, which is maintained by the university's art department and displays exhibits of the graduating senior class every semester. McDonough is directly across the street from the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown's largest art museum.

Another recent addition to the campus is Beeghly Hall, which was completed in 1998 at a cost of $14 million. The Beeghly College of Education resides there, and it also hosts several programs open to the community, such as the Community Counseling Center. Beeghly, which is located away from the campus proper, is planned to be linked to the rest of the campus through a main pedestrian pathway, a plan that has recently run into trouble [1].

Andrews Wellness and Recreation Center

Kilcawley Center is primarily a resource and community center on campus. It features reading and study rooms, computer labs, a copying center, YSU's bookstore, a variety of restaurants, and many student-affairs offices. There are also many meeting and seminar rooms, which can be rented out for events by the community.

YSU has five housing facilities. The Lyden House, completed in 1990, and the Cafaro House, completed in 1995, can accommodate a combined 574 students. Christman Dining Commons, YSU's main residential dining hall, is located in the courtyard between these. Kilcawley House is attached to Kilcawley Center in the middle of campus. The University Courtyard Apartments, on the east side of the campus (behind Bliss Hall), were built in 2004. These are commonly known as the Courtyards, and while they are affiliated with housing services, they are actual apartments. Weller House, off of Wick Avenue, also houses a small number of students in an apartment setting.

Other buildings on campus include: Meshel Hall (Department of Computer Science and Information Systems), Fedor Hall (housing the Jambar [school newspaper], the Rich Center for Autism, and the Youngstown Early College), Cushwa Hall (College of Health and Human Services, Mathematics and Statistics, WYSU-FM), Williamson Hall (Williamson College of Business Administration), Phelps Building (Geography, Urban and Regional Studies), Maag Library, Tod Hall (YSU administrative offices), DeBartolo Hall, Sweeney Hall (Undergraduate Admissions), and the E.J. Salata Complex (maintenance services).

In the works is a new building for the Williamson College of Business Administration, currently located in Williamson Hall on Lincoln Ave. It is unknown where the new building will be located.

Academics

The University is comprised of the following colleges:

YSU offers a doctorate in educational leadership as well as a doctorate in mathematics in cooperation with Rhodes University. Together with the University of Akron and Kent State University, YSU sponsors the Northeastern Ohio Universities College Of Medicine (NEOUCOM), a BS-MD program. YSU engineering students may pursue doctoral studies in cooperation with the University of Akron and Cleveland State University. In addition, YSU has 34 masters programs and over 100 undergraduate majors.

The Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University was just recently deemed an "All-Steinway" school in 2004, now contending with conservatories of music and schools like Juilliard, CIM (Cleveland Institute of Music), Oberlin, and Yale. The Dana School of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious non-conservatory schools of music in the United States. It is housed in Bliss Hall. Additionally, the Youngstown State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble performed in March 2005 at New York City's Carnegie Hall. The ensemble's performance was highly praised, and they received a standing ovation.

Youngstown State University is also home to the Center for Working Class Studies and offers a Regional and American Studies program, which was the first of its kind in the United States. The school recently assisted the University of Chicago in developing a similar program. The center is operated by John Russo and Sherry Lee Linkon.

Athletics

File:You 2738.gif
Pete Penguin

YSU is in NCAA Division I. Nicknamed the Penguins, they play in the Horizon League and Gateway Football Conference, and compete in the following sports:

  • Baseball (men)
  • Basketball (men/women)
  • Cross Country (men/women)
  • Football (men)
  • Golf (men/women)
  • Soccer (women)
  • Softball (women)
  • Swimming and Diving (women)
  • Tennis (men/women)
  • Track and Field (men/women)
  • Volleyball (women)


YSU has been particularly successful in football, winning 4 NCAA Division I-AA national championships in 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1997. They were runners-up in 1992 and 1999. Their coach during those years was Jim Tressel, who is now the head coach at Ohio State University. Tressel was replaced by Jon Heacock, who has not seen nearly the success Tressel had. However, the 2005 season was Heacock's most successful yet with an 8-3 record, a top-25 ranking, and being crowned co-champions of the Gateway Conference. 2006 saw even better results, finishing 9-2 with a top-10 ranking, outright champions of the Gateway, and a 4th seed in the Division-I championship series playoffs.

The Track and Field and Cross Country teams are consistently strong contenders in the Horizon League. The women's team has won five of the last six Horizon League Track and Field Championships.

Also notable are the baseball and softball teams. In 2004, despite having a losing record, the baseball team won the Horizon League tournament and went to the College World Series regionals for the first time. The softball team followed this feat two years later by also winning the Horizon League tournament and qualifying for the NCAA Regional Softball Tournament.

There is no clear reason as to why they are nicknamed the Penguins, but one of the more widely accepted theories is that during the 1930s, when the basketball team was playing, it had been very cold outside, and one of the spectators said, "They look like penguins out there." Because of the nickname, the university has tried a few times to import a penguin from Antarctica to try to live in a habitat on the campus in front of Tod Hall. Unsurprisingly, the experiments have failed each time, as the penguins cannot adapt to the climate in Ohio.

YSU's mascots are Pete and Penny, two penguins dressed in scarfs and stocking caps.

The Penguins' primary athletic facilities are Stambaugh Stadium (football and soccer) and the Beeghly Center (basketball, swimming, and volleyball).

Famous alumni


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