University of Findlay

                                 
The University of Findlay (UF) is a private university in Findlay, Ohio. It was affiliated with the Churches of God General Conference. Nearly 3,700 students are enrolled at Findlay, with more than 2,700 undergraduate and nearly 1,000 graduate students. Approximately 1,300 students live on campus in University housing. Approximately 340 full-time and part-time faculty teach regular and online classes, with a student-to-faculty ratio of. The University of Findlay encompasses more than 388 acres, including its 73-acre main campus and six off-campus facilities. UF has been recognized as a "Best in the Midwest" college by the Princeton Review. UF ranks consistently in the top tier of U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" in the Midwest and was also named to the "A+ Schools for B Students" list for the second year. UF has been recognized as one of "America's Best Private Colleges" by Institutional Research and Evaluation Inc., an independent research organization specializing in higher education. In addition, the city of Findlay was chosen as one of Ohio's Best Hometowns for 2012-2013 by the editors of Ohio Magazine. The predecessor of The University of Findlay, Findlay College, was founded on January 28, 1882 by the city of Findlay and the Churches of God General Conference. By 1897, the college had established an endowment of more than $100,000 and boasted sixteen faculty members. In 1989, Findlay College became known as the University of Findlay. The campus, still affiliated with the Church of God, embarked on a building campaign, adding five new buildings over the next several years. By the start of the twenty-first century, the institution boasted sixty-five different areas of undergraduate study and eight graduate programs. The university is especially well known for its equestrian studies program and offers equestrian riding as a varsity sport. The University of Findlay has experienced substantial growth over the past couple of decades and tripled in size of enrollment, staff, and facilities. For example, recently in 2012, the university added structures to Davis Street to host its esteemed pharmacy program. The University of Findlay has nearly 60 majors leading to baccalaureate degrees and offers nine master's degrees, a doctor of pharmacy, and a doctor of physical therapy. Unusual and well-recognized programs include equestrian studies, pre-veterinary medicine animal science/pre-veterinary medicine option, nuclear medicine technology, occupational therapy and physical therapy, as well as environmental, safety and occupational health management. Findlay offers more than 65 areas of undergraduate study. Some of its most popular majors include: business, education, pharmacy, equestrian studies, pre-veterinary medicine, nuclear medicine technology, and environmental safety and occupational health management. Its equestrian studies program is nationally recognized. The University of Findlay established the nation's first bachelor's degree in hazardous waste studies, now known as environmental, safety and occupational health management. The All Hazards Training Center,[4] which grew from that initial program, has provided hands-on training simulations to more than 100,000 people from a wide range of backgrounds, including industry leaders and government officials involved in emergency planning, response and recovery.

Lamar University

                              
Lamar University, often referred to as Lamar or LU, is a comprehensive coeducational public research university located in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar confers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees and is classified as a Doctoral Research University by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was previously the flagship institution of the now defunct Lamar University System. As of Fall 2014, the university enrollment was 14,889 students. Lamar University announced conclusion of its first-ever comprehensive campaign on January 22, 2014. The increased campaign goal of $125M was exceeded with a final campaign tally of $132M. Lamar University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is characterized as a National University in the 2011 edition of U.S. News & World Report. Lamar is a member of the stateu online academic partnership, which offers high school students the opportunity to earn college credits before college. Lamar was one of 10 colleges nationwide named to the Great Colleges to Work For Honor Roll by the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2009. In July 2010 Lamar was chosen to join the Gulf Project, a coalition of scientists, policy experts and researchers working to protect Texas' economy and environment in the event of a disaster, such as the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. In August, 2014, Lamar joined the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit, a partnership of universities, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations. One of the functions of the GC-CESU is to enhance research. The studies unit numbers over 100 federal government agencies and around 38 universities. Louis R. Pietzsch founded a public junior college in Beaumont's South Park. He had become intensely interested in the junior college movement while enrolled in summer school at the University of Chicago in 1918, and by 1921, was convinced that South Park should have a junior college. Lamar University started on September 17, 1923 as South Park Junior College, operating on the unused third floor of the new South Park High School, Pietzsch acted as the first president of the college. South Park Junior College became the first college in Texas to receive Texas Department of Education approval during the first year of operation, and became fully accredited in 1925. In 1932, the college administration, recognizing that the junior college was serving the region rather than just the community, renamed it as Lamar College. It was named for Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas. Because he arranged to set aside land in counties for public schools, he is regarded as the "Father of Texas Education." A statue of him was installed in the quadrangle of the campus near the Setzer Student Center. The inscription is: "The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy and, while guided and controlled by virtue, the noblest attribute of man. It is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only security that freemen desire." In 1933, the college was moving toward independence from South Park High School when construction began on new facilities. By 1942, the college was completely independent of the South Park school district, and operations moved to the current campus. With the end of World War II, an influx of veterans boosted enrollment. The Lamar board of trustees asked the Texas Legislature to promote Lamar College to a four-year state college. The initial attempt in 1947, led in the Texas House of Representatives by Jack Brooks and in the Texas Senate by W. R. Cousins, Jr., failed, but the following year the two sponsors again advanced the bill through both houses. On June 14, 1949, Governor Beauford Jester signed the bill creating Lamar State College of Technology; it was to focus on engineering and science, an emphasis that continues today. African American veterans of World War II who returned to Southeast Texas found they had no opportunities for postsecondary education or vocational training and chafed over Lamar becoming state supported while it still barred their admission solely on the grounds of race. A group of black leaders calling themselves the Negro Goodwill Council protested to Governor Beauford Jester about the dismal educational inequality in the city and the exclusion of blacks from Lamar State College. They attempted to block passage of the bill to change Lamar into a state-supported senior college, which resulted in John Gray, Lamar's president, creating a black branch of Lamar called Jefferson Junior College. It opened with evening classes at Charlton-Pollard High School. In 1952, James Briscoe, a native Beaumonter and graduate of Charlton-Pollard High School, applied to Lamar. Briscoe's parents were laborers and members of the Beaumont chapter of the NAACP. They courageously supported their son's effort to prove that qualified blacks desired more than junior college offerings and wanted to study in Lamar's new four-year degree programs and avoid the inconvenience of going long distances away from home for a BA degree. Briscoe, a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta since 1950, at the urging of his parents and the Beaumont NAACP, applied to Lamar and was accepted. The admissions office notified him that on the basis of his transcript, he was qualified to enroll for the spring term of 1951. On January 29, when Briscoe went to Lamar with his acceptance letter in hand to register for classes, Lamar's acting president G. A. Wimberly met with Briscoe and explained that a mistake had been made and suggested he apply to TSUN, now named Texas Southern University. State law, he said, created Lamar for whites only. In the summer of 1955, Versie Jackson and Henry Cooper, Jr., became the lead plaintiffs of a class action lawsuit, Jackson v. McDonald, which sought to end Lamar's policy of racial segregation. Lamar Cecil, the federal judge the case came before, ruled on 30 July 1956, that Lamar's "white youth" only admissions policy was unconstitutionality and that September a total of twenty-six blacks were admitted to the college amid violent protests at the campus gates and throughout the region for a number of weeks until Texas Rangers arrived and the rule of law restored. In 1975, the university merged with Port Arthur College in Port Arthur, Texas, creating Lamar University-Port Arthur. In 1983, state Senator Carl A. Parker sponsored a bill creating the Lamar University System. In 1986, Lamar University-Orange and Lamar University-Port Arthur were granted accreditation separate from the main campus. Lamar Institute of Technology was created in 1990 in Beaumont to provide technical, business, health, and industrial education through programs two years or fewer in length. In 1995, the Lamar University System was incorporated into the Texas State University System, with the Lamar State College - Orange, Lamar State College - Port Arthur and Lamar Institute of Technology campuses becoming separate entities within the system. In the fall of 1998 the Lamar University faculty numbered 423 and student enrollment was 8,241. Since the reorganization, Lamar University's enrollment has continually increased. Total enrollment reached 15,000 students in Fall 2012. Recently numerous construction projects have revitalized or replaced old buildings. In addition football was revived as a varsity sport. The campus was moved to the current site in 1942 because the school had outgrown its current location and taken on a more regional role. In the late 1990s, Lamar began undertaking campus improvement projects. Most buildings on the campus dated to the late 1960s and 70s. Many older buildings in the northern part of the campus were gutted and refinished one-by-one. In 2001, the University began replacing its 1960s-vintage residence halls with new apartment-style housing facilities, dubbed "Cardinal Village." Older campus housing facilities have been demolished as the Cardinal Village complex has expanded to meet demand. Demand for on-campus housing has risen, coinciding with the opening of the new residence halls. Cardinal Village II, III & IV were built specifically to meet these demands. As of January 2006, a new gourmet food-court style dining hall was opened to provide students with a wider selection of dining opportunities.

University of chicago

                            
The University of Chicago (U of C, Chicago, or UChicago) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Established in 1890, its academic, social, and political influence has made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world. The university consists of The College, various graduate programs, interdisciplinary committees organized into four divisions, six professional schools, and a school of continuing education. Beyond the arts and sciences, Chicago is also well known for its professional schools, which include the Pritzker School of Medicine, the Booth School of Business, the Law School, the School of Social Service Administration, the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, and the Divinity School. The university currently enrolls approximately 5,000 students in the College and around 15,000 students overall. University of Chicago scholars have played a major role in the development of various academic disciplines, including: the Chicago school of economics, the Chicago school of sociology, the law and economics movement in legal analysis, the Chicago school of literary criticism, the Chicago school of religion, and the behavioralism school of political science. Chicago's physics department helped develop the world's first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction beneath the university's Stagg Field. The University of Chicago's recent research pursuits have been aided by unique affiliations with world-renowned institutions like the nearby Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory, as well as the Marine Biological Laboratory. The university is also home to the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the United States. Founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, the University of Chicago was incorporated in 1890; William Rainey Harper became the university's first president in 1891, and the first classes were held in 1892. Both Harper and future president Robert Maynard Hutchins advocated for Chicago's curriculum to be based upon theoretical and perennial issues rather than applied sciences and commercial utility. With Harper's educational vision in mind, the University of Chicago also became one of the 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities, an international organization of leading research universities, in 1900. The University of Chicago is home to many prominent alumni. 89 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university as visiting professors, students, faculty, or staff, the fourth most of any institution in the world. In addition, Chicago's alumni include 49 Rhodes Scholars, 9 Fields Medalists, 13 National Humanities Medalists and 13 billionaire graduates. The University of Chicago was created and incorporated as a coeducational, secular institution in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society and a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller on land donated by Marshall Field. Organized as an independent institution legally, it replaced the first Baptist university of the same name, which had closed in 1886 due to extended financial and leadership problems. William Rainey Harper became the modern university's first president on July 1, 1891, and the university opened for classes on October 1, 1892. The Booth School of Business was founded in 1898, and the law school was founded in 1902. Harper died in 1906, and was replaced by a succession of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929. During this period, the Oriental Institute was founded to support and interpret archeological work in what was then called the Near East. In the 1890s, the University of Chicago, fearful that its vast resources would injure smaller schools by drawing away good students, affiliated with several regional colleges and universities: Des Moines College, Kalamazoo College, Butler University, and Stetson University. Under the terms of the affiliation, the schools were required to have courses of study comparable to those at the University, to notify the university early of any contemplated faculty appointments or dismissals, to make no faculty appointment without the university's approval, and to send copies of examinations for suggestions. The University of Chicago agreed to confer a degree on any graduating senior from an affiliated school who made a grade of A for all four years, and on any other graduate who took twelve weeks additional study at the University of Chicago. A student or faculty member of an affiliated school was entitled to free tuition at the University of Chicago, and Chicago students were eligible to attend an affiliated school on the same terms and receive credit for their work. The University of Chicago also agreed to provide affiliated schools with books and scientific apparatus and supplies at cost; special instructors and lecturers without cost except travel expenses; and a copy of every book and journal published by the University of Chicago Press at no cost. The agreement provided that either party could terminate the affiliation on proper notice. Several University of Chicago professors disliked the program, as it involved uncompensated additional labor on their part, and they believed it cheapened the academic reputation of the University. The program passed into history by 1910.

Johnson and Wales University

                                 Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is an American private, nonprofit, co-educational, career-oriented university with four regional campuses located throughout the United States. Providence, Rhode Island is home to JWU's first and largest campus. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU currently has 17,230 students enrolled in Business, Arts & Sciences, Culinary Arts, Education, Engineering, Equine management, Hospitality, and Engineering Technology programs across its campuses. The University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC), through its Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. Johnson & Wales University operates campuses in four locations: the founding Providence, Rhode Island campus housing JWU's business, hospitality, and technology programs (called Downcity and opened in 1914) with a subsidiary campus housing JWU's culinary and graduate programs (called Harborside and opened in 1985) in Cranston, Rhode Island; North Miami, Florida (opened in 1992); Denver, Colorado (opened in 2000); and Charlotte, North Carolina (opened in 2004). (Two previous campuses in Charleston, South Carolina (opened in 1984) and Norfolk, Virginia opened in 1986, were gradually consolidated into the Charlotte campus, starting in September 2003 and ending in May 2006 with the closures of the Norfolk and Charleston campuses. JWU currently has four academic units at four of its campuses: the College of Business, the College of Culinary Arts, the Hospitality College, and the School of Arts & Sciences. The Providence Downcity campus is home to the College of Business, the Hospitality College, the School of Arts & Sciences, and the School of Technology. The Providence Harborside campus is home to several additional academic units: the Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School and the College of Culinary Arts. The Providence Harborside campus is also home to the School of Education, which offers specialized master's and doctoral degree programs. Students just entering the field can earn a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T. Program) and current teachers can earn a Masters of Education degree (M.Ed.) For current teachers who want to advance their degree, there is a doctoral program where they can earn their Ed.D. Johnson & Wales University is well known for its Culinary Arts program but was first founded as Business and Hospitality programs. The university is the largest food service educator in the world. JWU is one of the top three Hospitality Colleges, according to the 2010 rankings released by the American Universities Admissions Program, which ranks of American universities according to their international reputation. JWU is home to 39th largest College of Business in the United States. The university offers a wide variety of degrees, including Accounting, Fashion Merchandising & Retail Management, Equine Studies/Equine Business Management & Riding, Management, Marketing, Criminal Justice, Entrepreneurship, Hotel & Lodging Management, and Sports/Entertainment/Event Management. The Providence Downcity campus offers 2 and 4 years degree programs in technology such as Network Engineering, Electronics & Robotics Engineering, Computer Programming, and Graphic Design. JWU's academic year is divided into three trimesters, each 11 weeks long, where the standard fall and spring semesters are replaced with fall, winter, and spring trimesters. Classes are also offered during the summer months creating a fourth academic period. This results in an earlier spring break and a typical summer break from May to September. During fall, winter, and spring terms, students usually take three to four courses a term. Students in the Culinary program are enrolled in five nine-day lab sessions, which take place Monday through Thursday each week. Such courses are only available for full-time students.

University of Central Oklahoma

                                   
The University of Central Oklahoma, often referred to as UCO, is a coeducational public university located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The university is the third largest in Oklahoma, with more than 17,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty. Founded in 1890,[4] the University of Central Oklahoma was one of the first institutions of higher learning to be established in what would become the state of Oklahoma, making it one of the oldest universities in the southwest region of the United States of America. It is home to the American branch of the British Academy of Contemporary Music in downtown Oklahoma City, directed by noted indie music agent and manager Scott Booker. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the University of Central Oklahoma as the 2009-2010 Individual Conference Champion for using more green power than any other school in the Lone Star Conference. The University of Central Oklahoma was founded on December 24, 1890, when the Territorial Legislature voted to establish the Territorial Normal School, making UCO the oldest public institution of higher education in Oklahoma. Classes were first held in November 1891. By comparison, Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University) held its first classes in December 1891 and the University of Oklahoma began in fall 1892. The Territorial Legislature located the new school in Edmond, provided certain conditions were met. First, Oklahoma County had to donate $5,000 in bonds, and Edmond had to donate 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land within one mile (1.6 km) of the town; the land was eventually donated by Anton Classen. Ten of those acres had to be set aside for the new school. The remaining land had to be divided into lots which would be sold to raise money for the new school. On October 1, 1891 Richard Thatcher was elected the 1st President of Territorial Normal School of Oklahoma. The conditions all were met, with the city of Edmond donating an additional $2,000 in bonds. The first class, a group of 23 students, met for the first time Nov. 1, 1891, in the Epworth League Room, located in the unfurnished First Methodist Church. A marker of Oklahoma granite was placed in 1915 near the original site by the Central Oklahoma Normal School Historical Society. It can be seen at Boulevard and Second Street. Old North Tower was the first building constructed in the summer of 1892 on the campus of what was then Territorial Normal School. It was also the first building constructed in Oklahoma Territory for the purpose of higher education. Occupancy began January 3, 1893. The school first operated as a normal school with two years of college work and a complete preparatory school. In 1897, the first graduating class two men and three women received their Normal School diplomas. In 1904, Territorial Normal became Central State Normal School. Statehood was still three years away. On Dec. 29, 1919, the State Board of Education passed a resolution making Central a four-year teachers' college conferring bachelor's degrees. From 1901 until 1961, UCO housed a laboratory school in which local elementary schoolchildren were schooled by UCO faculty and soon-to-be teaching graduates. Two years later, the Class of 1921 had nine members, the first graduates to receive the four-year degrees. Two decades later, Central State Teacher's College became Central State College. In 1939, the Oklahoma Legislature authorized the institution to grant both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, the school was routinely affected by state politics. Presidents and sometimes faculty members, were changed with changes in state governors. In 1950, President Max W. Chambers banned solicitations of campaign donations from faculty members. This resulted in more stability of the school administration. On March 11, 1941, Central State became part of a coordinated state system of post-secondary education overseen by the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education, and joined institutions with similar missions as a regional institution. In 1954, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education gave Central permission to offer the Master of Teaching Degree, which became the Master of Education in 1969. In 1971, the college was authorized to grant the Master of Arts in English and the Master of Business Administration degrees. On April 13, 1971, the state legislature officially changed the institution's name to Central State University. Old North Tower was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. On May 18, 1990, during the university's Centennial Year, legislation was passed changing the name to the University of Central Oklahoma, though many of the students still refer to the University as "Central", and many alumni as "Central State.

Northern Arizona University

                                
Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public university located in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. It is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and has 36 satellite campuses in the state of Arizona. The university offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. As of fall 2014, 27,715 students were enrolled, 20,134 at the Flagstaff campus. The average cost of tuition and fees for a full-time, Arizona resident undergraduate student for two semesters is $9,692. NAU offers Flagstaff undergraduate students the Pledge Program that guarantees the same tuition rate for four years. For the Fall 2013 school year, out-of-state undergraduates will pay an estimated $22,094 for tuition and fees. NAU also participates in the Western Undergraduate Exchange Program, which offers lower tuition rates for students from the Western United States. WUE tuition rates for fall 2013 are $12,680. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education classifies NAU as a research university with high research activity. Initially named the Northern Arizona Normal School, the institution was established on September 11, 1899. The first graduating class, in 1901, consisted of four women who received credentials to teach in the Arizona Territory. In 1925, the Arizona State Legislature allowed the school, which was now called the Northern Arizona State Teacher's College, to grant Bachelor of Education degrees. In 1929 the school became Arizona State Teacher's College. Enrollment dropped sharply, however, at the beginning of World War II. ASTC became a Navy V-12 program training site. Perched at 6,950 feet (2,120 m) above sea level, the third highest four year college campus in the country, the main campus is surrounded by the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest on the North American continent[11] and enjoys a four-season climate. Snow is common in winter, with accumulations most prevalent in January, February and March. Winter skiing is accessible at Arizona Snowbowl, an alpine ski resort located on the San Francisco Peaks, 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Flagstaff. NAU offers 87 bachelor degree programs, 48 master's degree programs and 10 doctoral degree programs, along with 38 undergraduate and 26 graduate certificates. The university was charged by the Arizona Board of Regents in 2006 to develop innovative ways to provide access and affordability to all Arizona residents. NAU developed the Pledge Program,2NAU partnerships with community colleges and NAU-Yavapai, a collaboration with Yavapai College in Prescott Valley, Ariz. NAU-Yuma just celebrated its 25th anniversary of the partnership with Arizona Western College. Northern Arizona University is a public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission North Central Association. In addition to 19,000 students on the Flagstaff campus, NAU currently serves more than 7,000 students statewide. NAU's Extended Campuses offer more than 50 online accredited degree programs on more than 30 campuses throughout the state. NAU is the first public university to offer a competency-based online degree program that allows students to earn credit for experience. Personalized Learning was launched in May 2013, and federal financial aid is available for the program, which has a flat fee of $5,000 per year. NAU is the first university in Arizona to attain program accreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Educators (NCATE). Additional accreditations include Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) and Hotel and Restaurant Management has earned accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration, an honor earned by fewer than 20% of the nation's baccalaureate degree-granting programs in the field. NAU's Extended Campuses students pay the lowest per-credit-hour tuition and Flagstaff offers an affordable locked-in tuition. The College of Arts and Letters (CAL) houses the Asian Studies Program, Cinema Studies, Comparative Cultural Studies (formerly Humanities, Arts, and Religion), English, History, Latin American Studies, Modern Languages, Museum Studies, Philosophy, School of Art, School of Music, and Theatre. The college also oversees the NAU Art Museum, Martin-Springer Institute (promoting lessons of the Holocaust), Northern Arizona Writing Project, Ardrey Memorial Auditorium, and Ashurst Hall. The College of Arts and Letters Film Series has been providing quality classic films to the NAU and Flagstaff community for more than nine years, and the NAU International Film Series has recently been established. Department faculty and students share their scholarly work and artistic achievement through more than 300 performances, lectures, films, and exhibitions a year. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences undergraduate programs include anthropology, applied indigenous studies, criminology and criminal justice, ethnic studies, geography, planning and recreation, political science, psychology, communication, sociology/social work, and women's and gender studies. The W.A. Franke College of Business's primary focus is undergraduate education, but it also offers a master's level education and research opportunities. Businessman Bill Franke's commitment of $25 million resulted in the renaming of the college in his honor. The W.A. Franke College of Business was fully re-accredited in fall 2008 by the national accrediting body AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The NAU program is one of about 400 accredited programs among the more than 1,000 throughout the nation. In 2006, the college moved into a new 111,000-square-foot (10,300 m2), LEED-certified building.

The University of California

                                     
The University of California, Santa Cruz (also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC), is a public, collegiate university and one of 10 campuses in the University of California system. Located 75 miles (120 km) south of San Francisco at the edge of the coastal community of Santa Cruz, the campus lies on 2,001 acres (810 ha) of rolling, forested hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay. Founded in 1965, UC Santa Cruz began as a showcase for progressive, cross-disciplinary undergraduate education, innovative teaching methods and contemporary architecture. Since then, it has evolved into a modern research university with a wide variety of both undergraduate and graduate programs, while retaining its reputation for strong undergraduate support and student political activism. The residential college system, which consists of ten small colleges, is intended to combine the student support of a small college with the resources of a major university. Although some of the original founders had already outlined plans for an institution like UCSC as early as the 1930s, the opportunity to realize their vision did not present itself until the City of Santa Cruz made a bid to the University of California Regents in the mid-1950s to build a campus just outside town, in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Santa Cruz site was selected over a competing proposal to build the campus closer to the population center of San Jose. Santa Cruz was selected for the beauty, rather than the practicality, of its location, however, and its remoteness led to the decision to develop a residential college system that would house most of the students on-campus. The formal design process of the Santa Cruz campus began in the late 1950s, culminating in the Long Range Development Plan of 1963. Construction had started by 1964, and the University was able to accommodate its first students (albeit living in trailers on what is now the East Field athletic area) in 1965. The campus was intended to be a showcase for contemporary architecture, progressive teaching methods, and undergraduate research. According to founding chancellor Dean McHenry, the purpose of the distributed college system was to combine the benefits of a major research university with the intimacy of a smaller college. UC President Clark Kerr shared a passion with former Stanford roommate McHenry to build a university modeled as "several Swarthmores" (i.e., small liberal arts colleges) in close proximity to each other. Roads on campus were named after UC Regents who voted in favor of building the campus. Although the city of Santa Cruz already exhibited a strong conservation ethic before the founding of the university, the coincidental rise of the counterculture of the 1960s with the university's establishment fundamentally altered its subsequent development. Early student and faculty activism at UCSC pioneered an approach to environmentalism that greatly impacted the industrial development of the surrounding area. The lowering of the voting age to 18 in 1971 led to the emergence of a powerful student-voting bloc. A large and growing population of politically liberal UCSC alumni changed the electorate of the town from predominantly Republican to markedly left-leaning, consistently voting against expansion measures on the part of both town and gown. Plans for increasing enrollment to 19,500 students and adding 1,500 faculty and staff by 2020, and the anticipated environmental impacts of such action, encountered opposition from the city, the local community, and the student body. City voters in 2006 passed two measures calling on UCSC to pay for the impacts of campus growth. A Santa Cruz Superior Court judge invalidated the measures, ruling they were improperly put on the ballot. In 2008, the university, city, county and neighborhood organizations reached an agreement to set aside numerous lawsuits and allow the expansion to occur. UCSC agreed to local government scrutiny of its north campus expansion plans, to provide housing for 67 percent of the additional students on campus, and to pay municipal development and water fees. George Blumenthal, UCSC's 10th Chancellor, intends to mitigate growth constraints in Santa Cruz by developing off-campus sites in Silicon Valley. The NASA Ames Research Center campus is planned to ultimately hold 2,000 UCSC students - about 10% of the entire university's future student body as envisioned for 2020. In April 2010, UC Santa Cruz opened its new $35 million Digital Arts Research Center; a project in planning since 2004. The 2,000-acre (810 ha) UCSC campus is located 75 miles (121 km) south of San Francisco, in the Ben Lomond Mountain ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Elevation varies from 285 feet (87 m) at the campus entrance to 1,195 feet (364 m) at the northern boundary, a difference of about 900 feet (270 m). The southern portion of the campus primarily consists of a large, open meadow, locally known as the Great Meadow. To the north of the meadow lie most of the campus' buildings, many of them among redwood groves. The campus is bounded on the south by the city's upper-west-side neighborhoods, on the east by Harvey West Park and the Pogonip open space preserve, on the north by Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park near the town of Felton, and on the west by Gray Whale Ranch, a portion of Wilder Ranch State Park. The campus is built on a portion of the Cowell Family ranch, which was purchased by the University of California in 1961. The northern half of the campus property has remained in its undeveloped, forested state apart from fire roads and hiking and bicycle trails. The heavily forested area has allowed UC Santa Cruz to operate a recreational vehicle park as a form of student housing.