MICHIGAN, UNIVERSITY OF

state university of Michigan. It originated as a preparatory school in Detroit in 1817 and moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. It began to offer postsecondary instruction in 1841 and is now one of the leading research universities of the world. Branch campuses were opened in 1956 (Flint) and 1959 (Dearborn). Though not a land-grant university in the sense of being a product of the Morrill Act of 1862, the University of Michigan profited from federal grants of land in 1826 and 1836. Under the vigorous presidencies of Henry P. Tappan (185263), who consciously adopted European and especially German models and fostered teaching education, and James Burrill Angell (18711909), Michigan became a leader in broadening higher education. It established the first medical school west of the Alleghenies and offered the first course in American history in any college. It was among the first colleges to admit women (1870) and blacks (1868). Angell succeeded in reorganizing the university to include all the principal professional schools and a graduate school. He also broadened the curriculum to include electives. The university consists of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and of professional schools in architecture, art, business administration, dentistry, education, engineering, law, library science, medicine, music, natural resources, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and social work. Special facilities and programs include the Institute for Social Research, the Survey Research Center, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, the Phoenix Laboratory (which houses a two-megawatt nuclear reactor), a hospital complex, a broadcasting station, the Aerospace Engineering Laboratory, a naval tank for ship design studies, Great Lakes research ships and research aircraft; museums; and solar research observatories in Michigan and Hawaii.