The University of New Hampshire was originally founded as a land-grant college whose mission was to shape and educate citizenry among the state’s farmers, business people and engineers.  Today, the University is a land-, sea-, and space-grant university serving a growing undergraduate student body of about 11,942 and a graduate population of 2,257 in addition to 621 full-time faculty members, 86% of which have earned their doctorate degree.  The University has grown into a top public research university occupying 2,600 acres of classic living and learning space, while still maintaining the look and feel of a New England liberal arts college with a faculty dedicated to teaching. UNH’s student to faculty ratio registers at 18:1 with 85% of its classes having 50 students or less.

HISTORY
As one of the most prestigious institutions in the Northeast, the University of New Hampshire has always been recognized as a leader in education and research, spanning all fields of study and uniting them through interdisciplinary programs, labs, farms, theatres, research centers, and libraries. 

Founded in 1866 as the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, UNH was among the early state institutions of higher education whose formation was made possible by federal government land grants.  The purpose for the grants was to establish colleges that would serve the sons and daughters of farming and laboring families.

New Hampshire College was originally situated in Hanover, N.H.  Here it was in connection with Dartmouth College before moving to Durham in 1893 after Benjamin Thompson bequeathed land and money to further the development of the college.  The state legislature then granted its new charter as the University of New Hampshire in 1923.

The University hosts 733 international students from more than 45 countries and boasts a population of students from all 50 states.  Along with over 100 majors offered, UNH encompasses seven schools and colleges that undergraduates can choose from: the College of Liberal Arts, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, School of Health and Human Services, College of Life Sciences and Agricultures, Whittemore School of Business and Economics, and the Thompson School of Applied Science.  And at the very heart of the University’s undergraduate studies is the General Education Program.  The GEP is a core program with a breadth of academic subjects that aims to acquaint the student with some of the major modes of thought necessary to understand oneself, others, society, and the world.

The University prides itself as being a top 10 entrepreneurial campus (Forbes.com and The Princeton Review) and is among the top 30 universities nationally in science research funding from NASA.

UNH is home to the NASA-recognized Space Science Center; the Institute for Study for Earth, Oceans and Space; and the Institute of Marine Science and Engineering.  The English program is staffed by an inspiring faculty of winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Edgar Allen Poe Award and the Young Poets Award.  In addition, the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, established in 1962, was recently selected second among all business schools in a nationwide pool of business school deans. UNH also graduates students who attend top-notch graduate schools, including Law School at Harvard and Cornell, Engineering at Stanford, and Medical School at Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard.

CAMPUS

In recent years, several of the athletic facilities have received major upgrades and improvements.  In September of 2001, the University completed a new $2.15 million track and field facility. The Jerry Azumah Performance Center, a strength and conditioning facility located in the UNH Field House, was dedicated on July 8, 2003. Renovations to the Center included the addition of 5,000 pounds of Olympic weights, 7,000 pounds of dumbbells, 14 Powerlift platform stations, 12 Hammer strength machines and an additional 15,000 pounds of weights. UNH athletics also added two $1.5 million outdoor artificial fields, Memorial Field and Bremner Field.  Lundholm Gymnasium has received some major overhauls, including a new playing surface, new lights, new sound system, new bleacher system, new backboards and new scoreboards. The Paul Sweet Oval was also renovated to include new surfaces, lighting, painting, infrastructure upgrades and the replacement of windows that existed in the original architecture. In the 2012 offseason, Cowell Stadium was fitted with a brand new scoreboard while the football locker rooms were renovated as well. In the locker rooms, a new lighting system was installed while a 55-inch flat-screen TV and Fathead-designed murals featuring former players and UNH historical were added to the walls. A memorial of Todd Walker was also added in honor of the former Wildcat wide receiver. Walker suffered an untimely and heroic death March 18, 2011, in Boulder, Colo., when he stopped an attempted robbery and saved the life of a woman he was walking home.

In November of 1995, construction of the $27 million Recreation and Sport Complex reached completion. The Whittemore Center includes a state-of-the-art 6,500 to 7,500 seat arena for hockey, concerts and convocations, as well as a new three-level recreational sports facility within the structure that had housed the old Snively Arena.

In addition to the incredible improvements of its athletic facilities, the University has upgraded and renovated a large part of its academic campus as well. The latest addition to the expanding campus is the Paul College of Business and Economics, a 115,000 square foot academic building located on Garrison Avenue. Slated for completion in January 2013, the building will feature 16 technology-rich classrooms, totaling 950 new instructional seats. There will also be 25 high-tech groups study rooms along with a two-story “Great Hall” for informal and special events. Outside of the facility, there will be a courtyard for outdoor activities and events. The building will be a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold facility, maintaining the University’s commitment to sustainable programs and facilities. The University broke ground on the project in May 2011. Thompson Hall, one of the standing historical landmarks of the University, has also been beautifully refurbished and restored. 

The University completed a $52 million renovation of Kingsbury Hall in October of 2007, adding 6,000 square feet of student project space for students in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, as well as a $4.5 million revamp of Hewitt Hall to expand the School of Health and Human Services.  In addition, the 120,000 square foot Biological Sciences Building, Rudman Hall and the Spaulding Life Sciences Renovation project now provide state-of-the-art teaching and researching laboratories. 

The University also spent $15 million to complete Morse Hall, a new science and engineering building as well as $8.2 million to modernize the Memorial Union Building. The revision to the existing student union building consisted of several upgrades including top kitchen and dining facilities, two theaters, student mailboxes, lounges and meeting rooms, as well as additional retail spaces such as the University Bookstore.  Additionally, the University completed construction of the new dining facility on Main Street, Holloway Commons, as well as the renovation of the Dimond Library. 

Combining the atmosphere of a small New England liberal arts college with the resources and opportunities of a major research university, the University of New Hampshire is a place where all students can find or create their own niche and succeed.  While the University offers an extremely broad academic base with an inspiring faculty, it also provides students with thousands of opportunities to get involved, either through athletics, campus recreation, student life, or research.  The University is a dynamic community that not only challenges its members academically but also expands their understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity and leads to incredible growth as students, faculty, staff, and as a community.

University of New Hampshire Athletic Department Mission Statement 

Wildcat statue in front of the Whittemore Center

The mission of the intercollegiate athletics program at UNH is to provide opportunities for student-athletes to enrich their collegiate experience through participation on athletic teams which are competitive at the conference level and beyond.