Central Michigan University


Central Michigan University is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892, Central Michigan University has more than 20,000 students on its Mount Pleasant campus and 7,000 students enrolled online at more than 60 locations worldwide.
CMU offers 200 academic programs at the undergraduate, master's, specialist, and doctoral levels, including programs in entrepreneurship, journalism, music, audiology, teacher education, psychology, and physician assistant. The School of Engineering and Technology has ABET accredited programs in Mechanical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering. CMU has also established a College of Medicine, which opened in fall 2013. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
CMU competes in the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference in six men's and ten women's sports.

Governance

Central Michigan University is governed by a Board of Trustees, whose eight members are appointed by the Governor of Michigan and confirmed by the Michigan Senate for terms of eight years. This arrangement is provided for by the Michigan Constitution of 1963 for nearly all public universities, the three exceptions being the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University.
The Board of Trustees appoints and reviews the President of Central Michigan University, currently Robert O. Davies. The president administers the policies set by the board and serves ex officio on the board as a non-voting member. The Board of Trustees also controls university finances, including tuition, fees, and budgets, as well as university policies, ranging from missions and goals to faculty and tenure, athletics and academics, and admissions and programs. It names facilities and groups and accepts gifts from large donors, among several other duties and powers. Members of the Board of Trustees serve without compensation, but are reimbursed by the university for expenses related to their official capacity, such as travel.

Academics

CMU has eight academic divisions:
Academic work on campus is supported by the recently renovated Charles V. Park Library, which holds one million books and can seat up to 2,655 patrons at a time. The university owns and operates the Brooks Astronomical Observatory.
The university's neuroscience program was named undergraduate program of the year in 2013 by the Society for Neuroscience.

Graduate School

The Central Michigan University College of Graduate Studies provides over 70 graduate degree programs at the Master's, Specialist, or Doctoral levels. According to the National Science Foundation, CMU spent $15.6 million on research and development in 2018.

Endowed lectureships

The school's athletics programs are affiliated with NCAA Division I. CMU was a member of the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1950–1970. Almost all Central Michigan teams compete in the Mid-American Conference ; the one exception is the women's lacrosse team, newly elevated from club to full varsity status for the 2016 season.
The football program is known for producing all-stars such as Antonio Brown, & Joe Staley. Before moving up to Division I, the football team won its second NCAA Division II national championship in 1974 by defeating the University of Delaware 54 to 14. Notable Division I years include 1994, 2006, 2007, & 2009 when they won the MAC Football Championship Game. In 2009, they finished the season ranked #23 in the final AP Poll and #24 in the final Coaches Poll marking the first time that a CMU football team had ever ended the season ranked in the Top 25 at the NCAA Division I-FBS level. Since 2014, the football program has made a college bowl game, and continues to see its players set MAC records yearly.
Frequently defeating both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University in dual meets, CMU's wrestling team won its 10th straight MAC championship and seventh straight conference tournament title in 2008. The Chippewas tied for seventh at the NCAA Championships, scoring a school-record 69 points. Four individuals earned All-America honors.
Central Michigan University's women's basketball program has excelled to new levels. In 2018, the team made its way to the sweet sixteen of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament. The team beat Louisiana State University & Ohio State in the first two rounds, only to lose to Oregon in the third.
In 1958 the men's swimming and diving team was runner-up to North Central College at the second annual NAIA national meet, which was held in Muncie, Ind.

Student life

Residence life

Central Michigan University is home to 22 on-campus residence halls, arranged in four areas throughout the campus. In 2006, the 21st and 22nd residence halls on campus opened in the East complex.
All residence halls except for some Barnes Hall rooms, Robinson Hall, Celani, Fabiano and the remaining Towers are two-bedroom suites designed for 4 or 5 persons. The Original Towers, nine-story high-rise residence halls designed primarily for freshmen, feature one-bedroom suites. The New Towers, as well as Fabiano and Celani, are designed primarily for upperclassmen, and are four-bedroom suites. Robinson Hall and the original section of Barnes are the only residence halls designed for double occupancy. Residents of both the New Towers, Celani, Fabiano, pay an additional charge over the standard room and board rate.
Each district is connected to one of four Residential Restaurants. The Towers features the RFoC, or Real Food on Campus, and the East Complex features the Fresh Food Company. Each area also has an after hours snack shop. Only Barnes Hall, the oldest residence hall at CMU, is not directly connected to a residential restaurant. The original section of Barnes Hall is also the only part of any residence hall on campus that has community bathrooms.
Some residence halls are designated as official Residential Colleges, associated with a particular academic department, allowing students who choose to live there opportunities for study and collaboration with other students from similar programs.
CMU offers only co-ed residence halls, with Sweeney Hall converting from females only in the fall of 2010. Since the Fall 2005 semester, Calkins Hall, home of the Business residential college, is co-educational, after a long history of being females only. The other residence halls are either co-ed by building or by floor. In the fall of 2007, Beddow and Thorpe Halls became co-ed due to a decline in students requesting to live in single-gender residence halls. In the fall of 2009, Merrill Hall was added as a co-ed residence hall, leaving Sweeney Hall to be the only same gender hall on campus.
Construction began on two more buildings, Celani and Fabiano, near the East Quad in the spring of 2005. The buildings are somewhat similar in design to the New Towers which opened in 2003. On December 1, 2005, one of the buildings was named The Ben and Marion Celani Residence hall to recognize the generosity of Detroit area businessman Thomas Celani and his wife Vicki. On April 20, 2006, the remaining building was named the Fabiano Family Residence Hall, recognizing their contribution to the school. John S. Fabiano served on the board of trustees 1999–2004, and also owns the Fabiano Brothers Inc, an alcohol distribution company. These two new halls opened for the fall semester of 2006, along with a new Residential Restaurant to serve the residents of the six East Area halls.

Greek life

CMU recognizes academic, social, and professional Greek organizations which comply with university rules and regulations such as its anti-hazing policies. Currently, in the social realm, there consists of 12 fraternities and 12 sororities. Other Greek life organizations that pertain to honors, degrees, and multicultural backgrounds have formed as well throughout the years. Each is unique to their own roots, and provides a great networking opportunity for students at the university.
Recognized Fraternities:
Recognized Sororities:
Professional Fraternities:
Honor Societies:
The campus' student-run newspaper is Central Michigan Life. The paper is published every Thursday during the academic year and www.cm-life.com, which receives 1 million page views per year, is updated daily. CM Life was named one of the top three non-daily newspapers in the nation for 2007, 2018, 2019 by the Society of Professional Journalists. It also was named the best college newspaper in Division I in Michigan eight of the past 10 years. CM Life has been named winner of the National Pacemaker Awards by Associated Collegiate Press in 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1989, 1990, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, 2019. It also was a finalist for the first time for an online Pacemaker in 2010.
CM-Life has come in first place for the Best College Media Company in the nation seven years in a row by College Media Business and Advertising Managers organization.
There are also two student-run college radio stations, FM 91.5 WMHW and FM 101.1, a student produced newscast, News Central 34, and a student-run college television station MHTV. In 2005, a student-operated music label called Moore Media Records was established.
In addition, the university owns and operates WCMU-TV, the region's PBS station, and WCMU-FM, the NPR affiliate. Both stations serve most of Northern Michigan, including the eastern Upper Peninsula, through a network of repeater stations.
Also established in 2003 is White Pine Music, the recording label of the CMU School of Music.
On February 2, 2008, Central Michigan University's online magazine, Grand Central Magazine, was launched. Currently updated weekly, the magazine is run through CMU's Department of Journalism and features magazine style features from the world of sports, entertainment, style, technology and travel.

Shooting

On March 2, 2018, 19-year-old student James Eric Davis Jr. shot and killed his mother and father when they came to campus to take him home for spring break. After the shooting Davis fled and the campus was placed on lockdown. Around 15 hours later police arrested him and took him to a local hospital. The incident disrupted the travel plans of students and campus activities for several days. Davis was charged with two counts of murder and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm used to commit murder, and was later determined to be not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a psychiatric institution.