One of America’s Public Ivies, Miami University is the tenth oldest public university in the nation. This year, 2009, marks the bicentennial of the state-supported institution. Once known as the Yale of the West, Miami continually ranks high in academics, value, and student engagement. U.S. News & World Report listed Miami eighth among the nation's top universities in the 2010 edition of America's Best Colleges. Numerous over accolades are detailed here.

 

Arranged around nearly a dozen quadrangles, Miami’s campus is consistently red brick, with many buildings following modified Georgian architecture. Early buildings more commonly have red tile roofs, several of which were designed by Columbus’ Frank Packard. In the late 1930’s, Cincinnati architect Charles Cellarius entered the scene, completing a major campus plan that created Miami’s treasured South Quadrangle. Cellarius and his firm designed more than 40 buildings for the Oxford campus between 1938 and 1980, when Miami experienced unprecedented growth after the G.I. Bill and baby boom. Today, Miami continues to value its architectural consistency, most recently completing a $65 million building for the School of Business designed by leading neoclassical architect Robert A.M. Stern. Miami acquired the adjacent Western College for Women in 1973, giving the University a collection of stone and varying brick buildings; I put together a thread on Miami’s Western Campus in 2007.

 

While this is by no means a comprehensive tour of Miami’s Oxford Campus, I hope if offers you a glimpse into why this place is so untterly fantastic. On a personal note, August 19, 2005, the day I moved into 217 Dorsey Hall on the East Quadrangle of Miami University, was the first day of my life. While some incarnation of myself may have existed prior, the four years to follow would shape my philosophies and perceptions on just about every subject and context. The people I would meet would invoke within me all possible emotions, from inspiration to open disagreement, curiosity to immense adoration. Everyday brought new challenges, but also valuable lessons and unimaginable pleasure. Miami will always remain my home.

 

Love and Honor to Miami, Our College Old and Grand…

 

 

Tri Delt Sundial

 

Upham Arch

 

Irvin Hall

 

King Library

 

Scott Hall

 

Hughes Laboratories

 

New Engineering Building

 

Bachelor Hall Gates

 

McGuffey Hall

 

Recreational Sports Center

 

Millett Hall and North Quadrangle beyond Hayden Park

 

Elliott Hall

 

Brill Science Library

 

Alumni Hall

 

Sesquicentennial Chapel

 

Goggin Ice Arena

 

Bachelor Hall Courtyard

 

McCraken Hall behind South Quadrangle

 

Kreger Hall

 

New Farmer School of Business Building

 

Morris Hall

 

The Slant Walk to Uptown

 

Roudebush Hall

 

Hall Auditorium

 

Center for Performing Arts

 

Ogden Hall

Heritage Commons

 

Anderson Hall

 

Upham Hall

 

Beta Bell Tower

 

Pearson Hall

 

Bachelor Hall

 

Pulley Tower beyond Bishop Gates

 

Alumni Hall Architecture Addition

 

Dodds Hall

 

Swing Hall

 

Campus Avenue Garage

 

Hughes Laboratories

 

New Psychology Building

 

King Library

 

Alumni Hall

 

Slant Walk Gates

 

Shriver Center

 

University Seal in Hub Quadrangle

 

Interior of New Business School

 

Richard Hall

 

Withrow Courts

 

McGuffey Hall

 

Goggin Ice Arena

 

McCraken Hall

 

Upham Hall

 

Minnich Hall

 

Hub Quadrangle

 

Pearson Hall

 

Bishop Gates Inscription

 

Bell Tower Place

 

Roudebush Hall

 

Alumni Hall Rotunda

 

Hamilton Hall

 

Beautiful!  The best 4.5 years of my life were spent there...met by beautiful wife there (yes, a Miami Merger) and met many great friends!  Thanks for the pictures. 

To think in such a place, I led such a life

Beautiful campus.

Best four years of my life

I prefer Kent.

 

;)

It's no Tri-C Corporate.

A New England type campus along w/ New England high academics; a real unusual state U but a true asset to our state: nice pics.

A place where I'll likely be spending a few years....

^love your avatar, Daytonnation.  :lol:

What exactly makes a school a "Public Ivy"?  The only time I hear the term is when Miami kids say they go to one.

What exactly makes a school a "Public Ivy"?  The only time I hear the term is when Miami kids say they go to one.

 

Wikipedia provides this answer:

 

Public Ivy is a term coined by Richard Moll in his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities to refer to universities which "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price." Public Ivies are considered, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, to be capable of "successfully competing with the Ivy League schools in academic rigor... attracting superstar faculty and in competing for the best and brightest students of all races."

 

Moll, who earned his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University in 1959, was an admissions officer at Yale, and the director of admissions at Bowdoin College, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Vassar College. He traveled the nation examining higher education and in particular, identified eight public institutions (the same as the number of Ivy League members) which he thought had the look and feel of an Ivy League university. In addition to academic excellence, other factors considered by Moll included those that were visually like an Ivy League, aged as an Ivy League, had traditions like an Ivy League, and so forth.

 

 

The original eight Public Ivies list by Moll (1985):

 

College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)

Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)

University of California (all campuses)

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Texas at Austin

University of Vermont (Burlington)

University of Virginia (Charlottesville)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy

While it is a well maintained and beautiful campus, doesn't it get boring looking at buildings that all look relatively the same?  The only building that looks a little different, imo, is the Architecture building.

^1. No

 

2.  There are different styles and types of stone on Western Campus including a very contemporary art museum.

What exactly makes a school a "Public Ivy"? The only time I hear the term is when Miami kids say they go to one.

 

Yes, Richard Moll's "Public Ivies: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities", published in 1985, was the origin of this title. Moll included 6 other universities and 1 entire university system (the U of Cali system) in the book as worthy of holding this title.

 

 

It's also interesting to note that the original list that was created by Moll was quite controversial, especially because it was quite scandalous to think that Miami of Ohio and the University of Vermont were at the same level academically as UVA, UNC, and the University of Michigan. This list is still highly disputable even to this day, and although the book wasn't regarded as too credible, it still cleared the way for Miami to call itself "a Public Ivy", a thought it as an institution had already held many years prior, and created some waves in the world of thought about the prestige of colleges.

 

Still, the idea that the school should be reagrded this highly is being slowly chiseled away at by USNWR, which has just recently downgraded Miami's rank by 13 places, a larger drop than any other school in the ranking, and many college guidebooks, which debunk the studnets of Miami as (paraphrased) "a racist, snobby white-kid school", based on Princeton Review rankings and quotes from that guide among with other guides such as Fiske and College Prowler.

 

However, the school has in past and recent years woken up to such criticism, creating living-learning communities, making huge efforts to reach out to minorities and internationals, along with out of state students by new programs, inititaves, and pricing their tuition as that of a private university but including a discount for Ohio students (yeah, just different wording, but it's supposed to work). Paired with significant investment in the school by the State of Ohio, it only looks like Miami U's future can go up from here.

I assumed it had something to do with the campus, because academically speaking, Miami is not all that great.  OSU is definitely the best academic school in the state, and UC has a number of specialized departments that are top 5 in the country.  Everyone I know that applied to Miami got in, and often with a heft scholarship.  It was definitely thought of as the quintessential "safety school" at my high school, so to hear the "public ivy" thing used to often seemed weird to me.

 

Obviously Miami is no where near the level of UVA, Berkely, UCLA, Michigan, etc. which is why the campus must be a large factor.

Edale, you can certainly quibble about rankings or where Miami stands in comparison to other schools, but for you to make the blanket statement "...academically speaking, Miami is not all that great" clearly demonstrates that you're somewhat ignorant on the subject.

Having just gone through the college process just a few years ago, I am not ignorant on the subject.  US News and World Reports lists OSU as the 53rd best National College in the country, Miami comes in at 77.  Miami is a fine school, and I have plenty of friends that go there, but the way people brag about it is pretty unwarrented, IMO. It's a State school in the middle of no where, with a very homogenous student body, and decent academic programs across the board.

I was pretty lukewarm on Miami when I went there.  However, I later realized that the professors at Miami were far superior to the professors where I went to graduate school.  (Even though the grad school is rated significantly higher in the previously mentioned U.S. News and World Report rankings.)  This is the main reason I recall my Miami years with fondness—you know, the actual teaching.

Great Shots.  Go Miami!!

 

 

Edale, since you are so "big" into rankings (which I am not...they tend to be subjective and not very scientific) Business Weeks' fourth annual survey of business schools ranks Miami's b -school the 6th best undergrad program among public schools in the nation...18th best of all schools (public and private).  I am sure Ink could give you further examples of other programs since he just graduated (when I was there systems was one of the best programs in the nation as was paper tech).  Pretty "decent" huh.

 

You will find that in most professional schools (law and med) in the midwest Miami will be the second or third ranked feeder school (after that particular school itself).  I went to Case law school and year after year Miami is the second ranked feeder school (after Case)...I am pretty sure that is also the case at OSU law school and probably UC.  I have been in the business world for more than 25 years.  Employers drool over Miami grads...you may not get the job but going to Miami gets you in the door. 

^Fair enough, but where exactly do employers drool over Miami grads? Maybe that is the case in Ohio, but most of the country outside of Ohio doesn't even know Miami exists, and is probably indifferent to Miami grads as they are with any other school that draws primarily from one region.

 

I honestly have no problem with Miami aside from the arrogance of most Miami students.  The campus is beautiful, and as I have said before it's a perfectly fine school.

While it is a well maintained and beautiful campus, doesn't it get boring looking at buildings that all look relatively the same? The only building that looks a little different, imo, is the Architecture building.

 

I have rarely heard this complaint, but that is the trade off for architectural consistency, I suppose. In reality, though, the buildings vary greatly due to the long timespan over which the campus was constructed (1825 to 2009). The pre-Cellarius buildings (i.e.Alumni, Bishop, McGuffey, Ogden, Irvin, Swing, etc.) are significantly varied from the modified Georgian standard that the campus now follows. Throw in Western Campus with its stone buildings, the contemporary art museum, and a surrounding town that does not try to replicate campus, and you add even more architectural variety.

1) Love quandrangles...all of them.

2) The new business school looks gorgeous inside and out.

3)

   

^If the dude in the picture above was holding a can of Miller Lite in his right hand and Lexus keys in his left, that would sum up the social atmosphere.

Stately, but I find the conservative reputation off-putting. Still, a very nice campus.

Incredible campus.  I love all the red brick.

 

The birthplace of my old fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.  Shame on you for not getting photos of it!

Stately, but I find the conservative reputation off-putting. Still, a very nice campus.

 

I know that Miami has a conservative reputation (as well as a large population of affluent students and high participation in groups like College Republicans and Campus Crusade), but I found Oxford to offer a very liberal environment. The faculty, just as in most institutions of higher learning, leaned to the left and, anecdotally, I never found conservative thinking to be dominant (except, maybe among the business students). Personally, I went in with a very conservative mindset and emerged a liberal.

 

The birthplace of my old fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.  Shame on you for not getting photos of it!

 

Check out this thread:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,11725.0.html

Best campus in the MAC, no doubt...nobody even comes close. Buisness school looks beautiful!  I always enjoy traveling there for a game vs. the Zips, very nice environment to watch a football game in the fall.

Best campus in the MAC, no doubt...nobody even comes close.

 

I think Ohio University comes close; the architecture is not as consistent as Miami's, but the campus is still very attractive and has a great natural setting.

^I would agree that Athens can be a more interesting town than Oxford with its hills and the Hocking, but I do not think Ohio University runs circles around Miami. Athens does have a better downtown and greater density, but Athens is also a county seat which gives it the courthouse and greater regional importance than Oxford. Architecturally, Miami did not sway from its modified Georgian template, while OU has a couple mistakes (ie. Alden Library, Morton Hall, Glidden Hall, etc.). OU's residence halls are much less detailed as well, although they are still attractive red brick structures. As far as history, I am not convinced that the two oldest public universities in the state--established just five years apart--vary in history to a notable degree.

^Agreed.

 

Kenyon boasts fantastic architecture as well; but they are on a totally different scale than Ohio or Miami.

^Age of the school, beauty, academic standards, networking potential, rich kids, etc.

 

Miami University was the first school to have that term describe them. It has also been used for the University of Michigan (reference to its academics) and Ohio University (reference to its age, beauty, Harvard layout). Your average run of the mill, ugly, post-1850 public university typically can't be a Public Ivy. Only the most established, most historic, and most beautiful public universities can ever be honored as such.

 

I think today it has more to do with networking than hard academics. Hence why Miami still takes the crown. Almost all the kids come from 100k+ households and the business school is dominant in the Chicago scene. Basically, no school is better in Ohio for meeting the sons and daughters of wealthy businessmen. The potential for networking at Miami is on a Northwestern level, no joke. Going to Miami can pay off in ways academic rankings can't possibly measure. If I went to Miami, I'd join one of the Triad frats, join the CR's, go to class just enough to graduate with a 2.5 GPA in finance, spend the bulk of my time networking, then move to Chicago and use my connections to land a job with a bailout bank.

actually, isn't SUNY Binghamton considered a Public Ivy? (I once worked with a guy who went there and he never passed up an opportunity to boast of its academic prowess :roll: then again, he was a business major!) But based on the pictures I've seen of the campus, it's pretty bland, if not downright ugly! lol

Stately, but I find the conservative reputation off-putting. Still, a very nice campus.

 

I know that Miami has a conservative reputation (as well as a large population of affluent students and high participation in groups like College Republicans and Campus Crusade), but I found Oxford to offer a very liberal environment. The faculty, just as in most institutions of higher learning, leaned to the left and, anecdotally, I never found conservative thinking to be dominant (except, maybe among the business students). Personally, I went in with a very conservative mindset and emerged a liberal.

 

 

that old rep was more about the students at miami than the college itself, which the faculty was and i'm sure still is overall no different from any of the other ohio state u's. you only really get deep into that far leaning conservative/liberal, whatever kind of thing with the small private college faculties. even then it usually only goes dept by dept in most cases, unless we're talking oral roberts or brigham young or something like that.

 

Well, I've been to both Miami and Ohio, and I like Miami a lot more.  I love the type and consistency in the architecture, the spread out campus, the landscape and man, no contest on where to watch a football game!  Yeager is WAY better than Peden....I don't care how old Peden is.  I do have to say that the commercial district of Athens appears more lively than Oxford, though I have only made trips there for Akron FB games. 

I thought C-Dawg might enjoy this one...

 

Response to OU editorial

Brett Snyder

Issue date: 3/20/09

 

To the Ohio University Post's Editorial Board:

 

I write in response to your Feb. 25 editorial ("We do it better: As OU's biggest rivalry heats up, Miami is still anything but cool"), which haphazardly assailed Miami University. Our student paper's editorial board refused to pen a response, the reasoning being something about having class and a shred of decency. It's sad the only program worth attending at OU (didn't get into Miami?!) can only produce a muddled, unfunny challenge to our university's prestige. As a favor, I will demonstrate how it's done properly:

 

My cheating ex-girlfriend attends OU. We broke up because she is stupid and ugly. I only call her cheating because she is a student in the engineering department. For her term paper she even copied former graduate students' misspellings.

 

I recently ran into an old high school friend, who went to OU, at the local Bath and Body Works, where he works. I pretended to be interested as he explained why OU's girls' volleyball team is better than Miami's. "We're rivals, you know?" No, I didn't. The average Miami student thinks our rivals are the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Notre Dame University, Ohio State University again and then OU, in that order. You can be our rival when you get a hockey team. Maybe if your university's president had turned down that bonus…

 

I often hear from my cousin that the Halloween party in Athens is "off the hook." I asked her how many friends she invites into town to share in the festivities. "Just one. The university only gives me one guest wristband!" Nothing says wild and crazy like letting your administration put attendance quotas on your parties.

 

In your article, you mention Green Beer Day as a Miami student's day to wear green and pretend we go to OU. Okay I'll bite. We imagine you do start most weekdays with copious amounts of alcohol in an effort to numb the pain of living in Appalachia. Hooray for vomiting into urinals! The janitor at Skipper's confirmed this is indeed an OU tradition (class of '86 BTW). Oh, and speaking of accomplished OU alumni, those two guys who made Enzyte, the penis enhancement pill that was really just a placebo-they were Bobcats.

 

Finally, in response to your article's mention of our university's old mascot: Yes, the name Redskins is belittling and politically incorrect. So we changed our name, and we currently work with the Miami tribe to restore their language, display their artwork and offer scholarships for their young people. How fortunate Native Americans never inhabited the area around Athens, Ohio, knowing the land would some day be needed for an average academic institution serving middle-class, stoned, suburban underachievers.

 

Do I even need to touch on average SAT scores?

 

Take a shower to wash this one off. It would be your first in a few days.

 

www.miamistudent.net/media/storage/paper776/news/2009/03/20/Amusement/Response.To.Ou.Editorial-3677649.shtml]http://media.www.miamistudent.net/media/storage/paper776/news/2009/03/20/Amusement/Response.To.Ou.Editorial-3677649.shtml