Union University - Overview
Union University -- Renewing Minds
Today, more than ever, the world is in need of great thinkers, a new generation of serious-minded intellects who will engage the culture with the truths of Christian faith. Union University is committed to readying the generation of change agents the world so desperately needs.
Located in Jackson, Tennessee, Union University is a private four-year, coeducational liberal arts-based university. Founded in 1823 and affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, Union critically and creatively builds upon the tradition of thought and inquiry so carefully shaped and nurtured by the great Christian scholars who have come before.
Union University Is Excellence-Driven
Union University's faculty members excel as authors, scholars and national speakers. They invest in their students through teaching, mentoring and collaboration on research. Eighty-four percent of Union's faculty members hold the highest possible degrees in their fields. The faculty-student ratio at Union is 11:1, giving students the advantage of plenty of one-on-one time with their professors. That is among the best ratios to be found at any university.
Union is ranked by "U.S. News & World Report" as one of only 56 schools nationally "where the faculty has an unusual commitment to undergraduate teaching." Union was listed among 46 "schools to watch" across the nation. Overall, the magazine ranks Union 15th among master's universities in the South. Union has been classified as a top-tier institution each year since 1997. Union's students are encouraged to invest themselves in their education and to let the best in themselves come to the forefront.
Union University Is Christ-Centered
Union University integrates Christian faith with top-tier academics in a way that is rare in the world of higher education. Consider what Union University President David S. Dockery says about this concept:
"The integration of faith and learning is one of the most important and distinctive characteristics of Christian higher education. Education at a Christian university involves more than the delivery of content in the classroom in an effective way. It also involves helping students learn to see the world through the lenses of a Christian worldview. Other distinctives include providing competencies in one's chosen field of study and helping to shape character for life and vocation."
Whether students in Jackson, Tennessee, are studying accounting, art, engineering or sociology, at Union they learn to understand their role in that field within the context of a Christian worldview.
Union University Is People-Focused
This Christian university in Jackson combines the advantages of a nationally recognized university with the personal attention of a close-knit learning community.
For example, Union is large enough to offer 100 programs of study on the undergraduate and graduate levels, yet small enough that 100 percent of its classes are taught by professors rather than graduate students. It is also large enough to be recognized in national rankings and publications, yet all new incoming students are prayed for by name before they arrive on campus. Union University attracts renowned scholars to its faculty, yet students are often invited to dinner in the homes of those scholars. In fact, faculty members also give out their home telephone numbers and reserve office time for anyone needing extra help.
"People-focused" values at Union University means that teams that play for the institution in Jackson, Tennessee, get national attention in athletics, including three national titles in women's basketball during the last ten years. Yet its athletics department makes it a point to provide individual guidance on personal fitness and intramural activities that benefit all students. It means that while Union is large enough to support a new intercollegiate debate program, it is small enough that professors and students frequently and informally discuss the most controversial issues of the day over coffee or at the lunch table.
As Union continues to grow, in Jackson, Tennessee, it will never lose its focus on individual students.
Union University Is Future-Directed
Union University is dedicated to an unending cycle of improvements and investments for students who are not yet with them.
Union invested more than $120 million in improving its campus during the past decade. These changes include the addition of a state-of-the-art science building and a 60,000-square-foot building that houses pharmacy and nursing simulation environments. The new student commons includes fireplaces, an indoor walking track, gymnasium, music practice rooms, study and entertainment lounges and kitchens. Fesmire Field House has a 9,300 square-foot turf room as well as a training room and locker rooms for baseball, softball, and men's and women's soccer.
All of Union University's on-campus housing in Jackson includes a private bedroom for each student. About 70 percent of the apartments were constructed since 2008.
A new three-story library, scheduled for 2013, will incorporate the finest in 21st century technology and space for a wide variety of academic work.