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News Release

Last modified: Friday, March 16, 2012

Fast facts about Indiana University for Virginia media covering NCAA tourney games

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2012

Editors: In advance of Saturday's game between Indiana University and Virginia Commonwealth University in the men's NCAA basketball tournament, we thought you might be interested in some behind-the-scenes facts about the Rams' opponent. If you have any questions or need to reach anyone at Indiana University, contact Mark Land at 812-856-1172 or mdland@iu.edu.

• Indiana University -- with 110,000 students at eight campuses in the state and more than 550,000 living alumni worldwide -- was founded at Bloomington, Ind., in 1820. IU has the largest alumni base of any school in this year's NCAA tourney. It is the oldest public university west of the Allegheny Mountains. Enrollment this spring at IU Bloomington set a new record at 40,479 students, who are taught by 1,356 full-time faculty members.
• IU Bloomington's 1,937-acre campus in the rolling hills of southern Indiana is considered one of the five most beautiful campuses in the nation, as cited in Thomas Gaines' book, "The Campus as a Work of Art."
• The IU Bloomington campus has 19 libraries, including the Herman B Wells Main Library, named for the university's most beloved former president. The libraries house several of the nation's top research collections and specialized libraries, such as the Archives of Traditional Music, and the Archives of African American Music and Culture.
• The university's rare-books collection, the Lilly Library, has holdings totaling about 400,000 books, 100,000 pieces of sheet music and many culturally important items such the Gutenberg Bible and annotated production scripts for "Laugh In," "Star Trek," "Mission Impossible" and other television shows.
• National rankings are not new for the IU basketball team or for many of IU's academic programs. Just this week, U.S. News and World Report ranked its School of Public and Environmental Affairs as the No. 2 graduate program overall in the country, ahead of Harvard, Princeton and other major universities. Its Kelley School of Business, Jacobs School of Music, Maurer School of Law and departments in its College of Arts and Sciences also are renowned and have been recognized by Bloomberg Business Week, the Financial Times, U.S. News and other national publications.
• In 2011, a record number of 10 IU Bloomington faculty members became Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific society. The 10 new Fellows represent the largest group selected from IU since 2001, when five Fellows were named, and brings the total number of AAAS Fellows at IU to 66.
• Well-known IU Bloomington alumni include Suzanne Collins, author of the "Hunger Games" books; Meg Cabot, author of "The Princess Diaries"; Ryan Murphy, the creator of the popular television programs "Glee" and "Nip/Tuck"; Michael Higgins, who last year became Ireland's ninth president; Sage Steele, ESPN sports anchor; Mark Cuban, a successful business magnate and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks; and Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times.
• IU alumni who have distinguished themselves on the basketball court and in other sports include Steve Alford, a member of IU's 1987 national championship team and coach at the University of New Mexico; Keith Smart, also a member of the 1987 championship team and coach of the Sacramento Kings; Isiah Thomas, the Final Four MVP when IU won the championship in 1981 and a former member of the Detroit Pistons, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and former coach of the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks; Walt Bellamy, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist, the NBA first overall pick in 1961 and Rookie of the Year in 1962; Mark Spitz, an Olympic gold medalist in 1968 and 1972; and Trent Green, former quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.
• They also include Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia; Hoagy Carmichael, composer of such American pop standards as "Star Dust" and "Georgia on My Mind"; journalists Tavis Smiley, Anthony DeCurtis, Sherri Sylvester and Jane Pauley; actors Kevin Kline and Sarah Clarke; and Grammy winners Booker T. Jones and Joshua Bell.

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