About the University of Idaho
Since 1889, the University of Idaho has been a place that expects more from itself, more from its students, more from knowledge and more from life. The University of Idaho is where students come to succeed and learn to lead. At our main campus in Moscow, Idaho – and our centers throughout the state –students find many opportunities to share in our community and culture.
We offer a distinctive combination of outstanding majors and graduate programs, accomplished faculty, world-class facilities, renowned research and a residential campus in a spectacular natural setting.
There’s no better way to learn, think and live than at the University of Idaho. Expect more from a leading university. We’ll deliver.
Did you know?
- Idaho is consistently recognized as one of the best public colleges in America by The Princeton Review.
- Kiplinger’s listed Idaho in its “Best 100 Values in Public Colleges” for our academic strength and affordability.
- The Princeton Review recognized Idaho as “Top 286 Green Colleges” in their list of most environmentally responsible.
- We are among only 15% of the nation’s colleges listed in The Princeton Review’s “Best 368 Colleges.”
- In 2012 Outside Magazine online recommended U-Idaho as one of the 25 Universities its readers should consider.
- Washington Monthly magazine’s College Guide again this year ranked the University of Idaho among the top 100 national universities for social mobility, research and service.
- Newsweek magazine ranked Idaho as the third most affordable university in the nation in its “Best Colleges For You 2012.”
- Idaho has more than 200 student organizations, more than 20 minority student groups, ans is home to the renowned Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival.
- Vandal athletic teams compete in 16 men’s and women’s NCAA Division I sports. We also offer a myriad of club sports.
History
The University of Idaho opened its doors on Oct. 3, 1892, when it welcomed about 40 students and one professor, John Edwin Ostrander.
On June 11, 1896, the university graduated its first class when four students marched across a stage to receive their diplomas. Two years later, the university awarded its first graduate degree. By 1899, a growing body of University of Idaho alumni formed the Idaho Alumni Association.
Alumni numbers weren’t all that grew in those early days. Over the next few years, the University of Idaho established its College of Agriculture, dedicated Ridenbaugh Hall and established the Pacific Northwest’s first Department of Domestic Science (later to be called Home Economics).
The Administration Building fire in 1906 was a turning point in the university’s history. John Tourtellotte, a Boise architect who had designed the state’s capitol, designed a new Tudor Gothic structure to symbolize the university’s growth and maturity as a major institution of higher education. The Administration Building remains the centerpiece of campus.
The hiring in 1908 of the nation’s premier landscape architects, Olmsted Brothers of Massachusetts whose firm’s founding father designed New York’s Central Park, led to the small-town New England look of the campus.
President Theodore Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to visit the campus in 1911. He planted the first tree in Presidential Grove.
Through the next 50 years, the campus continued to grow in size and academic offerings. Among the additions were Forney Hall, the School of Education, Science Hall, Hays Hall, the Music Building, the Library, the Student Union and outreach campus locations.
In 1976 the new ASUI-Kibbie Dome won a national engineering structural achievement award. Its sound structure has withstood roaring cheers of Vandal fans (as well as the groans and occasional wailings of rival teams) ever since.
Today, the university is home to nearly 12,000 students and nearly 3,159 faculty and staff. It continues to be a leading place of learning in Idaho and the West, because although it is ever-responsive to the changing needs of its students and society, it never forgets its roots and traditions.
Perhaps no better example of this distinct combination of rich history and innovative service is the Associated Students of the University of Idaho (ASUI). Today as vibrant as ever, ASUI has been a force on campus for more than 100 years.