The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university ...

just outside of

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers programs through the College of Liberal Arts, Romain College of Business, College of Nursing and Health Professions and the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education. USI is a member of the

American Association of State Colleges and Universities The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) is an organization of state-supported colleges and universities that offer degree programs leading to bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees. AASCU grew out of the Association o ...

. It is also a Carnegie Foundation Community Engaged University which offers continuing education and special programs to more than 15,000 participants annually through outreach and engagement. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, USI athletic teams will participate in Division I of the NCAA as a member of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Cham ...

. The teams are known as the Screaming Eagles. Previously, USI participated in Division II as a member of the

Great Lakes Valley Conference The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its thirteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, ...

. The university is home to an extensive student life, with more than 140 student organizations. USI is classified among "M1 – Master's Colleges and Universities: Larger programs."

History

The University of Southern Indiana began as a regional campus of

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

, opening on September 15, 1965. In 1967, Southern Indiana Higher Education, Inc., (SIHE) raised nearly $1 million to acquire 1,400 acres for the Mid-America University Center. Groundbreaking was held June 22, 1968. Since September 1969, the University has occupied 330 acres, mostly donated by SIHE. The first buildings constructed were the Science Center and the Wright Administration Building. Slowly the school built facilities, as funding became available during the Indiana State University-Evansville period. On April 16, 1985, ISU-Evansville became an autonomous four-year institution, the University of Southern Indiana. Governor Robert D. Orr, an Evansville native, signed the newly independent school's charter. Since gaining its independence, USI's growth has continued to where it is now the fastest growing comprehensive university in the state. The university established student housing, diversified the programs offered, and enrollment has more than doubled since gaining its independence. In October 2006, the university completed a master plan that provides the framework to double the size of the school and support a campus of over 20,000 students. The master plan features key planning principles to guide the university and help it create a cohesive campus as it continues to grow.

Academics

Academic Units

USI offers over 70 undergraduate majors, 13 master's programs, and two doctoral programs as of the fall 2018 semester. Divisions of the University include the Romain College of Business, College of Liberal Arts, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education, University Division, and Division of Outreach and Engagement. Each college is led by a dean who reports to the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. USI employs 652 full-time faculty, lecturers, and academic administrators, and 239 part-time faculty. The university is accredited by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iow ...

and carries several discipline-specific accreditations as well, including from the

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, also known as AACSB International, is an American professional organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to ...

, the

Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is a nursing education accrediting agency in the United States. The CCNE is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. CCNE accreditation is a voluntary, self-regulatory process, and the ...

, and

ABET The ABET (incorporated as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.) is a non-governmental organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied and natural sciences, computing, engineering and engineerin ...

The New Harmony Theatre

The New Harmony Theatre is a professional theatre operating in nearby

New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. The town's population was 789 at the 2010 census. Es ...

under an agreement with

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. In fall 2007, USI Theatre partnered with The New Harmony Theatre on The Repertory Project, which allows top Theatre students to perform with Equity actors. Student actors and stage managers involved in The Repertory Project earn points toward joining the union, a membership that is considered the “gold standard” for theatre professionals.

Historic Southern Indiana

Historic Southern Indiana (HSI) is an outreach organization dedicated to preserving, enhancing, and promoting the abundant historical, natural, and recreational resources of

southern Indiana Southern Indiana is a region consisting of the southern third of the state of Indiana. The region's history and geography has led to a blend of Northern and Southern culture distinct from the remainder of Indiana. It is often considered to be p ...

. As a community outreach program of the University of Southern Indiana, HSI hosts workshops, produces publications, conducts visitor research, and facilitates and coordinates with many groups and agencies with the goal of creating a sense of regional identity and pride. The Heritage Area contains numerous sites of historical significance, including

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

, Corydon, New Harmony, Madison, and Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home. Forests, caves, rivers, and lakes offer scenic beauty and recreational activities.

Center for Communal Studies

The USI Center for Communal Studies is a clearinghouse for information, a research facility, and a sponsor of activities related to historic and contemporary

intentional communities An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

. The center encourages and facilitates meetings, classes, scholarships, publications, networking and public interest in communal groups past and present, here and abroad. The center archives contain primary and secondary materials on more than 100 historic communes and several hundred collective,

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

, and

co-housing Cohousing is an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space. The term originated in Denmark in late 1960s. Each attached or single family home has traditional amenities, including a private kitchen. Shared spaces typical ...

communities founded since 1965. Noted communal scholars have donated their private collections and their extensive research notes and papers to the center archives.

Center for Applied Research

The Center for Applied Research (CAR) works with businesses and organizations throughout the region to conduct research, consulting, and other applied projects.

Southwest Indiana STEM (SwISTEM) Resource Center

The Southwest Indiana STEM Resource Center offers a free-equipment lending service to K-12 public, private, and parochial school educators as well as informal educators in a seventeen-county region in southwest Indiana. Teacher professional development as well as an extensive line-up of K-12 student outreach activities are offered throughout the calendar year.

Rankings

*Online graduate degree nursing program was ranked 15th in the categories of Admissions Selectivity and Faculty Credentials and Training in the 2012 ''U.S. News & World Report'' rankings. *Students taking the

Certified Management Accountant Certified Management Accountant (CMA) is a professional certification credential in the management accounting and financial management fields. The certification signifies that the person possesses knowledge in the areas of financial planning, ana ...

exam from the University of Southern Indiana had a pass rate of over 90% in 2018, one of only 4 schools nationally to cross this threshold.

Student life

New University Center of University of Southern Indiana

Enrollment

Total USI enrollment is 11,033 for the 2017 fall semester, which includes students in undergraduate and graduate degree programs and 2,016 students enrolled in USI's College Achievement Program (CAP) classes in 27 high schools across Indiana. Students at USI represent 90 Indiana counties, 39 states and 70 countries. Out of state enrollment, including international students, makes up approximately 17% of the student population, and minority and international students comprise more than 14%. More than 40,000 students have graduated since 1971. About 74% of USI's graduates remain in Indiana. The university serves an additional 16,000 persons annually through comprehensive noncredit programs of short duration.

Housing

Nearly all students who live on campus (with the exception of some freshmen who are housed in modern suite-style facilities) are assigned apartments with full kitchens. USI's four Residence Halls (Newman, Governor's, O'Bannon, and Ruston), located on the South side of campus, are freshmen-only modern suites. The apartments, located on the Northeastern side of campus, accommodate all other campus residents (including freshmen).

Greek life

Fraternities: *

Tau Kappa Epsilon Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an internat ...

(Since 1970) *

Sigma Tau Gamma Sigma Tau Gamma (), commonly known as Sig Tau, is a United States college social fraternity founded on June 28, 1920, at the University of Central Missouri (then known as Central Missouri State Teachers College). The fraternity was founded as a re ...

(Since 1973-1999, re-chartered in 2013) *

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

(Since 1981) *

Kappa Alpha Order Kappa Alpha Order (), commonly known as Kappa Alpha or simply KA, is a social fraternity and a fraternal order founded in 1865 at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia. As of December 2015, the Kappa Alpha ...

(Since 2003) *

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternities and sororities, fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashvill ...

(Since 2007) *

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities , historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

(Since 2017) Sororities: *

Alpha Sigma Alpha Alpha Sigma Alpha () is a United States National Panhellenic sorority founded on November 15, 1901, at the Virginia State Female Normal School (later known as Longwood College and now known as Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Once a sor ...

(Since 1972) *

Delta Zeta Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Delta Zeta has 170 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada, and over 200 alumnae chapters in Cana ...

(Since 1975) *

Gamma Phi Beta Gamma Phi Beta (, also known as GPhi or Gamma Phi) is an international college sorority. It was founded in Syracuse University in 1874, and was the first of the Greek organizations to call itself a sorority. The main archive URL iThe Baird's Ma ...

(Since 1998) * Alpha Sigma Tau (Since 2012) *

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the Historically black ...

(Since 2013) *

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 ...

(Since 1973, re-activated 2015) *

Sigma Sigma Sigma Sigma Sigma Sigma (), also known as Tri Sigma, is a national American women's sorority. Sigma Sigma Sigma is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), an umbrella organization encompassing 26 national sororities or women's fraterni ...

(re-colonized 2015) * Gamma Phi Omega (since 2019) Former Fraternities and Sororities: *

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national socia ...

(1982-1984) * Alpha Sigma Phi (1994-2014, removed for low membership) *

Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. ...

(1986-2017, removed for hazing and alcohol violations)

Campus

USI's campus, located on 1400 acres (5.7 km²) of land west of Evansville, is accessed by University Parkway off of the Lloyd Expressway (IN-62). It is marked at the center by University Center East and West, which houses conference space, campus dining, offices and the campus store and by Reflection Lake to the west. The campus is connected to Burdette Park by the 3-mile, paved USI-Burdette Trail, and multiple lakeside and forest trails are available to the public through the Bent Twig Outdoor Education Center. South of the University Center is the Quad, an open-air lawn flanked by David L. Rice Library (completed in 2006) and academic buildings for the College of Liberal Arts and Romain College of Business. Academic buildings for the College of Nursing and Health Professions and Pott College, as well as university administration and forum classrooms, are located north of University Center. The total number of classrooms has more than doubled since the opening of the campus in 1967. Recent additions to the campus include the Business and Engineering Center (opened in 2010), the Applied Engineering Center (2013), the Performance Center (2014) and the Griffin Center (2016).

Athletics and Recreation

USI Basketball and Volleyball games are located in Screaming Eagles Arena, which opened on campus in 2019. Additionally, students have access to the Physical Activities Center, which also houses training facilities for student athletes. An aquatic center featuring a competition-length pool, as well as expansions and renovations to the Physical Activities Center, are currently under construction Baseball, softball and soccer games all take place on campus. USI students and faculty also have access to the Recreation, Fitness and Wellness Center.

Historic New Harmony

In cooperation with the

Indiana State Museum The Indiana State Museum is a museum located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum houses exhibits on the science, art, culture, and history of Indiana from prehistoric times to the present day. History The original coll ...

and Historic Sites, USI manages programs and properties in Historic New Harmony, site of two historic communal societies of the early 19th century, the

Harmony Society The Harmony Society was a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in . Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg, the group moved to the United States,Robert Paul Sut ...

and the

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditions, promoted ...

William Maclure William Maclure (27 October 176323 March 1840) was an Americanized Scottish geologist, cartographer and philanthropist. He is known as the 'father of American geology'. As a social experimenter on new types of community life, he collaborated ...

communal experiment. File:ricelibrary.jpg, Rice Library File:The Atheneum, New Harmony, Indiana, 1979.jpg, The Atheneum, home of Historic New Harmony File:New University Center of University of Southern Indiana.jpg, USI's University Center File:Trees on campus at University of Southern Indiana.jpg, Trees on USI's campus File:Fountain and plaza of the University of Southern Indiana.jpg, Fountain and plaza area

Media

USI is home to the '' Southern Indiana Review'', a national literary journal. Stories published in the ''Southern Indiana Review'' have been anthologized in the

Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in con ...

and the Best American Essays. The university contains within it three media outlets including the award-winning radio station, ''The Spin''/'' WSWI'', the student-run television station ''SETV12 Access UWSI'', and the two-time "Division II Newspaper of the Year" student newspaper, ''The Shield''. All programs are completely student-run entities within the campus that deal with student and community related topics and discussions.

Athletics

The athletic teams of USI are known as the Screaming Eagles. The university competes at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

level as members of the

. USI sponsors 17 varsity intercollegiate sports. The school has won four NCAA national championships (men's basketball, 1995; baseball, 2010 and 2014; softball, 2018), finished three times as the national finalist (men's basketball, 1994 and 2004; and women's basketball 1997), and earned two third-place finishes (men's cross country, 1982; baseball, 2007). The men's and women's cross country/track teams have produced five individual national championships since 1997. The NCAA II Softball National Championship in 2018 marked the first softball team in Indiana to win an NCAA championship. The national championship in baseball in 2010 marked the first GLVC member and university in the state of Indiana to win such a title, repeating in 2014 to become the first NCAA II program to win multiple team titles. The men's basketball NCAA II National Championship in 1995 garnered 3.9 million viewers watching them on CBS Sports. On February 7, 2022, the university's board of trustees unanimously approved the athletics program to seek membership at the

level. On February 9, USI announced that it had accept an offer to become a member of the

beginning on July 1, 2022. USI boasts a strong academic record as well, with 228 Academic All-GLVC athletes in 2021-22 and 35 Academic All-America honors. Student athletes maintain an average GPA of 3.29 and are retained at a high percentage. Men's sports *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

* Cross country *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping w ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

Track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping even ...

Women's sports *

* Cross country *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Han ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summe ...

Notable alumni

* Kevin Brown, professional baseball player. Played from 1996 to 2002 with the Blue Jays, Brewers, Rangers and Red Sox. * Dale Carter, inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame 2011. * Brad Ellsworth ( Democrat), former member of the

United States 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 c ...

in the

110th Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...

Indiana's 8th congressional district Indiana's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. Based in southwest and west central Indiana, the district is anchored in Evansville and also includes Jasper, Princeton, Terre Haute, Vincennes and ...

and former

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transl ...

Vanderburgh County Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also t ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...

. * Stan Gouard, basketball player and current USI coach. * Darin Mastroianni, professional baseball player for the Minnesota Twins. Drafted in 16th round of the 2007 MLB Player Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. *

Zach Payne Zach Payne (born February 24, 1989) is an American politician and businessman who has served in the Indiana House of Representatives from the 66th district since 2020. Payne previously served as a member of the Jeffersonville, Indiana City Counc ...

, member of the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House me ...

Vince Russo Vincent James Russo (born January 24, 1961) is an American professional wrestling booker, writer, and pundit. He is notable for his tenures with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop ...

, former booker for

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

and WWF; former booker for

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promot ...

; briefly held WCW's World Heavyweight Championship. Runs a well known professional wrestling podcast. * Jeff Schulz, professional baseball player. Played for the Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1989. * Jamar Smith, professional basketball player. Signed by the Boston Celtics and assigned to the Maine Red Claws. * Robert Titzer, author and inventor of the book series Your Baby Can Read. * Duncan Bray, Shetland national football team player * Falen Bonsett, Co-Host of the Dave Ryan in the Morning Show on KDWB 101.3 in Minneapolis, MN

References

External links

*
Official athletics websiteThe Shield
University of Southern Indiana Student Newspaper {{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Indiana, University Of Education in Vanderburgh County, Indiana Buildings and structures in Vanderburgh County, Indiana Southwestern Indiana University of Southen Indiana Educational institutions established in 1965 Sports in Evansville, Indiana Tourist attractions in Vanderburgh County, Indiana 1965 establishments in Indiana