The University of Dayton (UD) is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
,
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
. Founded in 1850 by the
Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. The university's campus is in the city's southern portion and spans 388 acres on both sides of the
Great Miami River
The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accesse ...
.
The campus is noted for the Immaculate Conception Chapel and the
University of Dayton Arena
University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility host ...
.
In the fall of 2020, the university enrolled 11,347 full-time students from a variety of religious, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds. It offers more than 80 academic programs in arts and sciences, business administration, education and health sciences, engineering and law. In 2009, UD offered what it believes to be one of the first undergraduate degree programs in
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
.
It is
classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
The university's notable alumni include: Ohio Lieutenant Governor
Jon Husted
Jon A. Husted (born August 25, 1967) is an American politician serving as the 66th lieutenant governor of Ohio, since 2019. He was previously the 53rd Ohio Secretary of State. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented the 6th Di ...
; humorist
Erma Bombeck
Erma Louise Bombeck (''née'' Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. She also published 15 bo ...
; engineer
David Bradley; architect
Bruce Graham
Bruce John Graham (December 1, 1925 – March 6, 2010) was a Peruvian-American architect. Graham built buildings all over the world and was deeply involved with evolving the Burnham Plan of Chicago. Among his most notable buildings are the ...
;
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
-winning coaches
Jon Gruden
Jon David Gruden (born August 17, 1963) is a former American professional football coach who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He held his first head coaching position with the Raiders franchise during thei ...
and
Chuck Noll
Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to:
People
Arts and entertainment
* Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet
* Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer
* ...
; first female Premier of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
Kristina Keneally
Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Represe ...
; sportscaster
Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to:
* Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player
* Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist
* Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...
; and the 1987 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry,
Charles J. Pedersen
Charles John Pedersen ( ja, 安井 良男, ''Yasui Yoshio'', October 3, 1904 – October 26, 1989) was an American organic chemist best known for describing methods of synthesizing crown ethers during his entire 42-year career as a chemist for D ...
.
History
Founding
In 1849,
on a mission to establish a presence for the
Society of Mary in America, the Rev. Leo Meyer, S.M., journeyed from
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
to
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. But with a
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
epidemic raging to the north, Bishop
John Baptist Purcell
John Baptist Purcell (February 26, 1800 – July 4, 1883) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Cincinnati from 1833 to his death in 1883, and he was elevated to the rank of archbishop in 1850. He formed the b ...
of the Cincinnati diocese, sent Father Meyer to Emmanuel parish in Dayton to tend to the sick. In Dayton, Father Meyer met local farmer John Stuart, who had lost his infant daughter Mary Louisa to cholera the year before. Heartbroken, Stuart and his wife wanted to sell their Dewberry Farm property and return to Europe.
On March 19, 1850, Father Meyer, joined by three Marianist brothers — teacher Maximin Zehler, cook Charles Schultz and gardener Andrew Edel — purchased the 125-acre hilltop farm from Stuart and renamed it Nazareth.
Stuart accepted a St. Joseph medal and a promise of $12,000 at 6 percent interest. The property included vineyards, an orchard, a mansion, various farm buildings, and the grave of Stuart's daughter, which Meyer promised to maintain.
![Immaculate conception chapel university of dayton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Immaculate_conception_chapel_university_of_dayton.jpg)
Just a few months later, the University of Dayton had its beginnings on July 1, 1850, when St. Mary's School for Boys opened its doors to 14 primary students from Dayton. In September, the first boarding students arrived and classes moved to the mansion. Five years later, the school burned to the ground, but classes resumed within months. By 1860, when Brother Zehler became president, the enrollment was nearly 100 students. The Civil War had little direct effect on the school because most of the students were too young to serve. College preparatory classes started in 1861 along with a
novitiate
The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...
and school for Marianist candidates. The school would become Chaminade High School, named after the order's founder
William Joseph Chaminade
Guillaume-Joseph Chaminade, SM (also known as William Joseph Chaminade; Périgueux, 8 April 1761 – Bordeaux, 22 January 1850) was a French Catholic priest who survived persecution during the French Revolution and later founded the Society of Ma ...
, which has since merged with the all-girls Julienne High school run by the
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Congregationis Sororum a Domina Nostra Namurcensi) are a Catholic institute of religious sisters, founded to provide education to the poor.
The institute was founded in Amiens, France, in 1804, but the opposi ...
to form the co-educational
Chaminade-Julienne High School
Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School is a private, co-educational, center-city, Catholic high school. It is located in downtown Dayton, in the U.S. state of Ohio, and is owned and operated by the Society of Mary and the Sisters of Notre Dame de ...
.
The core of the Historic Campus was built during this time, starting in 1865 with Zehler Hall, the iconic Immaculate Conception Chapel in 1869, and St. Mary's Hall, then the tallest building in Dayton in 1870. In 1882 the university was incorporated and empowered to confer collegiate degrees by the State of Ohio.
Key events
When floodwaters struck the community during the
Great Dayton Flood
The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 resulted from flooding by the Great Miami River reaching Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area, causing the greatest natural disaster in Ohio history. In response, the General Assembly passed the Vonderheide Act to ...
of 1913, refugees fled to St. Mary's College high on a hill south of downtown Dayton. St. Mary's College was uniquely situated and equipped to provide relief to flood victims. Because students had not returned to campus from Easter break, the college was amply stocked with food and other provisions. Due to its location on the hill, electric light and heating plants were not affected, a plentiful clean water supply was available and the college had other essential facilities such as a laundry and infirmary. The college's kitchen provided meals to
Miami Valley Hospital
Miami Valley Hospital (MVH) is a large urban hospital in Dayton, Ohio, and is a member of the Premier Health Partners network. The hospital has two additional locations; Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, Ohio, and Miami Valley Hospital N ...
and provided 12,000 pounds of provisions to St. Elizabeth Hospital. The first night, 400 refugees took shelter at St. Mary's College; by the end of the week the number had grown to 600. In all, the college assisted 800 refugees.
Known at various times as St. Mary's School, St. Mary's Institute and St. Mary's College, the school was incorporated as the University of Dayton in 1920 to reflect its close connection with the city of Dayton as well as to claim an American identity for its Catholic students.
In 1923, the university adopted the "
Dayton Flyers
The Dayton Flyers are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Dayton of Dayton, Ohio. All Flyers intercollegiate sports teams participate at the NCAA Division I level. The football team competes in the Division I FCS non-schola ...
" nickname for its athletic teams and adopted a university seal with the motto, "''Pro Deo et Patria''",
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "For God and Country." In the 1930s, women were admitted on an equal basis with men — 40 years before most Catholic universities allowed women. The school expanded its programs in science, engineering. and the professions and continued to attract the children and grandchildren of Catholic immigrants.
The growing Catholic presence in Dayton during the 1920s drew the hostility of the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, which focused that hostility toward the university. On Dec. 19, 1923, 12 bombs exploded throughout the campus and an 8-foot cross was set on fire. Several hundred Klansmen were routed by hundreds of neighborhood residents who joined students in chasing them off.
In June 2014, The University of Dayton announced it will begin divesting coal and fossil fuels from its $670 million investment pool. It is believed to be the first Catholic university in the nation to take this step.
Growth and expansion
Starting in the 1960s, the university began acquiring hundreds of single-family homes and duplexes in the neighborhoods adjacent to the campus for student housing, extending the campus to Brown Street. In 2007, the university built five new townhouses and renovated four homes in a Citirama project with the Home Builders Association of Dayton.
In 2005, the university acquired a 49-acre parcel of land for $25 million that had once housed the cash register factory complex of the
NCR Corp. The purchase extended the university's boundaries west to the
Great Miami River
The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accesse ...
and increased the total acreage to 216 acres.
In 2009, the university announced the purchase of another 115 acres from NCR for $18 million, including the former NCR World Headquarters and Old River Park, the former NCR employees' recreation area, extending the campus to 373 acres. The former NCR world headquarters, renamed as the 1700 South Patterson Building, now houses the University of Dayton Research Institute, classrooms, offices, and meeting space.
In 2010,
GE Aviation
GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. GE Aviation is among the top aircraft engine suppliers, and offers engines for the majority of commercial aircraft. GE Aviation is part of the ...
announced it would build the $51 million GE Aviation Dayton Electrical Power Research Lab research and development facility on eight acres of the campus, becoming the first major new development on the former NCR land.
In 2012, the campus totaled approximately 388 acres and included 38 academic, research, athletic and administrative buildings, five residence halls, 18 student apartment complexes, and 473 residences, including 347 university-owned residences.
Enrollment grew to about 1,000 when World War II broke out. It reached more than 3,500 in 1950 with the return of the veterans and grew steadily. When the baby boomers hit college age, the university's enrollment topped 10,000. However, local enrollment decreased in the 1960s when
Wright State University
Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...
was established and
Sinclair Community College
Sinclair Community College is a public community college in Dayton, Ohio.
History
Sinclair Community College is named for David A. Sinclair, a Scottish immigrant and secretary of the Dayton YMCA (1874–1902), who founded the adult training schoo ...
was expanded, moving UD toward becoming a national university.
In 2012, more than half of the undergraduates were from states other than Ohio. International enrollment has grown as well. In 2012 a record of more than 1,500 international students were enrolled.
Marianist tradition
The University of Dayton was founded by priests and brothers in the tradition of the Society of Mary and is one of three Marianist universities in the U.S. It is a member of the Association of Marianist Universities and the
Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities
The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) is a voluntary association of delegates from Catholic institutions of higher learning.
History
It was founded in 1899 by fifty-three delegates from Catholic colleges across the United ...
.
Although the university is not
pontifical
A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...
in character, the academic program of the university's International Marian Research Institute does have pontifical character and is affiliated with the Pontifical Theological Faculty
Marianum
The ''Marianum'' is a pontifical institute in Rome, Italy founded by Gabriel Roschini for the study of Mariology.
History
Background
The name ''Marianum'' itself goes back to Pope Boniface IX, who in 1398 granted the Servites the right to co ...
in Rome.
Vowed Marianists governed the university until 1970, when the charter was amended and lay members joined the Board of Trustees.
Vowed Marinists served as presidents through 2002, when Daniel J. Curran, Ph.D. became the university's 18th president and first lay leader. Eric F. Spina, PhD succeeded Dr. Curran in 2016 as the 19th president of the university. Many students and alumni have expressed their opinions of disapproval of Dr. Spina's actions and behavior as president of the university.
To sustain the Marianist identity and values of the university, Marianist Educational Associates were established in 2005 to educate lay leaders so the beliefs and traditions at the foundation of the Marianist educational philosophy could continue.
Presidents
# Rev. Leo Meyer, S.M. (1850–1857)
# Br. John B. Stintzi, S.M. (1857–1860)
# Br. Maximin Zehler, S.M. (1860–1876)
# Rev. Francis E. Feith, S.M. (1876–1879)
# Rev. George Meyer, S.M. (1879–1887)
# Rev. John Harks, S.M. (1887–1889)
# Rev. Joseph Weckesser, S.M. (1889–1896)
# Rev. Charles Eichner, S.M. (1896–1902)
# Rev. Louis A. Tragesser, S.M. (1902–1908)
# Rev. Bernard P. O'Reilly, S.M. (1908–1918; 1923–1932)
# Rev. Joseph A. Tetzlaff, S.M. (1918–1923)
# Rev. Walter C. Tredtin, S.M. (1932–1938)
# Rev. John A. Elbert, S.M. (1938–1944)
# Rev. George J. Renneker, S.M. (1944–1953)
# Rev. Andrew L. Seebold, S.M. (1953–1959)
# Rev. Raymond A. Roesch, S.M. (1959–1979)
# Br. Raymond Fitz, S.M., Ph.D. (1979–2002)
# Daniel J. Curran, Ph.D. (2002–2016)
# Eric F. Spina, Ph.D (2016– )
Campus
![Dayton campus chapel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Dayton_campus_chapel.jpg)
The University of Dayton's campus is located on approximately 388 acres
on the southern border of the city of Dayton. It is divided into four sections — Historic Campus, Campus West, River Campus, and Arena Sports Complex. The campus includes 38 academic, research, athletic, and administrative buildings; five residence halls; 18 student apartment complexes; and 473 houses (347 of which are owned by the university).
Historic campus
The historic campus is compact and easy to navigate; one is generally able to cross it in less than 10 minutes. Many historic buildings survive from the early years of the university; newer buildings fit in with the established architecture (with a few exceptions, including RecPlex, Marianist Hall, ArtStreet, and Miriam Hall).
At the center of campus are St. Mary's Hall and the iconic Immaculate Conception Chapel, whose blue cupola inspired the university's logo. In early years, St. Mary's served as a dormitory and classroom; today, it holds the offices of the bursar, human resources, president, provost, and services for current students such as financial aid, registration, student employment, and veterans services.
St. Joseph Hall was built in 1884 as a residence hall. The interior was completely destroyed in a fire in 1987 and reopened in 1989. It houses the classrooms and offices for the social sciences and the university's Fitz Center for Leadership in Community.
Chaminade Hall, built in 1904, is named for
Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, the founder of the
Society of Mary. It is currently under construction.
Kettering Labs is home to the School of Engineering. Named after engineer and inventor Eugene Kettering, it includes classrooms, labs, offices, a machine shop, a wind tunnel, and the Innovation Center.
The Jesse Philips Humanities Center was built in 1993 and named for former university trustee Jesse Philips. It houses academic departments including American studies, English, history, languages, philosophy, and religious studies. It contains 20 classrooms, two computer centers, an international language lab, and a 180-seat recital hall.
Miriam Hall is home to the School of Business Administration and contains team-teaching, hands-on labs and seminar classrooms, including the Davis Center for Portfolio Management, the Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and the Hanley Trading Center.
Miriam Hall is named for Dayton philanthropist Miriam Rosenthal, who played an important role in fundraising for the university.
The Science Center (the joint name for Sherman Hall, Wohlleben Hall, and a connecting central atrium) is home to the math, biology, physics, chemistry, geology, and premedicine departments.
This building includes classrooms, laboratories, offices, and auditoriums. Sherman and Wohlleben Halls were independent buildings until renovations in 2003 connected them with an atrium and study space.
Keller Hall opened in 1997 and is home to the University of Dayton School of Law. It has classrooms, offices, courtrooms, and a law library.
The
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
Memorial Student Union (known as the Kennedy Union) is a popular gathering place for students. It houses a full-service dining facility, coffee shop, snack shop, and the Hangar — a games room with bowling lanes, pool tables, and video arcade. It also houses a copy center, travel agency, box office, meeting spaces, and the Boll Theatre.
The Central Mall is seven acres of green space at the heart of campus, surrounded by several academic and residential buildings. Renovation was completed in 2010.
The Roesch Library houses the university's main library, the
Marian Library (which has the world's largest collection of materials on Mary, the mother of Jesus), and the Ryan C. Harris Learning Teaching Center that includes team meeting spaces, distance learning and a student-run coffee shop. The print and electronic collections in Roesch Library include more than 1.3 million books and 69,000 journals.
The RecPlex opened in 2006. The 125,000-square-foot building's amenities include aerobics and cardiovascular rooms, a climbing wall, courts for basketball, floor hockey, lacrosse, racquetball, tennis. and volleyball; eight-lane swimming pool, indoor track, weight room, locker room, and lounge.
The Frericks Center has a 5,000-seat gym and was once known as the Fieldhouse prior to the construction of the University of Dayton Arena.
It is now also home to the university's women's volleyball team.
The Cronin Athletics Center is used by all 17 Dayton Flyer intercollegiate sports programs.
It recently underwent a $2.375 million renovation for larger offices, team meeting rooms, and indoor practice space for basketball, football, track and field, tennis, soccer, baseball, and softball.
Stuart Field was updated in 2011 with a synthetic turf to accommodate intramural and club sports.
Raymond L. Fitz Hall, previously named the College Park Center was originally owned by NCR, but bought by Dayton around 2005. Raymond L. Fitz Hall is home to numerous University departments, programs, and offices. These include: the Department of Art and Design, art gallery space, Brown Street Bistro, Center for Catholic Education, Central Receiving, Curriculum Materials Center, Dayton Early College Academy, Department of Physical Therapy, Facilities Management, Institute for Technology-Enhanced Learning, Mailing Services, Department of Music, Parking Services, Master of Physician Assistant Practice program, Department of Public Safety, School of Education and Health Sciences, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Technology Program, UDit Collaboration Center and Upward Bound.
The Shroyer Park Center research building is located on nine acres of land approximately one mile east of the core campus.
Jessie S. Hathcock Hall houses the computer science program was completed in 2021 and named in honor of
Jessie Scott Hathcock, the first African-American woman to graduate from the university.
Campus West
In 2005, the University of Dayton purchased land and buildings adjacent to the western border of the historic campus. The $25 million purchase from
NCR Corp. added 49 acres and increased the campus size nearly 25 percent.
Raymond L. Fitz Hall (formerly known as College Park Center) is the primary building on this section of campus. It houses a variety of campus offices and academic departments including UD Department of Public Safety (Police Department, Parking Services, and
Student Volunteer Rescue Squad), facilities department; music and theater; visual arts; doctor of physical therapy;
Dayton Early College Academy
Dayton Early College Academy, is a school in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census e ...
(DECA)
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...
; physician assistant program; research labs; and the School of Education and Health Sciences.
The Graul Tennis Complex was completed in 2010 and features six regulation tennis courts, bleacher seating, restrooms, and changing facilities.
GE Aviation
GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. GE Aviation is among the top aircraft engine suppliers, and offers engines for the majority of commercial aircraft. GE Aviation is part of the ...
broke ground on a $51 million, 120,000-square-foot research facility in 2011 on the western edge of Campus West. The Electrical Power Integrated Systems Research and Development Center (EPISCENTER) opened in early 2014. The university's researchers work with GE to develop and deploy computer modeling, simulation and analysis of advanced, dynamic electric power systems design, and controls. The center is directed at several markets including end-to-end electrical power starter/ generation, conversion, distribution, and load technologies for civil and military aerospace applications.
Emerson Climate Technologies, a business of Emerson, announced its intent in 2014 to move forward with plans to build and support an innovation center at the University of Dayton to advance research and education for the global heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) industry. The center is located at the corner of Main and Stewart streets on nearly five acres of University-owned land. The campus also includes several acres of undeveloped property.
River Campus
At the end of 2009, the university added 115 more acres to campus when it purchased NCR Corp's former world headquarters, which included a 455,000-square-foot building, 1,600-space parking lot, and a 48-acre park and nature preserve. The former HQ and came under acquisition of the University of Dayton at a purchase price of $18 million.
The main building, Daniel J. Curran Place, houses the University of Dayton Research Institute, Center for Leadership, classrooms used by Master of Business Administration, School of Education, and Health Sciences programs, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and the Alumni Center, among other offices.
Arena Sports Complex
The University of Dayton Sports Complex is located on the western edge of the campus, west of the Great Miami River and east of Interstate 75. It includes the
University of Dayton Arena
University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility host ...
, with a
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
of 13,409, fields for men's baseball and women's softball, and
Welcome Stadium
Welcome Stadium is an 11,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in Dayton, Ohio, United States, owned and operated by Dayton Public Schools. Primary tenants of the facility include University of Dayton Flyers football team and the Dayton Dynamo of the N ...
, an 11,000-seat multi-purpose stadium owned by
Dayton Public Schools
Dayton Public Schools is the school district in the U.S. state of Ohio that serves Dayton, Ohio. The district covers 49 square miles. Dayton Public Schools (DPS) is the 12th largest PreK-12 district in the state, with a 2017–2018 enrollment o ...
that includes a football field and track used by all Dayton public high schools as well as the Dayton Flyers football team.
Academics
In ''
U.S. News & World Report''s 2021 ranking of national universities, University of Dayton was tied for 127th overall and 37th for "best value" in the U.S.
Schools, colleges, departments, and programs
College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest of the five academic units with more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in 18 departments. The university established one of the first undergraduate human rights studies program in the nation in 1998. Specialized institutes and centers provide in-depth opportunities for study, research and service in three areas. The Fitz Center for Leadership in Community emphasizes community building and outreach to urban neighborhoods and larger communities. The Institute for Pastoral Initiatives focuses on trends and developments in pastoral ministries for lay and vowed Catholics and offers online adult religious education to parishes around the world through the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation. The Center for Tissue Regeneration and Engineering at Dayton (TREND) conducts research in the areas of tissue regeneration and bioengineering with special interests in eye, bone and ear regeneration and engineering.
School of Education and Health Sciences
The School of Education and Health Sciences offers undergraduate and graduate education programs, online and in the classroom, ranging from early childhood to higher education. The school also is home to the Center for Catholic Education. The Lalanne Program is within the center and is a post-graduate teacher service program, specializing in supporting beginning Catholic school educators by combining service and teaching. Lalanne teachers make a two-year commitment to teach in an under-resourced Catholic school, live together in a faith-based community, and pursue professional and spiritual/personal development.
School of Engineering
The School of Engineering offers eight undergraduate degree programs, 14 master's programs, and five Ph.D. programs. Students in the school have the opportunity to perform research in one of the school's 10 centers.
School of Business Administration
Flyer Enterprises
Flyer Enterprises is a student-run business organization at the University of Dayton. It operates nine businesses around campus and serves as part of the university's entrepreneurship program, though it does not exclude students with other major ...
manages a variety of on-campus businesses and is the sixth-largest student-run business in the nation with about 200 student employees in 10 divisions and annual revenues of more than $1.2 million. Several centers within the School of Business Administration offer specific focus on business topics and emphasize hands-on learning. The L. William Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership focuses on business development and provides funding for sophomores to start up and run real businesses. In the Davis Center for Portfolio Management, students manage nearly $60 million of the university's endowment. Other centers include the Hanley Trading Center the Center for Professional Selling, Center for Project Excellence, and Center for the Integration of Faith and Work. The Business Research Group conducts research for business and government partners. The university has also joined the
Dayton Arcade
The Dayton Arcade is a collection of nine buildings in Dayton, Ohio. The Arcade is a historic, architecturally elegant complex in the heart of Dayton's central business district. Built between 1902 and 1904, it was conceived by Eugene J. Barney o ...
restoration project, announcing the development of entrepreneurship initiative at the rebuilt Arcade. The School of Business also offers several MBA programs, including its flexible option of obtaining an MBA online.
School of Law
The School of Law is one of nine in Ohio. In addition to a traditional Juris Doctor degree earned in three years, the university offers an accelerated two-year option. It was among the first in the nation to create a two-year option and a hybrid online J.D. program In addition to the J.D. programs, the school offers graduate degrees in American and Transnational Law, including a Master of Laws (LL.M.) and a Master in the Study of Law (M.S.L.); a joint J.D./M.B.A. degree, a joint J.D./M.S. in Educational Administration degree, a joint J.D./M.P.A. Master of Public Administration degree, and an M.S.L. in Government Contracting, among others.
Intercultural and education abroad
The University of Dayton has nearly 50 programs for credit or service-learning for a summer, semester or full year abroad through the Center for International Programs. Students can participate in for-credit programs at a partner institution or through a program taught by UD faculty around the world. International programs are offered in Argentina, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
The Center for Social Concern offers intercultural service-learning opportunities during breaks in the academic calendar. International programs are in Cameroon, Zambia, India, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala. Students can also participate in domestic programs to experience cultural diversity within the United States.
The new University of Dayton China Institute in Suzhou began offering classes in summer 2013.
After setting records for first-year international enrollment the past few years, in 2012 approximately one in 10 students was from another country.
A growing number of students, notably women, from predominantly Muslim countries are enrolling at the university, part of a trend of overseas Muslim women choosing Catholic colleges and universities. A ''New York Times'' story in 2012 noted the trend and featured the University of Dayton.
Libraries
The Roesch Library houses the university's main library, the Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute (IMRI), and the Ryan C. Harris Learning Teaching Center.
The University of Dayton Libraries, consisting of the Roesch Library, Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, and University Archives and Special Collections, are the university's principal centers for the collection, dissemination and preservation of diverse information resources, Catholic and Marian collections and research, and the university's historical records. The print and electronic collections in Roesch Library include more than 1.3 million books and 69,000 journals. eCommons, a service of University Libraries, is a permanent multimedia archive of UD's education and research.
The University of Dayton's Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute (IMRI) is the world's largest repository of books, artwork, and artifacts devoted to Mary, the mother of Christ, and a pontifical center of research and scholarship with a vast presence in cyberspace.
Admissions
Admission to the University of Dayton has grown more selective since 2003 when 82 percent of applicants were accepted to 2015, when only 52 percent of applicants were accepted. Enrollment from out-of-state and international students also continues to increase; with about half of the undergraduate enrollment in coming from outside of Ohio and more than 10 percent of the total enrollment are international students.
In 2013, the university introduced an innovative net-price tuition plan with a four-year guarantee that a student's grants and scholarships would increase each year to cover any tuition increase. The plan eliminates additional fees and includes an option for free books. The plan drew national coverage from ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'', ''Governing'' magazine and was favorably reviewed by consumer advocate
Clark Howard
Clark Brian Howard (born June 20, 1955) is a popular consumer expert and podcast host of ''The Clark Howard Show''.
Life and career
Howard grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents, Bernard and Joy Garson Howard, were prominent members of Atl ...
.
Tuition for the 2021–22 academic year is $44,890.
Research
The University of Dayton Research Institute has performed more than $2.5 billion in total sponsored research since its inception. Most of the research is done in engineering, either by 640 full-time researchers at the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) or engineering faculty. More than 370 undergraduate and graduate students work alongside researchers.
Materials engineering accounts for most of the research within engineering, followed by electrical engineering. The university's engineering research played a role in GE Aviation's decision to locate the new Electrical Power Integrated Systems Research and Development Center (EPISCENTER) on the University of Dayton campus. The center opened in early 2014.
The Research Institute has seven divisions — Aerospace Mechanics, Energy And Environmental Engineering, Energy Technologies And Materials, Multi-Scale Composites And Polymers, Nonstructural Materials, Structural Integrity, and Sensor Systems.
There are 10 centers in School of Engineering.
Key discoveries
More than 150 patents have been assigned to the University of Dayton, including one for hotbags that
Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza, Inc., trading as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware domiciled and headquartered at the Domino's Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor ...
uses to keep delivery pizzas hot. Bob Kauffman, a UDRI distinguished research chemist
and Fluid Analysis group leader, was an inventor of the Power Activated Technology for Conductor Healing (PATCH), a self-healing wire for which ''R&D Magazine'' gave a Top 100 Award. Kauffman also received Top 100 awards from ''R&D Magazine'' for the Remaining Useful Life Evaluation Routine (RULER), a "smart" dipstick used to measure the quality of oils in use in aircraft, automobiles, and cooking vats, and the Status and Motion Activated Radiofrequency Tag (SMART) Sensor, which is a modified, passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that becomes readable only after a monitored problem has occurred. The Research Institute also developed and operates the world's only test facility to certify sulkies that race in U.S. Trotting Association sanctioned events and was involved in creating an
Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) installed at airports around the country to stop runaway aircraft.
Housing
More than 90 percent of undergraduates live in campus housing, making the University of Dayton one of the most residential campuses in the country. All first-year students are required to live in a residence hall. Sophomores are eligible to live in a residence hall or apartment, and juniors, seniors, and fifth-years are eligible to live in apartments or one of more than 300 University-owned houses.
Residence Halls
![Marycrest Hall, University of Dayton (circa 1977)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Marycrest_Hall%2C_University_of_Dayton_%28circa_1977%29.jpg)
Located in the heart of campus, Founders Hall is U-shaped and houses 400 first-year students. Its lobby is shared by the entire building. Founders Hall is coed by floor, and all rooms are double occupancy, except for two rooms, which are quads. Founders was newly renovated during the summer of 2013.
Marianist Hall was built in 2004 and is composed of three separate wings. The east wing houses 128 first-year students, coed by floor, in double-occupancy rooms. The middle and west wings house 256 second-year students, coed by floor. A chapel, bookstore, credit union, food emporium, learning center, and post office are also located in Marianist Hall.
Marycrest Complex is the largest community housing on campus. It is coed by floor, has three sections that house 940 first-year students by floor and wing. Marycrest has double-occupancy rooms for first-year students, as well as a limited number of single-occupancy rooms. A dining facility is part of this complex. Marycrest also includes the late-night stop, Crest Express. Renovations were completed in summer 2007.
Stuart Complex is composed of three separate first-year student halls housing 632 students and sharing a common lobby. Before renovations in 2009, Adele Hall housed women, Meyer Hall housed men, and Sheehy Hall housed men and women, coed by floor. Now, each wing has both men and women co-ed by floor. All rooms are double occupancy. A convenience store known as "Stuart's Landing" is part of this complex.
Virginia W. Kettering Hall (VWK) houses 636 sophomores in 158 four-person suites and two 2-person suites. Each suite has a living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Suites are furnished, have a small refrigerator, and are air-conditioned. The residence hall also contains a dining room for 500 students and two meeting rooms.
Apartments
The university owns a number of apartment buildings for student housing; these include the Lawnview Apartments (165 students in 42 suites), the Campus South (318 students in 53 suites), Garden Apartments (544 students in 138 suites), Plumwood Apartments with 55 suites for law and graduate students, and furnished apartments above Brown Street businesses in University Place.
In 2013, the university purchased three more condominium units at Irving Commons southeast of campus. The university already owned 54 beds and 60 leases.
The Caldwell Street Apartments opened in 2012 on six acres along Caldwell and Brown streets on the site of a former car dealership. The $25 million project houses more than 400 upperclass students in townhouse-style apartments.
ArtStreet opened in 2004 and offers townhouse and loft apartments to 58 juniors and seniors in the center of the south student neighborhood. ArtStreet combines living spaces with multi-purpose studio facilities and includes a student-run café, recording studio and WUDR Flyer Radio. In an effort to establish and expand the IACT program located at ArtStreet, the recording studio was dismantled and replaced with IACT offices in 2018.
Student Neighborhoods
![Dayton student neighborhood](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Dayton_student_neighborhood.jpg)
''The Ghetto, Darkside'' and "Far Side"
The University of Dayton has a unique feature: a large student neighborhood. Over time, the University of Dayton has acquired more than 300 houses adjacent to the historic campus. These properties used to belong to NCR and were used to house their employees. Most junior and senior-status students live in these houses. The university has been regularly renovating or rebuilding the houses to improve their condition. Most students refer to the South Student Neighborhood as "the Ghetto." The Ghetto is bounded by Brown Street to the west, Irving Avenue to the south, Trinity Avenue and Evanston Avenue to the east, and Caldwell Street and Stonemill Road to the north. The Ghetto is located beside
Oakwood, a small municipality south of Dayton. The area north of the campus center (North Student Neighborhood) is known as "the Darkside," due to the lack of streetlights when it was annexed. It is generally bordered by Brown Street to the west, Wyoming Street to the north, Woodland Cemetery to the east and Stuart Street to the south. The smallest neighborhood is called College Park, or alternatively, Holy Angels. It is located between the Ghetto and the Darkside.
The area adjacent to the Darkside, on the other side of Brown Street is known as "the Far Side", due to its distance from the center of the Ghetto. The "Far Side" is also known as the "Fairgrounds Neighborhood" and is bounded by Main St. to the west, Miami Valley hospital to the north, Brown St. to the East, and Stewart St. to the South. The Fairgrounds Neighborhood comprises single family homes, once mainly inhabited by NCR employees, and has undergone extensive rehabilitation and gentrification over the past 20 years. UD students are rapidly taking up residences in this area for its lower prices. The university does not own this land, and the houses are rented from various landlords. The landlords also own approximately 115 houses on the Darkside as well as The Ghetto.
Student life
Community
The Commitment to Community, which highlights three principles adopted from the Catholic and Marianist vision of education, shapes the policies of the University of Dayton. The three principles—"the dignity of every person" ,"the common good", and "community is essential for learning" — provide the foundation of the university's mission statement and aims as an educational institution. The influence of these principles can be found throughout the university's policies, behavioral expectations for students, and academic curriculum.
The Integrated Learning Living Communities (ILLCs) at the university provide students with an organized educational experience that focuses on a central topic. Topics include "Writing and the Arts", "Women in Science and Engineering", "Business and Marianist Values", and "Sustainability, Energy and the Environment". First-year students are assigned housing and placed in classes according to the ILLC they have selected.
Campus Ministry
The Office of Campus Ministry facilitates residence life ministries, liturgies, retreats, faith communities, and the Center for Social Concern. There are campus ministers in residence halls and in the student neighborhoods. UD employs a full-time Campus Minister of Interdenominational Ministry to help nurture the spiritual needs of students from various Protestant backgrounds. Campus Ministry also has support groups and offers spiritual guidance to students, faculty, and staff.
The Mass schedule includes daily and weekly Masses in residence halls, the Chapel and the student neighborhood, a Spanish Mass, and a Black Catholic Mass.
Campus ministry offers several retreats throughout the year with different themes.
Student religious organizations on campus include Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ, Catholic Life, Chi Rho Catholic Men's Group, Muslim Student Association, Navigators, Orthodox Christian Fellowship, and Phi Lambda Iota Catholic Women's Group.
Service learning
The University of Dayton offers many service learning opportunities for students, regardless of their major. The Fitz Center for Leadership in Community and the Center for Social Concern are the most active organizers of service-learning opportunities. The Fitz Center houses the Dayton Civic Scholars, the Rivers Institute, Semester of Service, Neighborhood School Centers, Graduate Community Fellows, and Community Service Learning. The Center for Social Concern, which is part of campus ministry, offers "numerous opportunities for reflective service, service-learning, and education and advocacy for justice." The center provides many domestic and international service-learning opportunities during breaks in the academic calendar.
Christmas on Campus
Each year since 1964, usually on December 8, the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, also called Immaculate Conception Day, celebrates the sinless lifespan and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, celebrate ...
, University of Dayton students have hosted about 1,000 Dayton school children, giving them gifts and escorting them through campus for games, dancing, singing, crafts, face-painting, and Santa Claus. The event is free and open to the public and includes a live Nativity scene, a reading on the birth of Jesus, and the lighting of a Christmas tree. The evening ends with hundreds of students attending a Mass in the Immaculate Conception Chapel.
[ University of Dayton News "Christmas Cheer"]
Ellie Kurtz, director of the University of Dayton's student union from 1964 to 1994, started
Christmas on Campus as a way for students to celebrate Christmas before heading home for the winter break.
"One night I was preoccupied with a sense of disappointment that students would be leaving for Christmas vacation and would not be able to celebrate Christmas with their friends and the UD family,"Kurtz said before her death in 2009, "I imagined what a wonderful Christmas we could have if we could celebrate Christmas before the students went home for the holidays".
Club and intramural sports
In addition to varsity athletics, there are 37 club and 12 intramural sports. In January 2006, the university opened RecPlex, a $25 million sports and recreational facility for students of the university. The Princeton Review has the University of Dayton first on its latest "Everybody Plays Intramural Sports" list.
The men's lacrosse club team won the 2015 Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association Division II national championship.
Student-run media
The University of Dayton has a student newspaper (
Flyer News
''Flyer News'', also known as "fn", is the independent student newspaper of the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. It was first published October 21, 1959 and is now published in print monthly while classes are in session, for a total of nine i ...
), student-run radio station
WUDR Flyer Radio 99.5/98.1 FM, student-run TV station Flyer Station, and Orpheus Art & Literary Magazine (the oldest student ran organization).
Greek life
Fraternities and sororities have been a part of student life at the University of Dayton since 1933 and have been formally recognized since 1967. In 2015–16, 15 percent of undergraduate men and 22 percent of undergraduate women are members of a fraternity or sorority. The Interfraternity Council (IFC),
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...
(NPHC) and College Panhellenic Council (Panhel) have official responsibility for governing their respective groups. The Interfraternity Council is the governing body for six of UD's fraternal organizations. The fraternities recognized by the Interfraternity Council are:
* Alpha Nu Omega
*
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...
*
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...
*
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...
*
Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi (), commonly known as Pi Kapp(s), is an American Greek Letter secret and social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston ...
*
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...
The Pan-Hellenic Council is the governing body for eight sororities:
*
Alpha Phi
Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (, also known as APhi) is an international sorority with 172 active chapters and over 250,000 initiated members.
Founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872, it is the fo ...
*
Chi Omega
Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities.
Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chapte ...
*
Kappa Delta
Kappa Delta (, also known as KD or Kaydee) was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University), in Farmville, Virginia.
Kappa Delta is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university, wh ...
*
Phi Sigma Rho
Phi Sigma Rho (), also known as Phi Rho or PSR, is a social sorority for individuals who identify as female or non-binary in science, engineering, and engineering technologies. The sorority was founded in 1984 at Purdue University. The first ch ...
*
Pi Beta Phi
Pi Beta Phi (), often known simply as Pi Phi, is an international women's fraternity founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois on April 28, 1867 as I. C. Sorosis, the first national secret college society of women to be modeled after ...
*
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Kappa (, also known as SK or Sig Kap) is a sorority founded on November 9, 1874 at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
In 1874, Sigma Kappa was founded by five women: Mary Caffrey Low Carver, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Mabel Fuller Pierce, ...
*
Theta Phi Alpha
Theta Phi Alpha (), commonly known as Theta Phi, is a women's fraternity founded at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor on August 30, 1912. The main archive URL iThe Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage Theta Phi Alpha is one of 26 nation ...
*
Zeta Tau Alpha
Zeta Tau Alpha (known as or Zeta) is an international Fraternities and sororities in North America, women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Its Internatio ...
The National Pan-Hellenic Council is the governing body composed of the nine international fraternities and sororities. The council currently has five active groups at the University of Dayton, including two men's groups and three women's groups. These organizations are:
*
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...
*
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...
*
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...
*
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...
*
Zeta Phi Beta
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achie ...
Athletics
The Dayton Flyers compete in the
Atlantic 10 Conference
The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...
in all sports except football, in which they compete in the
Pioneer Football League
The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference. It has member s ...
. The Flyers' mascot is "Rudy Flyer," a
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
based on the university's initials, "U.D." Rudy is a
barnstorming
Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in t ...
pilot who wears 1930s-1940s-era goggles and a leather pilot's helmet. The nickname "Flyers" is a tribute to the
Wright Brothers who began their careers and invented the airplane in Dayton. The fight song is "Victory."
The university sponsors 16 sports: men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis, baseball, football, softball, women's volleyball, women's rowing, and women's track.
Dayton's historic rivalries in most sports have involved fellow Southwest Ohio schools—the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
,
Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...
, and
Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...
. Dayton and Xavier played for the
Blackburn/McCafferty Trophy
The Blackburn/McCafferty Trophy is the award given to the winner of regular season basketball games between the University of Dayton and Xavier University.
Origin of Competition
The first meeting between the two Catholic universities was a 24-1 ...
during their regular season men's basketball matchups before Xavier moved to the
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...
.
Historical highlights
The men's basketball team reached the 1967 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship final game and won the National Invitational Tournament in 1962, 1968, and 2010. In 2014, the men's basketball Flyers made it to the NCAA Elite Eight after upsetting sixth-seeded Ohio State, third-seeded Syracuse, and 10th-seeded Stanford. The football team won NCAA Division III national titles in 1980 and 1989 and finished runner-up in 1981, 1987, and 1991. The Sports Network also named the Flyers football squad the nation's top Football Championship Subdivision mid-major program in 2007. The women's basketball team won the American Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division II national championship in 1980, a year after finishing as runner-up. The women's volleyball team appeared in the NCAA tournament 15 years (2003, ‘04, ‘05, ‘07, ‘08, ‘09, ‘10, ‘11, ‘12, ‘14, ‘15, ‘16, ‘18, ‘19, '21). The women's soccer team has appeared in the NCAA tournament 10 times (1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016).
University of Dayton Arena
The University of Dayton Arena has hosted more Division I Men's Basketball Championship games (125) than any other venue in America. Since 2001, the University of Dayton has hosted the beginning of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
Men's basketball program
Flyers basketball is one of the biggest sports attractions in the Dayton area with the Flyers perennially ranking in the NCAA Division I top 30 in basketball attendance. UD's spirit group, the Red Scare, supports many of the Flyers athletics teams. From its inception in 1996 until 2006, Red Scare was focused primarily on men's basketball. In 2007, the focus of Red Scare expanded to other sports including baseball and softball in the spring, football, men's and women's soccer, and volleyball in the fall, and men's and women's basketball in the winter. The Red Scare expanded other sports' fan base with the creation of a points system called "Spirit Points". Students are given points for each sporting event they attend. These points are then used to obtain a quality seat at the men's basketball games. As of the 2014 school year, the point system was revoked and Red Scare returned to the "first come, first served" model for basketball ticket distribution.
A 2013
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
study by sports marketing professors Manish Tripathi and Michael Lewis listed Flyers men's basketball fans the best among non-power conference schools.
Notable people
Faculty
*
Bob Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft III (born January 8, 1942) is an American politician and attorney, who served as the 67th governor of Ohio from 1999 to 2007 as a member of the Republican Party.
A member of the Taft political dynasty, Taft served first i ...
, distinguished research associate in the School of Education — Former two-term governor of Ohio. Great-grandson of
President Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
.
Alumni outside of sports
*
David J. Bradley '71 - inventor of the "Control-Alt-Delete" computer keyboard command
*
Chip Bok
Arthur Bernard "Chip" Bok III (born July 25, 1952) is an American editorial cartoonist for the '' Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal'' and the ''Tampa Bay Times''. He has illustrated some of Dave Barry's books, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Priz ...
'74 - two-time National Cartoonist Society (NCS) editorial cartoonist of the year
*
Erma Bombeck
Erma Louise Bombeck (''née'' Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. She also published 15 bo ...
'49 - humorist and newspaper columnist
*
Erica Chenoweth
Erica Chenoweth (born April 22, 1980) is an American political scientist, professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. They are known for their research work on non-violent civil resist ...
'02 - named by ''Foreign Policy'' magazine as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2013.
*
Michael B. Coleman (JD '80) - first African-American mayor of
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
*
Tom Demmer
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
'08 - member of the
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...
*
Joseph Desch
Joseph Raymond Desch (23 May 1907 – August 3, 1987) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. During World War II, he was Research Director of the project to design and manufacture the US Navy version of the bombe, a cryptanalytic mac ...
'26 - creator of decoding machine to crack Nazi Enigma code in World War II
*
Theresa Flores
Theresa Flores is an American survivor of and campaigner against sex trafficking, and the creator of Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution (S.O.A.P.), a nonprofit organization that aims to help prevent sex trafficking.
Early life and traffickin ...
, sex-trafficking activist
*
Bruce Graham
Bruce John Graham (December 1, 1925 – March 6, 2010) was a Peruvian-American architect. Graham built buildings all over the world and was deeply involved with evolving the Burnham Plan of Chicago. Among his most notable buildings are the ...
- architect of the
Willis Tower
The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), ...
(formerly Sears Tower)
*
Ray Gricar
Ray Frank Gricar (; born October 9, 1945, missing since April 15, 2005) was an American lawyer who served as the district attorney of Centre County, Pennsylvania, from 1985 until 2005. On April 15, 2005, Gricar went missing under mysterious c ...
-
District attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
of
Centre County, Pennsylvania
Centre County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,172. Its county seat is Bellefonte. Centre County comprises the State College, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The lands ...
*
Jon A. Husted
Jon A. Husted (born August 25, 1967) is an American politician serving as the 66th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, lieutenant governor of Ohio, since 2019. He was previously the 53rd Ohio Secretary of State. A member of the Republican Party (United S ...
'89, '93 (MA) - Ohio Lieutenant Governor (2019–Present)
*
Gregory Karle (B.S.'77) (J.D.'80) Politician, Retired, City
Solicitor
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
(City attorney) of
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...
(1994-2018). Argued and won Landmark First Amendment case at the Supreme Court of the United States.
*
Kristina Keneally
Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Represe ...
'91 - first female
Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...
*
Bill Klesse '81 - CEO of Valero Energy
*
Omar J. Marrero
Omar J. Marrero Díaz is a Puerto Rican government official serving as the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, which fulfills the role of a lieutenant governor.
Personal life
Born on December 14, 1988 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Omar J. Marrero, ea ...
,
Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
The secretary of state of Puerto Rico ( es, Secretario de Estado de Puerto Rico) leads all efforts that promote the cultural, political, and economical relations between Puerto Rico and foreign countries, and other jurisdictions of the United S ...
*
Scott Douglas Miller
Scott Douglas Miller is an American academic administrator who has served as the fourth president of Virginia Wesleyan University since 2015. He is also an author and career educator.
Early life
Born in 1959, Miller is a native of Ridley Park, ...
, President of
Virginia Wesleyan University
Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) is a private university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The university is nonsectarian but historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church. It enrolls 1,607 students annually in undergraduate and graduate ...
, former president of
Bethany College,
Wesley College, and
Lincoln Memorial University
Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) is a private university in Harrogate, Tennessee. LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. As of fall 2019, it had 1,975 undergraduate and 2,892 graduate and professional students.
LMU i ...
*
Don Novello
Donald Andrew Novello (born January 1, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, singer, writer, film director and producer. He is best known for his work on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1978 to 1980, and again from 1985 to 1986, often as the ...
(
stage name
A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...
Father Guido Sarducci
Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character created by American comedian Don Novello. Sarducci is a chain-smoking priest with tinted glasses, who works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Holy See, Vatican newspaper ...
) '64 - actor, writer and comedian
*
Charles J. Pedersen
Charles John Pedersen ( ja, 安井 良男, ''Yasui Yoshio'', October 3, 1904 – October 26, 1989) was an American organic chemist best known for describing methods of synthesizing crown ethers during his entire 42-year career as a chemist for D ...
'26 - winner of 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
*
Bob Schaffer
Robert Warren Schaffer (born July 24, 1962) is a Republican former member of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Colorado in the 105th Congress and the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2003). Sc ...
'84 - U.S. Congressman from Colorado
*
Amy Schneider
Amy Schneider (born May 29, 1979) is an American writer and game show contestant. Winning 40 consecutive games on the quiz show ''Jeopardy!'' from November 2021 to January 2022 and the November 2022 Tournament of Champions, she holds the secon ...
- ''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'' champion with the second longest winning streak
*
Jerry Sharkey '65 - historic preservationist and
Wright brothers historian, conceived idea for
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio that commemorates three important historical figures— Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar—and the ...
*
Richard Schoen
Richard Melvin Schoen (born October 23, 1950) is an American mathematician known for his work in differential geometry and geometric analysis. He is best known for the resolution of the Yamabe problem in 1984.
Career
Born in Celina, Ohio, and a 1 ...
'72 -
Wolf Prize in Mathematics
The Wolf Prize in Mathematics is awarded almost annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Medicine, Physics and Arts. ...
winner for "striking contributions to analysis and geometry."
*
Candace Smith
Candace Elizabeth Smith (born February 1, 1977) is an American lawyer, actress, television personality, life coach, and author from Dayton, Ohio.
Early life and education
Smith was born in Dayton, Ohio and is a graduate of Chaminade Julienne Hig ...
- actress and model, Miss Ohio USA 2003, "Survivor" contestant
*
Mike Turner
Michael Ray Turner (born January 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Turner's district, numbered as the 3rd district from 2003 to 2013, is based in Dayt ...
'92 - (Graduate of Business School) - Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from Ohio's 10th congressional district
*
Charles W. Whalen, Jr. '42 - U.S. Congressman from Ohio's 3rd congressional district (1967–1979), author
*
Nan Whaley
Nannette L. Whaley (; born January 23, 1976) is an American politician who served as the 56th mayor of Dayton, Ohio from 2014 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, she was first elected to the mayorship in November 2013, after she served o ...
'98 - Politician, mayor of the city of
Dayton
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
*
Jessie Scott Hathcock '30 - First African American woman graduate, humanitarian, educator, and civil rights leader
Alumni in sports
*
Don "Monk" Meineke '52 - former NBA player 1952-1958 and First NBA Rookie of the Year
*
Obi Toppin
Obadiah Richard Toppin Jr. (born March 4, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of National Basketball Association (NBA). A power forward, he played college basketball for the Dayton Flyers.
A native of Ne ...
- NBA player, New York Knicks
*Jerry Blevins - pitcher, New York Mets
*Bucky Bockhorn '58 - former NBA player
*Bob DeMarco '59 - former NFL player, All-Pro center for Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals
*Fred Dugan '57 - former NFL player
*Gerry Faust '58 - head football coach at the University of Notre Dame
*Anthony Grant (basketball), Anthony Grant '87 - current University of Dayton men's basketball coach
*
Jon Gruden
Jon David Gruden (born August 17, 1963) is a former American professional football coach who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He held his first head coaching position with the Raiders franchise during thei ...
'86 -
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
-winning head coach (2002) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; former Las Vegas Raiders head coach
*Mike Hauschild - pitcher, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers
*Chris Johnson (basketball, born 1990), Chris Johnson '12 - NBA player, Utah Jazz, player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
*Emil Karas '58 - former NFL player
*Jim Katcavage '56, - All-Pro defensive tackle for the NFL New York Giants
*Ally Malott '15 - WNBA player, Washington Mystics
*Don May (basketball), Don May '68 - professional basketball player 1968–1975
*
Chuck Noll
Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to:
People
Arts and entertainment
* Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet
* Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer
* ...
'53 - four-time
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
winning head coach (Pittsburgh Steelers 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993)
*
Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to:
* Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player
* Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist
* Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...
'79 - sportscaster with NBC Sports
*Brian Roberts (basketball), Brian Roberts '08 - NBA player, Charlotte Hornets
*Chris Rolfe '05 - professional soccer player for D.C. United. Also played on United States Men's National Soccer Team in 2005
*David Abidor '13 - soccer player
*Devon Scott (basketball), Devon Scott '15 - basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League
*Craig Stammen - pitcher, Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres
*Chris Wright (basketball, born 1988), Chris Wright '11 - professional basketball player
*Brandon Staley - current Los Angeles Chargers Head Coach
References
External links
*
{{authority control
University of Dayton,
Educational institutions established in 1850
Marianist universities and colleges
Marianist schools
Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities
Universities and colleges in Dayton, Ohio
Catholic universities and colleges in Ohio
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
1850 establishments in Ohio