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2011-2012 University Catalog 2011-2012 University Catalog |
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- Mission Statement
- History
- University Administration
- New Orleans
- Undergraduate College and Schools
- H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute
- Graduate Education
- Accreditation
- General Policies
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Mission Statement
Tulane’s purpose is to create, communicate, and conserve knowledge in order to enrich the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to think, to learn, and to act and lead with integrity and wisdom.
Tulane pursues this mission by cultivating an environment that focuses on learning and the generation of new knowledge; by expecting and rewarding teaching and research of extraordinarily high quality and impact; and by fostering community-building initiatives as well as scientific, cultural and social understanding that integrate with and strengthen learning and research. This mission is pursued in the context of the unique qualities of our location in New Orleans and our continual aspiration to be a truly distinctive international university.
History
Tulane University, one of the foremost independent national universities in the South, is ranked among the top quartile of the nation’s most highly selective universities. With ten schools and colleges that range from the liberal arts and sciences through a full spectrum of professional schools, Tulane gives its 11,000 students a breadth of choice equaled by few other independent universities in the country.
Tulane University’s ten academic divisions enroll approximately 5,500 undergraduates and about 4,800 graduate and professional students. The schools of Architecture, Business, Liberal Arts, and Science and Engineering offer both undergraduate and graduate programs. Other divisions include the Schools of Law, Medicine, Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Social Work, and Continuing Studies. All divisions except the medical complex, which includes a teaching hospital and clinic, are located on Tulane’s 110-acre campus in uptown New Orleans.
The University’s origins trace back to the founding of the Medical College of Louisiana, the Deep South’s first medical school, in 1834. Classes started the next year when 11 students and seven faculty members met in a rented hall; students paid for instruction by the lecture. Born of the desperate need for competent medical care in this region and of the founders’ dedication to study and treat “the peculiar diseases which prevail in this part of the Union,” the college quickly earned recognition.
Soon the medical college merged with the public University of Louisiana in New Orleans, adding a law department and a “collegiate” department that became Tulane College. The university continued building a national reputation. J. L. Riddell, professor of chemistry, built the first successful binocular microscope in 1852. The medical department faculty fought for improved public health and sanitation; and, in 1857, Christian Roselius, an early graduate of the collegiate and law departments, was appointed Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The Civil War forced the University to close. After the war, the University reopened in financial trouble. Total assets, excluding buildings, totaled $4,570.39 in 1866. In the early l880s, Paul Tulane provided a permanent solution by donating more than $1 million “for the promotion and encouragement of intellectual, moral, and industrial education.” Tulane had made his fortune in New Orleans before returning to his native Princeton, New Jersey; his gift expressed his appreciation to the city.
The 17-member board authorized to administer the Tulane Educational Fund decided to revitalize the struggling University of Louisiana instead of founding a new institution. Paul Tulane concurred, and in 1884, the Louisiana legislature gave the University of Louisiana to the administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund. Tulane University of Louisiana, a private, non-sectarian institution, was born.
As a result of its new strength, the University was able to create the Department of Philosophy and Science, which later became the Graduate School, and initiate courses in architecture and engineering. In 1886, Josephine Louise Newcomb founded Newcomb College as a memorial to her daughter, Harriott Sophie. Newcomb was the first degree-granting women’s college in the nation to be established as a coordinate division of a men’s university. It became the model for other coordinate women’s colleges, including Barnard and Radcliffe Newcomb’s founding is linked with the World’s Industrial and Cotton Exposition which opened in Audubon Park in 1884. Several artisans who came to the New Orleans Exposition to exhibit their own work and see the works of others stayed to establish the arts program, which was at the heart of Newcomb’s early curriculum. By the early 1900s, Newcomb pottery had won a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition, its fame had spread across the nation, and young women were engaged in the unusual task of earning an independent living.
In 1894, Tulane moved to its present campus on St. Charles Avenue, five miles by streetcar from its former site in downtown New Orleans. At about the same time, the Richardson Memorial Building was built on Canal Street to house the medical school. Some medical classes were moved to the uptown campus, but clinical teaching remained downtown. The medical school was split between campuses until a major reorganization in the 1960s.
For a quarter of a century, Newcomb College had been on Washington Avenue in the Garden District. In 1918 it, too, moved uptown to join other divisions of the university.
Around the turn of the century, Tulane’s curriculum grew as several new professional schools were established, including the Deep South’s first schools of architecture, business, and social work. City officials frequently consulted the College of Technology, which became the School of Engineering, on construction techniques and soil conditions. Engineering alumnus A. Baldwin Wood designed the famous Wood screw pump that helps drain New Orleans in times of torrential rains and flooding. The first student yearbook, Jambalaya, and the first Tulanian, the alumni magazine, were published. The Alumni Association was founded with 800 members, and significant contributions to the University financed new buildings, library holdings, and research facilities. The Middle American Research Institute, founded in 1924, became a pioneer in Central American archaeology and anthropology, excavating and restoring the Mayan village of Dzibilchaltun in the Yucatan.
Since then, research in many disciplines has flowered through the establishment of research centers, including: the Murphy Institute of Political Economy, the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Bioenvironmental Research, the Tulane Museum of Natural History, and the Amistad Research Center, curator of one of the largest collections in the world of primary source material on American ethnic groups, especially African-Americans.
As early as the 1890s, Tulane offered free lectures and classes to the New Orleans community. This commitment to community service was reaffirmed in 1942 with the founding of University College, now the School of Continuing Studies, which offers adult education and sponsors the annual Summer School.
After World War II, Tulane’s Graduate School and the professional programs continued to grow. The university was elected to the Association of American Universities, a select group of over 60 universities with “pre-eminent programs of graduate and professional education and scholarly research.” The Tulane Medical Center, now the Health Sciences Center, was established in 1969 to include the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and the Tulane University Medical Center Hospital and Clinic. The Health Sciences Center also administers the Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington, Louisiana; the F. Edward Hebert Riverside Research Center in Belle Chasse, Louisiana; and the International Collaboration in Infectious Diseases Research (ICIDR) Program in Cali, Colombia.
By their very nature, universities are organic, constantly changing in reaction to their people, their immediate environment, and the educational climate in general. Most change occurs slowly, over time; unless, of course, something happens—a hurricane, for example—to speed the process.
In the fall of 2005, following the nation’s worst national disaster—Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding—Tulane University was confronted with unprecedented challenges and, if those challenges could be mastered, tremendous opportunities. The administration and the Board of Tulane University were faced redefining and renewing the university for the future. University President Scott Cowen called the resulting plan “the most significant reinvention of a university in the United States in over a century.”
The plan outlined four characteristics that define Tulane University:
- by its world-class educational and research programs.
- by its unique relationship to the culturally rich and diverse city of New Orleans, characterized by its great waterways.
- by its historical strengths and ability to strategically redefine itself in light of the disaster in ways that will ultimately benefit the Tulane community, New Orleans and other communities around the globe.
- by its financial strength and viability.
With these four characteristics in mind, an intensive examination of the university’s organizational structure was undertaken and ways of maximizing organizational efficiency were identified. The resulting renewal plan has at its center:
- a focus on an exceptional undergraduate program that is campus- and student-centric and a dedication to the holistic development of students.
- a core that is surrounded and strengthened by superb graduate, professional and research programs that build on the university’s historical strengths and distinctive characteristics.
Tulane’s programs were shaped by the university’s direct experience with the unprecedented natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina, and the experience provided faculty, staff and students with equally unprecedented research, learning and community service opportunities that have had a lasting and profound impact on them, the city of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast region, and other world communities.
University Administration
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Scott S. Cowen |
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D.B.A., George Washington University |
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President of the University |
Michael Bernstein |
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Ph.D., Yale University |
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Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost |
Ana M. López |
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Ph.D., University of Iowa |
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Associate Provost |
Brian Mitchell |
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Ph.D., University of Wisconsin |
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Associate Provost |
Newcomb-Tulane College
James M. MacLaren |
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Ph.D., Imperial College, University of London |
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Dean |
Amjad Ayoubi |
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Ph.D., Oklahoma State University |
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Associate Dean and Director of Career Services and Academic Advising |
F. Thomas Luongo |
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Ph.D., Notre Dame |
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Associate Dean and Executive Director of the Honors Program |
Mary Ann Maguire |
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Ph.D., Stanford University |
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Associate Dean |
Andrew Martinez |
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Ph.D., Princeton University |
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Associate Dean |
Molly Travis
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Ph.D., The Ohio State University |
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Associate Dean and Executive Director of the Center for Global Education |
School of Architecture
Kenneth Schwartz |
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M.Arch., Cornell University |
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Dean |
Elizabeth Gamard |
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M.Arch., Yale |
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Associate Dean |
A.B. Freeman School of Business
Angelo DeNisi |
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Ph.D., Purdue University |
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Dean |
Michael Hogg |
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J.D., M.B.A., Tulane University |
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Associate Dean |
School of Continuing Studies
Richard A. Marksbury |
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Ph.D., Tulane University |
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Dean |
Terrence W. Fitzmorris |
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Ph.D., Louisiana State University |
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Associate Dean for Academic Affairs |
John Olson |
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M.S., University of South Alabama |
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Assistant Dean |
School of Law
David Meyer |
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J.D., University of Michigan |
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Dean |
Stephen Griffin |
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J.D., University of Kansas |
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Vice Dean |
School of Liberal Arts
Carole Haber |
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Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania |
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Dean |
School of Science and Engineering
Nicholas J. Altiero |
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Ph.D., University of Michigan |
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Dean |
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Gary L. McPherson |
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Ph.D., University of Illinois |
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Senior Associate Dean |
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Carol Burdsal |
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Ph.D., Duke |
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Associate Dean for Graduate Programs (on leave) |
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Russ Schmehl |
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Ph.D., North Carolina |
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Interim Associate Dean for Graduate Programs |
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Beth Wee |
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Ph.D., Michigan State University |
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Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs |
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School of Social Work
Ronald Marks |
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Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.W., University of Pittsburgh |
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Dean |
Jane Parker |
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M.S.W., University of Southern Mississippi |
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Associate Dean |
Health Sciences Center
Benjamin Sachs |
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M.D., St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School |
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Senior Vice President for Health Sciences |
School of Medicine
Benjamin Sachs |
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M.D., St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School |
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Senior Vice President for Health Sciences |
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Pierre Buekens |
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M.D., Ph.D., Free University of Brussels |
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Dean |
Libraries & Academic Information Resources
Lance Query |
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Ph.D., Indiana University |
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Dean |
Student Affairs
Michael H. Hogg |
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J.D., M.B.A., Tulane University |
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Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students |
Carolyn Barber-Pierre |
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M.A., Bowling Green State University |
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Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of Student Programs |
Todd H. Schill |
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Ed.D., University of Virginia |
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Assistant Vice-President for Student Affairs for Housing/Residence Life |
Mary McGuire |
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M.Ed., Bowling Green State University |
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Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Student Centers |
Enrollment Management
Earl Retif |
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J.D., Loyola University of New Orleans |
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Vice President for Enrollment Management and Dean of Admission and Registrar |
David Seaver |
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M.Ed., Harvard University |
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Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management Recruitment and Assessment |
Laurie Lagonegro |
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M.B.A., Tulane University |
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Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management Student Information Systems |
Technology Services
Charles McMahan |
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Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer |
New Orleans
Tulane students find that the City of New Orleans is a source of learning and intellectual challenge. “The test of a first-rate intelligence,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald, “is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” New Orleans can offer such a test, for in few American cities today do the past and the future unite so intensely.
New Orleans was founded because of its location near the mouth of the Mississippi River. As a port and strategic outpost, the area has played an important role in American history and the economy.
Governed in the past by the French and the Spanish, the city still expresses this European influence in its architecture, food, and way of life. Mixed with these cultural elements and the strong African, Cajun, Caribbean, Creole and traditions are newer influences to the community: German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Spanish, and Vietnamese peoples who have brought new diversity to the city. These added components increase the diversity of the city’s rich historical and cultural heritage, combining the best of the Old World with the New.
New Orleans is a city of local delights. New Orleanians are fascinated by their food, a cuisine enriched by the African, French, Indian, and Spanish cultures. The wonder of the food is that it can be excellent not only in the well-known restaurants of the French Quarter but in dozens of lesser-known neighborhood restaurants as well. New Orleans’ music is as distinctive as its food. It is the hometown of not just Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, but Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, the Marsalis family, the Neville Brothers, and Lee Dorsey. Both of these local delights are known and loved all over the world but are at their best at home.
This rich mixture of history is celebrated often and heartily, most notably in the great street festival and social pageant known as Mardi Gras. Carnival lasts two weeks, but its spirit lingers through the year. Mardi Gras beads hang from car mirrors, balconies, and every other conceivable location. The city also takes pride in its symphony orchestra, opera, art museums, theaters, professional sports, zoo, aquarium, and attractions uniquely its own, such as Jazz Fest, sailing on Lake Pontchartrain, riverboats on the Mississippi, and late night cups of cafe au lait. New Orleanians cultivate their capacity to enjoy their own physical and cultural environment. If it is possible to learn that kind of appreciation, New Orleans is the place to do it.
Undergraduate College and Schools
Beginning in 2006, the Newcomb-Tulane College has administrative oversight for the full-time undergraduate experience and the common core curriculum. The Newcomb-Tulane College comprises all full-time undergraduate programs at the university, including those in architecture, business, liberal arts, public health and tropical medicine, and science and engineering. When a student designates a major, whether that decision is made upon admission or before the end of spring semester of the sophomore year, the student also will be considered a student in the school that houses that major. Ultimately, students simultaneously will be in the Newcomb-Tulane College and a school. For example, a student who majors in cell and molecular biology is in the School of Science and Engineering and the Newcomb-Tulane College. The School of Continuing Studies oversees programs for part-time students.
With this distinctive academic arrangement, students have access to diverse interdisciplinary opportunities and research resources. Tulane has one of the widest combined degree selections available at any university, including joint-degree programs among liberal arts, sciences, engineering, architecture, or business; and between engineering and business at the undergraduate level.
Tulane’s 8-to-1 ratio of students to faculty members, combined with the university’s commitment to excellence in undergraduate education, means that Tulane classrooms are places of intellectual excitement.
Faculty supervise student research projects in every subject area, making Tulane one of the few universities where students can work individually with faculty members throughout their undergraduate years, not just as seniors or graduate students.
Undergraduates make up nearly 60 percent of the student population at Tulane. They come from all 50 states and many other countries, with approximately one-third of full-time first-year students from the Northeast, one-third from the South, and one-third from the West and Midwest.
H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute
The H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute is a center offering educational and co-
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