 | |
Former name | The University of Montana-Missoula (1893–1913)[1] State University of Montana (1913–1935)[1] (1935–1965)[1][2][3] |
|---|---|
| Motto | Lux et Veritas (Latin) |
Motto in English | "Light and Truth" |
| Type | Publicresearch university |
| Established | February 13, 1893; 132 years ago (1893-02-13)[4] |
Parent institution | Montana University System - The University of Montana System |
| Accreditation | NWCCU |
Academic affiliations | Space-grant |
| Endowment | $289.6 million (2024)[5] |
| President | Seth Bodnar |
| Provost | Adrea Lawrence |
Academic staff | 559 full-time, 232 part-time |
| Students | 11,064 (fall 2025) |
| Undergraduates | 6,237 total (fall 2025) |
| Location | , United States |
| Campus | Small city, 220 acres (89 ha) |
| Newspaper | Montana Kaimin |
| Colors | Maroon and silver[6] |
| Nickname | Grizzlies and Lady Griz |
Sporting affiliations | |
| Mascot | Monte |
| Website | www |
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TheUniversity of Montana (UM) is apublicresearch university inMissoula, Montana, United States. UM is aflagship institution of theMontana University System[7] and its second largest campus. Fall 2024 saw total enrollment hit 10,811,[8] marking the highest total enrollment for UM since 2018.
It isclassified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" as of 2022.[9]
Alumni include 11Truman Scholars, 14Goldwater Scholars, and 40Udall Scholars.[10][11] One alumnus,Harold Urey, has won theNobel Prize.[12]
Anact of Congress of February 18, 1881, dedicated 72 sections (46,000 acres (72 sq mi; 190 km2)) inMontana Territory for the creation of the university.
Montana wasadmitted to the Union on November 8, 1889, and thestate legislature soon began to consider where the state's permanentcapital and state university would be located. To be sure that the new state university would be located in Missoula, the city's leaders made an agreement with the standing capital ofHelena that Missoula would stay out of the bidding for the new capital and would support Helena over its leading competitor,Anaconda. The cities' bids were supported by the rival "Copper Kings",William A. Clark andMarcus Daly, respectively.
Missoula won the legislative vote for the new university at the Third Montana Legislative Assembly in February 1893, and it was formally opened in 1895. While plans for a university campus were progressing, classes were temporarily held at nearby Willard School. The South Missoula Land Company, owned byA.B. Hammond, Richard Eddy and Marcus Daly, joined with the Higgins family in donating land for the new campus. In June 1898 the cornerstone forA.J. Gibson designed University Hall was laid and Missoula became "the University City".
From 1945 until 1965, the name was changed by the legislature to "Montana State University", while theschool in Bozeman was known as "Montana State College".[3]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Forbes[14] | 610 |
| U.S. News & World Report[15] | 377(tie) |
| Washington Monthly[16] | 154 (general) and 1 in Public Service |
| WSJ/College Pulse[17] | > 600 |
| Global | |
| ARWU[18] | 601-700 |
| QS[19] | 801-1000 |
| U.S. News & World Report[20] | 913(tie) |
The University of Montana comprises eleven full colleges and schools: College of Humanities & Sciences;Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences; W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation; College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences; College of Visual and Performing Arts;Alexander Blewett III School of Law; UM College of Business;UM School of Journalism; UM School of Extended and Lifelong Learning;Missoula College and Bitterroot College.
The Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences is divided into five academic departments and the Institute of Educational Research and Service. In 1914, the University of Montana School of Law became a member of The Association of American Law Schools and in 1923, the school received accreditation from the American Bar Association. The W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation offers five undergraduate majors (Ecosystem Science & Restoration; Forestry; Parks, Tourism & Recreation Management; Resource Conservation; and Wildlife Biology) and five Master's of Science and three PhDs.
For the fall 2017 term, 6,182 students applied to the University of Montana. Ninety-three percent were accepted. The entering freshman class had an average high schoolGPA of 3.55, and the middle 50% range ofSAT scores were 540-650 for reading and writing, 520-620 for math, while theACT composite range was 21–26.[21]
_Hall%2c_letter_M_fall_2011.jpg)
The original plan of the campus was designed by one of its first professors, Frederich Scheuch, who called for the central oval to be surrounded by university buildings. Although Scheuch's plan called for all building entrances to face the center of the Oval, forming a radiating building pattern, buildings were later constructed with three-story in theRenaissance Revival style, withhipped roofs and Spanish green roof tiles.
The first set of buildings were set up around the oval in 1895. Since that time, various campus plans and architectural styles have been used. Today the campus consists of 220 acres (89 ha) and is bordered to the east byMount Sentinel and the north by theClark Fork River. The main campus comprises 64 buildings, including nineresidence halls and various athletic venues, includingWashington–Grizzly Stadium, a 26,500-seat football stadium and the Adams Center (formerly,Dahlberg Arena), a 7,500-seat multi-purpose arena where the university'sbasketball teams play.
Landmarks include:
A three-acre (1.2 ha) swath of grass running east to west, marking the traditional center of the university. Today it is divided into quadrants by two intersecting brick-laid paths. A double row of trees was planted around the oval onArbor Day 1896, but many of the trees have since died and are in the process of being replanted. The original gravel driveway that once surrounded the Oval has also been replaced by sidewalk. The original master plan of the university called for all buildings to face the center of the oval, but this plan proved difficult and a new plan was created in 1935.
On the western extreme of the Oval is a life-sizedgrizzly bear statue created by ceramic artist and sculptor Rudy Autio in 1969.[22] The bronze statue is 7 feet (2.1 m) in height, weighs 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg), and took a year to create.[23] Many photographs of the university picture the bear with the Oval, university (Main) Hall, and Mount Sentinel's 'M' in the background.
A3⁄4-mile (1.2 km) trail with 13switchbacks, it ascends 620 vertical feet (190 m), from 3,200 to 3,820 feet (975 to 1,165 m) abovesea level, from the university at the base of Mount Sentinel. The trail offers sweeping views of the city below.
"The 'M'" first placed on Mount Sentinel was originally made ofwhitewashed rocks and only measuring 25 feet (7.6 m) by 25 feet; it was replaced by a wooden "M" in 1912, which cost $18. That "M," unlike today's "M," stood upright on the face of Mount Sentinel. A larger wooden version of the "M" was built in 1913 and upkeep of the structure was formally charged to each year's freshman class.[citation needed]
When the large wooden "M" was destroyed by ablizzard in 1915, an even larger version was constructed of whitewashedgranite. Once again the freshman class was tasked with annual renovation of the symbol, beginning a new tradition. Each year from then on, University of Montana freshmen made the hike up to the "M" to apply a fresh coat of whitewash and remove any weeds and grass that had grown in and around the structure.
The annual tradition ended in 1968 when a 125-by-100-foot (38 by 30 m) concrete "M" was built at a cost of $4,328. Although the annual whitewashing went by the wayside, one tradition that lives on today is the lighting of the "M" during the university's annualHomecoming celebration each fall. Originally lit by a group of students on October 9, 1919, following the fall whitewashing, the event was so popular that students have continued to light the "M" each year during Homecoming week; special beacons light up the giant letter, welcoming former students back to the university.[24]
On the north side of campus, 29evergreen trees stand in two columns forming Memorial Row along what used to be the path of Van Buren Avenue. The trees, running from the corner of the Oval to Eddy Avenue, were planted in 1919 following the end of theGreat War to honor UM students, alumni, and faculty who died in the war, some to combat and many more to theinfluenza epidemic. The trees arePinus ponderosa (Western Yellow Pines or Ponderosa Pine), thestate tree of Montana. Originally, a white T-board stood in front of each tree, with the name of the person whom it honors; in 1925, these were replaced with 35brass nameplates atop concrete markers. At the same time, the university added a memorial tablet on a boulder near the edge of the Oval closest to Memorial Row. It lists 21 of the 31 honorees from 1919. By 1925, the university had increased the number of names on the official list to 35, and sometime later, it grew to 37.[25]
The University of Montana is the main campus for the university, which includes four other campuses. Thepublic university system is one of two in Montana; the other isMontana State University. Both systems are governed as theMontana University System by the MontanaBoard of Regents, which consists of seven members appointed by thestate governor, and confirmed by thestate senate to serve overlapping terms of seven years, except for one student member who is appointed for one year at a time.. The governor andSuperintendent of Public Instruction, both statewide elected officials, areex officio members of the board, as is the Commissioner of Higher Education, who is appointed by the Board of Regents.[26]
The Board of Regents appoints theuniversity president, who is directly responsible and accountable to the Commissioner of Higher Education.[27]
The total operating budget for the University of Montana forfiscal year 2017 was approximately $423 million. About $149 million comes from the General Funds budget, $108 million from restricted funds, auxiliary funds ($51 million), designated funds ($44 million), and plant funds ($61 million).
Over the past 30 years,[when?] state support for higher education has dropped dramatically. In 1990, the State of Montana provided for 69% of the educational and general funds budget. It now supports 33% of the general fund or 13% of the university's operating budget. This decrease in funding has, in part, been made up by the university competing for sponsored research money with a growth from $12 million in 1994 to $88 million in 2017 and salaries as low as 3/5 the national average.[28]
The University of Montana comprises seven colleges and two professional schools:
The University of Montana is also home to a variety ofprojects, research centers, and institutes.
TheMontana Kaimin, founded in 1898, is the student-runcollege newspaper. It is independent of the university. It attracted national attention in 2009, when football coachBobby Hauck refused to take questions from the paper in retaliation for a story about an alleged assault by two Grizzly football players.[29] TheMontanan is the university's alumni magazine, published by the University Relations office.CutBank, founded in 1973 by the Creative Writing Program, is aliterary magazine.Camas: The Nature of the West, is aliterary journal run bygraduate students of the Environmental Studies Program.
KBGA (89.9 FM) is thecollege radio station.KUFM-FM is the flagship and founding station ofMontana Public Radio. Founded in 1965, its studios are located in the Broadcast Media Center, of the Performing Arts/Radio Television Center.KUFM-TV (Channel 11) is the localMontana PBS station.
| Race and ethnicity | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 70% | ||
| Two or more races | 15% | ||
| Hispanic | 6% | ||
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 3% | ||
| Unknown | 2% | ||
| Asian | 1% | ||
| Black | 1% | ||
| International student | 1% | ||
| Economic diversity | |||
| Low-income[a] | 30% | ||
| Affluent[b] | 70% | ||
A variety of student organizations exist on campus. Sevenfraternities and foursororities have chapters on campus.
The University of Montana's International Program began as the International Student club in 1924. In 1981, the Mansfield Center was established and certification inteaching of English as a second language (TESL) began.[31] As of 2010, the university has partnerships established with over 90 universities in over 40 countries. The largest number of partnership are with universities in Japan (eight), China (seven), andChile (seven).[32]
Programs onCentral and Southwest Asia were created in 1997. UM is currently the only American university offering a Bachelor of Arts in Central and Southwest Asian Studies. In September 2010, the Montana Board of Regents unanimously approved the creation of the Center for the Study of Central and Southwest Asia at the University of Montana.[33][34][35]
The athletic teams are nicknamed theMontana Grizzlies ("Lady Griz" is used when referring to the women's basketball team; all other women's teams are known as the "Griz"). The university has competed in theNCAA'sBig Sky Conference since the conference was formed in 1963. From 1924 to 1950, the University of Montana was a member of thePacific Coast Conference (precursor to today'sPac-12). The University of Montana has an ongoingrivalry with Montana State University, most notably the cross-state football matchups, known as the "Brawl of the Wild", but also includes the cross-state club lacrosse matchup, known as the "Copper Cup".
Programs include:
Other intercollegiate sports include men's and women'scross country, women's golf, men's and women's track and field, men's and women'sindoor track and field, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball and women's soccer. In 2015 UM added women's softball.
Intramural sports include men'slacrosse (won 2007 national championship in their division, MCLA-B) and women'slacrosse, the Alpine Ski Team (went to the national championships in winter 2006),rowing, dance and cheer, men's and women'sice hockey, men's soccer, the Woodsman Team,rodeo, the MissoulaFootbag Alliance.triathlon, cycling,fencing, JestersRugby, and Betterside Women's Rugby.
Themascot of the university isMonte, a Grizzly Bear. In 1897, a live bear cub traveled with UM's football team, then known as the "Bears" (the "Grizzlies" name was adopted in 1923). Numerous live bear cubs who served as university mascots, first namedTeddy, thenFessy and finally, in the 1960s,Cocoa. UM's costumed mascot during the 1980s, dubbedOtto, donned a variety of fun-loving outfits to entertain crowds at Grizzly football games. Monte (short forMontana) was born in the mountains of Missoula in the fall 1993. The 2002–03 and 2004–05 National Champion Mascot of the Year (Capital One/ESPN) has evolved into a "motorcycle-riding,break-dancing, back flipping,slam-dunking, movie-making,crowd-surfing,goal post smashing, prank-pulling superstar."[36]
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46°51′36″N113°59′07″W / 46.86000°N 113.98528°W /46.86000; -113.98528
