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"Public Ivy" is an American term for state-funded institutions of higher learning with excellent academics. Author Richard Moll defined the term to mean a public institution that "provides an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education characterized them as "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."
Origins of the term The term "Public Ivy" was coined by Richard Moll in his book Public Ivys: a guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities (1985). Public Ivies are public institutions that "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price." Moll was the director of admissions at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and traveled the nation examining higher education and in particular, identified eight public institutions (same as the number of Ivy League members) that he thought had the look and feel of an Ivy League university. The term "Public Ivy" is a direct play on the term "Ivy League" which was established as an athletic conference by eight schools (Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, and Cornell University). Seven of these schools were included in the nine colonial colleges: institutions of higher learning established in the American colonies before the Declaration of Independence was published in 1776. In the 1930s, New York newspaper editors raised a discussion about these older American colleges—whom they referred to as "Ivies" or "Ivy colleges" and in 1933 with the phrase "Ivy League"—creating a formal league, or conference, to organize their competition in intercollegiate athletics. These schools, aside from their historical origins, were amongst the first to participate in athletic events against each other, starting in the mid-ninteenth century. The term "Ivy League" has evolved from the name of the athletic conference organized in 1954 to connote the cultural, societal, and institutional atmosphere that surrounds these institutions. It was a continuation of this connotation of "Ivy" that Richard Moll sought to use to apply to an collection of public colleges and universities that met the same level of academic rigor combined with this social and cultural atmosphere. The College of William and Mary, founded in 1693, and Rutgers University, founded as Queen's College in 1766, are the only institutions among the nine colonial colleges to be referred to as "public Ivies." Both, along with the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy, were considered by early sports-writers and popular culture to be included in references to the "ivy colleges" because of their age, but declined invitations to join the Ivy League athletic conference at its formation in 1954. Many of the public ivies, such as the University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin or University of Virginia are also the flagship campuses of their respective state university systems. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, established in 1789, is the oldest school that was initially organized as a public institution. The Public Ivies From Moll's Public Ivys: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities published in 1985 (school and year founded): A later book titled The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Public Universities (2001) by Howard and Matthew Greene of Greene's Guides expanded upon the list in the first book. From Greene's Guides published in 2001, additional schools: Howard Greene and Matthew Greene present a slight variant of their own list in an appendix to an earlier volume , (2000), Other schools are sometimes referred to as Public Ivies as well, partly as a result of the acceptance of the term into popular culture and in other cases as a result of marketing efforts by the colleges and universities themselves. For example, based on U. S. News and World Report rankings, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education opines that, in addition to the above, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) could also be considered a "Public Ivy". Though not included on the above lists, Murray State University includes the phrase "Kentucky's Public Ivy University" on its official logo and the State University of New York at Geneseo, part of the State University of New York system, describes itself as a "Public Ivy." Academic comparisons and rankings Moll and the Greenes did not address the issue of prestige associated with the various schools reviewed. No direct comparison was made between a Public Ivy and any other school. Many of the institutions categorized as "Public Ivies" have a large number of faculty, or alumni, who have been awarded prizes for their achievements in their respective field including the Nobel Prize (See Nobel Prize laureates by university affiliation), Fields Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize. Several schools considered by Richard Moll as well as Howard and Matthew Greene as "Public Ivies" are consistently ranked among the top schools in the multitude of surveys on American colleges and universities undertaken by U.S. News & World Report. For instance, U.S. News and World Report ranks the mechanical engineering program at University of California-Berkeley in the top three, and the top three pharmacy programs (University of California-San Francisco, University of Texas at Austin, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Also, the University of Washington's medical and nursing schools ranked first among all national universities. However, in general rankings, U.S. News and World Report consistenly ranks Ivy League institutions at the top of its lists. For example, the highest ranked Public Ivy, the University of California at Berkeley ranked 20th in the United States, while the lowest ranked Ivy League institution, Brown University, ranked 15th. Nevertheless, the refusal of both Ivy League institutions, and the Public Ivies to publish standardized test results for graduate program admissions (such as LSAT, MCAT, GMAT and GRE scores) taken by their students makes objective academic comparisons difficult. Athletic comparisons One sharp distinction between the Ivy League and most "Public Ivies" is their participation in intercollegiate athletics. One of the Ivy League's distinguishing characteristics is its prohibition on the awarding of athletic scholarships; (athletes may only receive the same need-based financial aid to which they would be entitled even if they did not play a sport). In contrast, many of the "Public Ivies" engage in widely popular, quasi-commercial athletics that, in a few cases, make significant contributions to the university's revenue. Most participate in major athletic conferences such as the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC, or Pac 10; award athletic scholarships; and rely on profits, if any, from large-scale football and men's basketball programs to support the athletic department as a whole (College of William and Mary, Miami University and University of Vermont are exceptions, as their athletic programs remain quite modest but award scholarships nonetheless). See also Citations Books | ||||||||
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