Welcome to Eastern Michigan University. This institution's proud heritage has now become YOUR future - a future in which to learn and grow, to advance toward a career and service, and to seek counsel and advice. Here you will find new friends from Michigan, other states, and around the world.
EMU's focal point is southeastern Michigan - an area surrounded by small cities and towns of which its hometown, Ypsilanti, with 25,000 people, is one. Thirty miles to the east is Detroit, industrial and business hub of the Great Lakes; and an equal distance to the south is Toledo, northernmost city on the Ohio border and a new area of student growth.
Advantageous to all students are not only the cultural activities of the metropolitan areas, both within a 45-minute drive from the campus, but also the resources of its sister city, Ann Arbor, home of The University of Michigan. EMU offers its own cultural opportunities through the artistic accomplishments of its students in theatre and drama, extensive music and fine arts programs, and also its Office of Campus Life, which brings well known speakers and entertainers to its auditoriums and classrooms.
The campus is close enough to home for many students to commute, but both nearby and far-distant students choose to live in EMU's dormitories and apartment complexes.
Major highways crisscross the southeastern Michigan area, bus service is available within and from outside Ypsilanti, and Detroit Metropolitan Airport is 30 minutes away. Feeder highways are I-94, which borders Ypsilanti, and US-23, which passes between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, connecting with the Ohio Turnpike to the south and other interstate highways to the north. I-275 provides quick and convenient access from Detroit's northwestern suburbs. More than half the population of the state of Michigan lives within 50 miles of EMU's campus. (See map).
Prospective students desiring to visit the campus are greeted by EMU's University Ambassadors Society, which provides tours and arranges visits with faculty in fields of interest to high school or transfer students. Orientation is provided for all incoming students.
Once on campus, the University catalog becomes the student's bible of information as personal programs are planned with the help of University counselors and faculty advisers.
Eastern Michigan University is a multipurpose university whose roots date back to 1849, when the State Legislature designated it as Michigan's first institution to educate teachers to serve the public schools. At that time, the Detroit school system was only 10 years old and the transition from one-room schoolhouses had just begun.
For its first 100 years, Michigan State Normal School, as EMU was conceived, certified thousands of teachers and developed the broad-based academic curricula that prepared it for its evolution to university status in 1959. Within the new university, three colleges emerged: the College of Education, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School. The University expanded again in 1964 with a College of Business, in 1975 with a College of Health and Human Services, and in 1980 with a College of Technology.
New colleges precipitated the need for additional acreage. The university campus expanded from its original 275 acres on the south side of the Huron River to an additional 182 acres west of the campus primarily for student residences and athletic facilities. Among the newest buildings on campus are the Olds/Robb Student Recreation Center, opened in the fall of 1982 to provide needed recreational and intramural activities for the growing student body; the Sponberg Theatre addition to the Quirk Building, dedicated in January 1986; and the Coatings Research Building, opened in fall 1987. EMU's campus also extends into downtown Ypsilanti, where its new College of Business building is located.
Student enrollment continued to increase in the 1980s. The rapid college matriculation experienced in the late 1960s peaked in 1970 at 19,965, stabilized at 18,500 plus in 1979, and then began its upward climb again, totaling 25,936 in the fall of 1991. The 1993 Higher Education Directory lists EMU as the 50th largest university.
Today's student body represents both full-time and part-time students, indicative of the national trend of mature adults returning to complete their college education and to prepare for new careers in a changing society. Women comprise almost 60 percent of EMU's student body. Many students work part-time and others are assisted by EMU's Office of Financial Aid in work -study programs to meet the costs of a college education.
Included in the geographic distribution of EMU undergraduates in 1993-94 were 90.1 percent from the state of Michigan, 6.7 percent from out-of-state, and 3.2 percent who listed citizenship from countries other than the United States. Approximately 79 percent of the students from other states were from Ohio, largely because of a reciprocity tuition plan.
Program development has consistently adapted to the needs of entering and returning students as the world greets the new era of high technology. College faculty as well as college students are becoming computer literate. More opportunities are being offered to those seeking practical experience through business -industry internships and cooperative education experiences. Courses are provided in approximately 180 fields of study for the ever-diversifying student body.
EMU's perspective also has grown larger, not only in on-campus program developments but also in regular or special courses offered in 14 counties through its Office of Continuing Education and in cooperative agreements with nearby community colleges. The Office of International Studies plans spring/summer travel -study credit programs abroad and student-faculty exchanges with the University of Warwick, the Bulmershe College of Higher Education, and Nonington College, all in England.
In addition, the Corporate Education Center provides a vital link between research theory and practical application as it is called upon by businesses, schools, industries, and agencies to lend its expertise.
Eastern Michigan University today is known world-wide for its educational contributions. Its 125,000 graduates are scattered among many countries as well as coast-to-coast in the United States, both strengthening and supporting the foundation that is the multipurpose university in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Eastern Michigan University is committed to distinguishing itself as a comprehensive educational institution that prepares people and organizations to adapt readily to a changing world. Central to this mission are:
Eastern Michigan University's mission and philosophy are built upon shared values that define and nourish the intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic environment.
These values are:
The University's principal responsibility is to provide academic programs in a learning environment that promotes academic and personal excellence.
The University, in all of its activities, encourages the achievement of excellence by all members of its various constituencies.
The University recognizes that wisdom, sound judgment, tolerance, and respect for other persons, cultures, and ideas are hallmarks of an educated person.
The University seeks to demonstrate, through all its programs and activities, appreciation of human diversity and to maintain an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect that will nourish human liberty and democratic citizenship.
The University promotes and encourages continual research and creative activity by all its constituencies. Through such activity, participants remain intellectually alive, expand their fields of knowledge, enrich learning experiences, and bring academic recognition to the community. The intellectual and personal growth of individuals is a central purpose. Knowledge and learning are both the University's products and its processes.
The University is committed to providing opportunities for learners of varying interests, abilities, backgrounds, and expectations.
It seeks to attract, serve, and accommodate a highly qualified and pluralistic student body, drawn from a variety of ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds and to make a special effort to provide access to the campus' educational opportunities for non-traditional students and underrepresented populations.
The University strives to create and nurture a community that fosters mutual trust and respect for the open and amicable expression of differences.
The University endeavors to provide service for the public good. It encourages all constituents to be concerned about the welfare of humanity and to engage in public service.
The University is committed to developing and strengthening collaborative initiatives with the industrial, business, civic, and educational world.
The University respects and protects personal and academic freedom. It seeks to provide an environment that facilitates involvement in intellectual and cultural activities and encourages formal and informal interaction between and among students, faculty, staff, administration, and community.
Intellectual, academic, financial, and operational integrity are critical to the University's survival and effectiveness.
The University strives to provide leadership in addressing the educational and social issues confronting the people and organizations in our society.
It promotes leadership and development activities that enhance educational and industrial opportunities for meeting this charge.
The University community is empowered to do what is right and necessary to achieve the University's mission.
The University is dedicated to improving the quality of life within the global community it serves through teaching, contract learning, research, and service.
As an integral part of the state-supported public education system, the University is responsible for providing leadership in developing creative, innovative, and collaborative approaches to meet learning and research demands created as a result of a dramatically changing world.
The University recognizes that an educated populace is the essential ingredient for the successful improvement of humankind. It is dedicated to:
The University seeks to provide an intellectual, social, and cultural environment that attracts, serves, and empowers a pluralistic community.
Guiding principles form the framework against which the University tests it effectiveness.
In all programs, activities, and services, the University seeks to be:
Psychological barriers that impede participation are eliminated. People and organizations are valued as the University's resources, products, and customers.
Programs and activities of the University are open to all qualified persons without regard to race, religion, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, age, national or ethnic origin, political belief, or physical handicap.
The University seeks to demonstrate, through all its programs and activities, its appreciation of human diversity and to maintain an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect that will nourish human liberty and democratic citizenship.
The University is committed to ensuring that those individuals who are qualified and who desire to participate are not discouraged from doing so because of financial resources, time restraints, or physical distance.
The University seeks to provide financial aid for all constituencies, to be sensitive to changing demands in the educational marketplace, and to deliver educational services in non-traditional ways and settings.
Programs are designed to broaden perspectives, enrich awareness, deepen understanding, establish disciplined habits of thought, respond to changes in the workplace and society, and help develop individuals who are informed, responsible citizens.
Recognizing that various constituencies have different needs, programs, activities, and services must be flexible so that all people have the opportunity to participate and to achieve their goals or purpose.
To utilize financial and human resources effectively, all programs, activities, and services should seek to develop linkages with internal and external constituencies.
The University must continue to develop new partnerships with business, industry, education, and government, to define mutual goals and benefits, and to meet its responsibilities to the global community.
Quality is the first priority in all programs, activities, and services.
Eastern Michigan University is an autonomous university governed by an eight-member Board of Regents appointed by the governor and subject to the approval of the state Senate. Financial support for the University comes from tax money paid by the people of Michigan and receipt of student tuition and fees.
Members of the Board of Regents, are James Clifton, Ypsilanti; Robert A. DeMattia, Northville, chair; Anthony A. Derezinski, Ann Arbor; Philip A. Incarnati, Linden; Mara M. Letica, Bloomfield Hills; Carl Pursell, Plymouth; and Gayle P. Thomas, Dearborn.
Policies complied with by the University affirm the admission and participatory rights of all individuals, regardless of gender, race, color, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin. These include:
Civil Rights Act: The University will work for the elimination of improper discrimination in organizations recognized by the University and in non-University sources wherein students and employees of the University are involved.
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action: The University does not discriminate in the administration of its educational and admissions policies, scholarships and loan programs. It is its practice to take affirmative action in all personnel matters.
Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972: The University complies with the athletic regulations which prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.
Americans with Disabilities Act: The University will work to ensure that students who have disabilities will receive accommodations which will equalize their ability to compete with other students in academic classes as well as physical access to student activities or university sponsored events.
Students encountering difficulty with access to full participation to University activities should contact the dean of students in 218 Goodison Hall. Individuals who believe that the University is not in compliance are invited to contact the executive director of human resources at (313) 487-1052.
Eastern Michigan University seeks an atmosphere of community, trust, and commitment among all segments of its campus - students, faculty, and staff. Its goals are to encourage instructional growth, research, scholarship, and artistic pursuits and to provide service to the local community, the state, nation, and world. It offers undergraduate programs in the colleges and departments listed below as well as graduate study in selected disciplines which may lead to the master's or specialist's degrees.
College of Arts and Sciences: African American Studies; Art; Biology (Botany, Zoology); Chemistry accredited American Chemical Society; Communication and Theatre Arts (Radio-TV-Film); Computer Science; Economics; English Language and Literature (Journalism); Foreign Languages and Bilingual Studies; Geography and Geology; History and Philosophy; Mathematics; Musicaccredited by the National Association of Schools of Music; Physics and Astronomy; Political Scienceaccredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration for its public administration programs; Psychology; Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology; Women's Studies.
College of Business: accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business; Accounting; Finance and Computer Information Systems; Management; Marketing.
College of Education: accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education for the preparation of elementary and secondary teachers and school service personnel; Leadership and Counselingaccredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs; Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Danceaccredited by the National Recreation and Parks Association for its recreation and park management curriculum; Teacher Education; Special Educationaccredited by the American Speech and Hearing Association for its Speech Pathology Program for Teachers of the Speech and Language Impaired and by the Council on Education of the Deaf for the Hearing Impaired Program.
College of Health and Human Services: Associated Health Professions (Health Administration member of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Occupational Therapyaccredited by the American Medical Association in collaboration with the American Occupational Therapy Association and National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences); Human, Environmental and Consumer Resourcesaccredited for its Dietetics Program by the American Dietetic Association and accredited by the Foundation for Interior Design Education and Research (FIDER) for its interior design program; Nursing Education accredited by the National League for Nursing; Social Workaccredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
College of Technology: Business and Technology Education (Office Technology/Administrative Management, Office Technology/Legal Assistant accredited by the American Bar Association, Office Technology/Office Automation, Marketing Education, Industrial-Vocational Education, and Technology Education Folio approved by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education/International Technology Education Association/Council on Technology Teacher Education); Industrial Technology (Construction Management accredited by American Council for Construction Education, Computer-Aided Design accredited by the National Association of Industrial Technology, and Manufacturing with concentrations in Computer-Aided Manufacturing, Manufacturing Technology, Plastics all accredited by the National Association of Industrial Technology, and Manufacturing (transfer); and Interdisciplinary Technology (Aviation Management Technology, Communication Technology, Facility Management, Industrial Distribution, Polymers and Coating Technology all accredited by the National Association of Industrial Technology, Bilingual Vocational Teacher Education, Bilingual Office Teacher Education, and Bilingual Marketing Teacher Education).