Radford University
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Radford University |
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| Motto | "Investing in Lifetimes" |
| Established | 1910 |
| Type | Public university |
| Endowment | US $41.7 million[1] |
| President | Penelope W. Kyle |
| Faculty | 377 |
| Students | 9,220 |
| Undergraduates | 8,155 |
| Postgraduates | 1,065 |
| Location | Radford, Virginia, U.S. |
| Campus | 177 acres (71.62 ha) |
| Colors | Red, White, Blue, and Green |
| Mascot | Highlander |
| Athletics | NCAA Division I, Big South Conference |
| Website | www.radford.edu |
Radford University is a public, state-funded, comprehensive university, located in the City of Radford, in Southwestern Virginia. Radford features highly diverse liberal arts curricula for undergraduates, along with multiple graduate programs.
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[edit] Academics
Radford places its emphasis on teacher education and the liberal arts, and the university has a very low teacher to student ratio.
There are 105 undergraduate programs in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business and Economics, Education and Human Development, Health and Human Services, Information Science and Technology, and Visual and Performing Arts. The College of Graduate and Extended Education offers 38 programs of study at the master's and specialist levels.
Seven Radford professors have received Virginia’s highest honor for faculty since the inception of the state’s Outstanding Faculty Award in 1986.
Since 1981, seven Radford faculty members have been selected as Fulbright Scholars to teach or research in other countries.
Nearly 93 percent of Radford graduates obtain employment or enroll in graduate school within 3 to 8 months of graduation from the university.
[edit] Community and campus
Radford University is an 177-acre campus located in a residential area of Radford, Virginia. The town is located in the Virginia Highlands, between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains at a spot near the New River. Nearly all of the 20 administrative, academic, student services, and 15 residence hall buildings are located on two large quadrangles in a 76-acre area.
The university Foundation owns a 376-acre tract of land known as the Selu Conservancy. The land borders the New River and is located about five miles southeast of the campus.
Radford is located on exits 105 and 109 of Interstate 81, with easy accessibility to nearby I-77.
[edit] History
Radford was founded in 1910 by Dr. John Preston McConnell as a women's college in 1910 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at East Radford. The college was a normal school and offered a two-year degree in "rural arts".
In 1924 the school was renamed the State Teachers College at Radford and began an evolution towards a true college. Its primary focus was on training teachers for the rural Appalachian region nearby. In 1943 the college was renamed the Women's Division of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and merged into what is now known as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) which was located 15 miles away in Blacksburg, Virginia.
As the 1960s began, Virginia began to desegregate its gender specific schools, and Virginia Tech began to admit women on its main campus. This led to a "divorce" in 1964 and a renaming as simply Radford College. Over the next decade, the "finishing school" atmosphere of the school was dismantled. In 1972 the school began to admit men. The school developed a graduate school at that time as well.
In 1979 the school became Radford University. Today, the school is a comprehensive state university. Fall semester 2005 enrollment was 9,552. About 45% of the students come from southwestern Virginia, 40% from other parts of Virginia, and 15% from out-of-state. Penelope W. Kyle became RU’s sixth president when she took office June 1, 2005.
[edit] Athletics
The university's teams are known as the Highlanders (in honor of the region's Scots-Irish heritage), and compete in the Big South Conference. Radford offers 19 NCAA varsity sports for men and women. The Radford men's basketball team won the Big South Conference tournament in 1998.
The Dedmon Center is a recreational and convocation complex that opened in 1981. The Dedmon Center features a 1/6-mile indoor jogging track, five racquetball courts, a weight-training room, locker rooms, and several team rooms. The main arena features a main basketball floor and a secondary volleyball arena for intercollegiate competition and four recreational courts for basketball or volleyball. The complex features adjoining facilities, including intermural soccer, football and softball fields, and intercollegiate fields and courts for baseball, softball, field hockey and tennis. The Patrick D. Cupp Stadium adds an intercollegiate soccer and track and field complex.
[edit] Presidents
- Dr. John Preston McConnell, 1911-1937
- Dr. David Wilbur Peters, 1938-1951
- Dr. Charles Knox Martin Jr., 1952-1972, Chancellor, 1972-73, President Emeritus, 1973-1987
- Dr. Donald Newton Dedmon, 1972-1994
- Dr. Douglas Covington, 1995-2005
- Dr. Penelope W. Kyle, 2005 - Present
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Radford University official website
- Radford University Highlanders athletics website
- The Tartan Radford University school newspaper
- CRAM (The Roanoke Times college site)
- Public Radio WVRU official website
- WHIM (RU's student-run online magazine)
- Radford University Ice Hockey
- Radford University College of Information Science and Technology
| Big South Conference |
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| Charleston Southern • Coastal Carolina • High Point • Liberty • Radford • UNC Asheville • Virginia Military Institute • Winthrop |
