Indiana University Bloomington – Campus and Ranking
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Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University System, and is the largest member institution, with over 48,000 enrolled students. The school was originally established in 1820 as the State Seminary and was a Presbyterian-affiliated university. The first college professor was Baynard Rush Hall, a Presbyterian minister who acted as the sole professor of all the offered classes from 1825 to 1827. Professor Hall was a Classicist who focused on Greek, Latin, and Classical Philosophy, firmly believing these areas formed the strongest foundations for higher education.
Later the State Seminary’s name was changed to Indiana College (1829) and again to its present-day name Indiana University (1839). IU Bloomington was originally a men-only university until 1867, when it admitted its first female student, Sarah Parke Morrison, making IU Bloomington the fourth public university to admit women on an equal basis as male students.
We ranked Indiana University Bloomington:
#23 in Top 50 Online Schools with the Best Websites,
#8 in Top 20 Online Colleges Near Chicago; and
#9 in The 25 Best MBA in Entrepreneurship Programs
Also check out The Top 20 Online Colleges in Indiana!
IU Bloomington maintains three museums: the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, the Mathers Museum of World Cultures (now part of the Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology), and the Grunwald Gallery of Art. Each of these destinations is a very popular institution for students and the surrounding communities for both cultural and historical insight. The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, in particular, is an important museum and is consistently ranked as being among one of the best university art museums in the nation. The art museum houses many important and influential works which actively represent the areas of Africa, Oceania, North and South America, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and European Modernism.
The area of Bloomington, Indiana has many activities and sights available for visitors and attending students to busy themselves with, such as:
Upland Brewing Company: Upland Brewing Company was founded in 1997 and is currently the second-largest brewery in the state of Indiana and is the largest microbrewery in the state. Upland Brewing Company offers tours, holds events, and, as one of the most popular local breweries, has many souvenirs for sale, including clothing, gift cards, and beer accessories such as beer koozies and bottle openers.
Lake Lemon: Located approximately 10 miles northeast of Bloomington, Lake Lemon is a 1,650-acre reservoir lake that is home to two dozen varieties of fish, various wildlife including beavers and muskrats, and many species of birds including bald eagles. The area features two publicly-accessible parks, marinas, a nature trail, beaches, and a shelter house. The area also plays host to a private yacht club called Bloomington Yacht Club.
Buskirk-Chumley Theater: The Buskirk-Chumley Theater was built in 1922 and originally featured a mix of vaudeville and silent movies. Today the theater shows classic films and puts on live performances. Gatsby’s Theater Café operates in the storefront in front of the theater and the theater hosts the annual Pride Film Festival, an LGBTQ+ film festival that celebrates the local LGBTQ+ community. The festival features both full-length and short films from all over the world, various live performances, discussions with scholars and filmmakers, and a Saturday night dance party.
The MAC: On-Campus you will find The Musical Arts Center, or “the MAC”, a venue that seats 1,460 and offers more than 1,000 theatre, fine arts, and entertainment presentations each year. It features a 90′ x 60′ main stage and rivals the performances of many larger cities.
Indiana University Bloomington Online Degrees and Programs:
Indiana University Bloomington has a myriad of undergraduate, graduate, and professional certificates from which distance-learning students can choose. These education programs are taught by the same highly-qualified and caring faculty that teaches the on-campus class counterparts, so students can rest assured that they are receiving a top-notch education.
The school’s online degrees are offered via Indiana University Online and include 180 programs to choose from. While we won’t list each program in this post, here are a few of the most popular options:
Popular Online Certificate Programs at IU Bloomington:
- Addiction Intervention
- Analog Audio Electronics
- Archives Management
- Business Analytics
- Composition Studies
- Cultural Heritage Tourism
- Design Thinking
- EFL/ESL Teaching
- Events Management
- Histotechnology
- Homeland Security and Emergency Management
- Language and Literature
- Nonprofit Management
- Philanthropic Fundraising
Popular Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs at IU Bloomington:
- Artificial Intelligence, BA
- Sustainability Studies, BA
- Technical Communication, BS
- Applied Health Science, BS
- Health Information Administration, BS
- Medical Imaging Technology, BS
- Nursing, RN to BSN
- French, BS
- Political Science, BS
- Sustainability Studies, BA
- Informatics, BS
- Labor Studies, BS
- Mathematics, BS
- Criminal Justice, BS
- Natural Science and Mathematics, BA | (Mathematics )
- Applied Science, BAS
Popular Online Master’s Degree Programs at IU Bloomington:
- Adult Education, MSEd
- Business Administration, MBA
- Chemistry, MAT
- Criminal Justice and Public Safety, MS
- Cybersecurity Risk Management, MS
- Educational Leadership, MSEd
- Educational Technology for Learning, MSEd
- Environmental Health, MPH
- Epidemiology, MPH
- Finance, MS
- Global and Environmental Health, MPH
- Health Informatics, MS
- Human-Computer Interaction, MS
- Library and Information Science, MLIS
- Master of Public Health | (Parks and Recreation)
- Music Therapy, MS
- Philanthropic Studies, MA
- Product Stewardship, MS
- Special Education, MSEd
- Technology, MS | (Facilities Management )
- Tourism Management, MSR
IU Bloomington also offers nine online Doctorate programs:
- Curriculum and Instruction: Art Education, EdD
- Curriculum and Instruction: Science Education, EdD
- Educational Leadership, EdS
- Instructional Systems Technology, EdD
- Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, EdD
- Nursing Practice, DNP
- PhD in Nursing Science
- Public Health, Global Health Leadership, DrPH
What Makes Indiana University Bloomington Unique: Indiana Memorial Union
The Indiana Memorial Union is a student union building and is the second-largest student union in the United States. The union was founded in 1909 by IU Bloomington student John Whittenberger. The Indiana Memorial Union was dedicated on June 13, 1932, and is almost 500,000 square feet in size. The building is home to stores, restaurants, a 186-room hotel, a 400-seat theater, a 5,000 square-foot Alumni Hall, a large bowling alley and features an eight-story tall tower that is designated for various student-run activities. The Indiana Memorial Union also houses a collection of Indiana state art created by area artists.
Other Indiana University Bloomington Facts:
The Indiana University Bloomington Library System maintains more than twenty different libraries and provides access to more than 7.8 million books, 800 databases, 60,000 electronic journal titles, and 815,000 eBooks. It is the 14th-largest library system located within the nation based on the number of volumes housed. IU Bloomington’s Herman B Wells Library holds more than 4.6 million volumes alone, and there is an oft-repeated urban legend associated with it. IU students commonly tell others that the library is sinking because, when it was originally built, the architects and engineers failed to take into account the added weight of all the books that would eventually occupy the building. This urban legend, however, has been thoroughly debunked as the library sits on a 94-foot thick layer of limestone bedrock, but this does nothing to discourage the retelling of the tale.
Indiana University Bloomington’s Website: https://www.indiana.edu/
Indiana University Bloomington’s Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
Indiana University Bloomington’s Values and Mission Statement: https://www.iu.edu/about/mission-vision.html
Indiana University Bloomington’s Motto: Lux et Veritas – “Light and Truth”
Indiana University Bloomington’s Mascot: The Hoosiers
Indiana University Bloomington’s Colors: Cream and Crimson
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