National Rankings

• The Princeton Review listed UA among the "Best in the Midwest" in its 2011 edition of Best Colleges: Region-by-Region.
• Akron is among the top 20 percent of U.S. universities conferring doctorate degrees in chemistry.
• In 2009, U.S News & World Report ranked UA's graduate industrial/organizational psychology program among the nation’s top 10.
• BusinessWeek magazine ranked UA's College of Business Administration among the nation’s top 100 undergraduate business schools in 2009 and 2010, and currently places it at No. 1 in Ohio for return on tuition dollars after graduation.
• A 2007 report supported by the National Science Foundation named UA one of 10 exemplars for technology transfer, commercialization and industry partnerships.
• The College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering is home to the world’s largest polymer academic program and greatest concentration of polymer expertise — helping to establish Northeast Ohio as an advanced functional materials hub that competes on the world stage in the development and commercialization of materials for many industries.
• UA's College of Engineering is the fastest-growing engineering program in Ohio and fourth in the nation, according to a review of the nation's top 150 schools by the American Society for Engineering Education.
• Research and grant funding to The University of Akron increased 60 percent in the past decade.
• The College of Business Administration's graduate program has been recognized in The Princeton Review's Best Business Schools for the past six years.

Brief History of the University

• 1870: The institution now known as The University of Akron was founded as Buchtel College by the Ohio Universalist Convention
• 1872: Buchtel College opened its doors to 46 collegiate students, 171 preparatory students and seven faculty members
• 1873: Buchtel College produces the first graduate
• 1880: The first master's degree was awarded
• 1913: Trustees transfer Buchtel College's assets to the city of Akron, creating the Municipal University of Akron
• 1926: Trustees change the institution's name to The University of Akron
• 1959: The University's first doctoral degree was awarded, in polymer science. In so doing, Akron became the fifth Ohio university to offer doctoral work, following Ohio State, Western Reserve, Case and Cincinnati
• 1967: On July 1, The University of Akron became one of the Ohio's state universities
• 1999: The New Landscape for Learning campus development initiative was launched
• 2004: First phase of the New Landscape for Learning campus enhancement program was completed, resulting in 9 new buildings, 14 major renovations and 30 acres of fresh green space
• Community and Technical College was renamed Summit College
• 2005: Honors College was created
• Zips football team won its first Mid-American Conference Championship in school history and got its first Division IA bowl bid
• 2006: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation gives its largest-ever single grant, $10 million, to further support UA's revitalization of the 50-block area around campus through the University Park Alliance
• 2007: New Landscape for Learning building program continues with addition of 15th residence hall and announcement that UA would build its first on-campus football stadium
• 2008: UA’s mascot, Zippy, rings in the New Year with a national championship — winning the Capital One Bowl Mascot of the Year Challenge
• UA and four other leading educational and medical institutions launch the BioInnovation Institute to make Akron a nationally known center for medical products and procedures
• On April 4, the official groundbreaking celebration was held for InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field
• 2009: UA opens InfoCison Stadium-Summa Field to a sellout crowd. The Zips win, besting Morgan State 41-0 (Sept. 12)
• Fall enrollment increases 7.6 percent. Since 2005, UA enrollment has increased 23 percent. To accommodate graduates, a fourth Commencement ceremony is added in the spring.
• 2010: UA is named an Ohio Center of Excellence in two areas: (1) biomedicine and health care, and (2) enabling technologies: advanced materials and sensors.

See a more complete history of the University.