Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (generally referred to as Embry-Riddle or ERAU) is a private university in the US specializing in aviation and aerospace engineering.^[4] It teaches the science, practice, and business of aviation and aerospace. Called "The Harvard of the Sky" by Time Magazine in 1979,^[5] Embry-Riddle has a history dating back to the early days of aviation. Students enroll in one of two residential campuses located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, or in Embry-Riddle Worldwide, composed of over 170 campuses around the world including online learning. Embry-Riddle Worldwide serves working civilians and serving military personnel. According to AMTSociety's Aircraft Maintenance Technology Embry-Riddle has one of the largest and most well-regarded Aerospace Engineering programs in the USA.^[6]

Embry-Riddle began in 1925 as the Embry-Riddle Company, an aircraft dealer and airmail provider, founded by Talton Higbee Embry and John Paul Riddle in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was incorporated in 1930 into what is now American Airlines. In Miami, Florida, during the buildup to World War II, Riddle partnered with John G. McKay and his wife Isabel to found the Embry-Riddle School of Aviation, and later, the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute, which moved to Daytona Beach, Florida in 1965 and was renamed Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1970. The Prescott, Arizona, campus opened in 1978.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University offers degrees in aviation, engineering, business, sciences and arts. The university offers undergraduate Bachelor's degrees, graduate Master's degrees, including Master of Science in Aeronautics, Aerospace Engineering, Business Administration in Aviation Management, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Engineering Physics, Human Factors and Systems, Mechanical Engineering, Multidisciplinary Engineering, Safety Science, Software Engineering and PhD degrees in Aviation (the first such program in the world) and Engineering Physics.^[4] From 2010 Embry-Riddle Worldwide offered the MBA in Aviation Management degree jointly with the Singapore Aviation Academy (SAA). Non-degree programs are also offered.

[edit] History

[edit] Early days

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University began on December 17, 1925, exactly 22 years after the Wright Brothers' first flight, when Talton Higbee Embry and John Paul Riddle formed the Embry-Riddle Company at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was financed by Embry, a wealthy aviation enthusiast who served as company president. Riddle was named general partner, and the two began to sell Waco Aircraft in Cincinnati. In spring of 1926 (the date shown on the university seal), the Embry-Riddle Company opened the Embry-Riddle Flying School. On December 17, 1927, the Embry-Riddle Company established Cincinnati's first regular air mail service, from Cincinnati to Chicago.^[7]

The school grew rapidly in 1928 and 1929, until what was now the Embry-Riddle Aviation Corporation was merged with the Aviation Corporation (AVCO) of Delaware. AVCO phased out the Embry-Riddle Flying School in the fall of 1930. Shortly after, AVCO became American Airways (the predecessor of American Airlines), and the Embry-Riddle Company was gone.^[7]

In 1939 Riddle contacted Embry with a view to getting back into training pilots, but Embry was not interested. Riddle, now living in Miami, Florida, found a partner in John G. McKay and his wife Isabel. Keeping the Embry-Riddle name, they re-established the Embry-Riddle School of Aviation, partnering with the University of Miami to provide flight training under the Civilian Pilot Training Program, increasing the number of pilots immediately preceding World War II. The Embry-Riddle School of Aviation expanded rapidly, and soon moved to the former Fritz Hotel.^[8]

Riddle and McKay also formed the Riddle Aeronautical Institute at Carlstrom Field, in early 1941 for the purpose of training pilots for the United States Army Air Corps (the US Air Force did not yet exist). A separate division of Embry-Riddle provided technical training in maintenance and metal work. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Embry-Riddle and its various divisions expanded rapidly to train aviators during the war, and the Carlstrom Field facility trained pilots for the Royal Air Force, while nearby Dorr Field prepared pilots for advanced training with the U.S. Army Air Forces.^[8]

Embry-Riddle quickly exhausted the market for flight training. In late 1943 Brazil’s Air Minister requested Embry-Riddle establish a flight school in São Paulo, Brazil to provide Brazilian cadets with technical instruction. By early 1944, Escola Tecnica de Aviação had been established and provided basic, aircraft, engines and instrument departments. In 1944 McKay purchased Riddle's share of Embry-Riddle as Riddle chose to remain in Brazil.^[8]

[edit] Development into a university

Following the end of World War II, the McKays continued the business of training pilots. After John McKay's death in 1951, his wife Isabel McKay led the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute. The school endured financial hardship, but continued to operate in Miami. Isabel McKay suffered a stroke in 1961, and in 1963 sold the school. That same year Jack R. Hunt was named the first president of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute.^[9] ERAI continued the training of pilots and mechanics in Miami until April 1965, when Hunt moved the campus to its current home in Daytona Beach, Florida.^[1]

Embry-Riddle's move from Miami was carried out with money and trucks borrowed from a group of Volusia County civic leaders known as the Committee of 100.^[10] The school was packed into trucks and moved nearly overnight. Known as "Operation Bootstrap", the move was accomplished with the help of the Daytona Beach News-Journal, which supplied the trucks.

The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1968^[11] and was renamed Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1970.^[12]

Hunt headed a large expansion of Embry-Riddle, including the purchase of a second campus in Prescott, Arizona, in 1978.^[13] Embry-Riddle purchased the former campus of Prescott College, which closed abruptly in 1974 from financial hardship.^[14] Hunt served as president until his death on January 7, 1984.^[15] Hunt was followed by Lt. General Kenneth L. Tallman, who, in his five years as president, formed Embry-Riddle's first graduate program. Tallman also added undergraduate degrees in Engineering Physics and Electrical Engineering.^[12]

Embry-Riddle's third president was Steven M. Sliwa, who presided over the university from 1991 until 1998. Sliwa oversaw the largest expansion in Embry-Riddle's history, according to the ERAU website developing new majors and a capital expansion in excess of US$100 million.^[1] This included the ICI Center (fieldhouse), Lehman Engineering and Technology Center, Capt. Willie Miller Instructional Center and Student Village on the Daytona Beach campus. Sliwa was followed by Dr. George H. Ebbs, who was president until November 2005.

Ebbs expanded the university into several affiliate programs and was president during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon. Following the attacks, federal investigators thought that the school might have trained at least one of the aircraft hijackers, but after a short investigation it was found that ERAU had no involvement in the flight training of the terrorists. A former student who had the same name as one of the hijackers was found to have no connections to Al-Qaeda.^[16][17][18]

During his tenure as president, Ebbs expanded Embry-Riddle into non-traditional university projects, such as Embry-Riddle's Commercial Airline Pilot Training program (CAPT program), which was sold in 2006.^[19] Ebbs also entered the university into a five-year contract with The United States Air Force Academy for Embry-Riddle to provide flight training for its cadets in 2002.^[20]

In 2006 John P. Johnson, previously University Provost and Interim President, became Embry-Riddle's fifth president.^[21]

[edit] Ranking

In the 2012 edition of U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges, the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach campus is ranked eleventh in Regional Universities (South);^[22] the Prescott campus was not in the top 50 Regional Universities (West).^[23] In the 2012 "Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical" section for Best Engineering Schools, described by U.S. News & World Report as "Students in these master's engineering programs learn the science of flight, both for aircraft and spacecraft vehicles. These are the top master's programs for aerospace / aeronautical / astronautical engineering", Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's graduate program was not in the top 10 for this specialty area.^[24]

Aeronautical science (flight training) and aerospace engineering are the two most popular degrees at the Daytona Beach campus. Daytona Beach's aerospace engineering degree program is the largest in the nation and until 2009 had ranked number one in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings of aerospace engineering degree schools without a Ph.D. program every year since the category was introduced in 2001^[25] In the broader category of best undergraduate engineering programs at schools without doctorate degrees, Embry-Riddle was ranked eleventh in the nation in the 2009 report. Also in the category of best regional universities, Embry-Riddle was ranked tenth in the south.

[edit] Organization and accreditation

Embry-Riddle is organized into two residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, and a "worldwide campus". Each campus is organized into colleges and departments. University-wide functional departments are headed by vice presidents.^[26][27]

As of 2011^[update] John P. Johnson was the President of the university, Richard H. Heist was the Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Academic Officer (CAO) of the Daytona Beach Campus^[28], and Francis P. Ayers was the Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Academic Officer (CAO) of the Prescott Campus^[29].

The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools^[11], and its various degrees are accredited by other relevant official bodies (for example, its engineering programs are accredited through ABET).^[30]

[edit] Daytona Beach, Florida, campus

Embry-Riddle's largest residential campus (185-acre (0.75 km²)) and academic headquarters has been in Daytona Beach, Florida since the move from Miami in 1965. Built adjacent to the Daytona Beach International Airport, the campus has easy access for flight training. The main campus consists of an aviation complex, academic quad and residence halls surrounding the student center and Jack R. Hunt Aviator Park. Athletic facilities and the ICI Center are at the east end of campus.

Total fall 2010 enrollment at the Daytona Beach campus was 5,089; 4,496 undergraduate and 593 graduate students.^[3] Aeronautical science (flight training) and aerospace engineering are the two most popular degrees at the Daytona Beach campus. Daytona Beach's aerospace engineering degree program is the largest in the nation^{[citation needed]}.

Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus has one of the most extensive Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs in the United States and the nation's largest Air Force ROTC program.^[31] The ROTC program frequently wins national competitions.^[32][33][34] The engineering physics program at the Daytona Beach campus is currently the largest undergraduate engineering physics program in the country and the only one specializing in aerospace.^[35]

The Daytona Beach campus sponsors 16 intercollegiate sports. The Eagles are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and compete in The Sun Conference. Embry-Riddle's athletics are directed by basketball head-coach Steve Ridder. On October 2, 2006, Ridder was named NAIA National Athletic Director of the Year.^[36] Ridder led the school to its only national title in any sport in 2000, in basketball.

[edit] Prescott, Arizona, campus

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott Campus opened in 1978. The 539-acre (2.18 km²) campus is located among Arizona's Bradshaw Mountains approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) from Prescott's airport, Ernest A. Love Field. At an elevation of over 5,000 feet (1,500 m), Prescott has mild seasonal weather with moderate daytime temperatures and ideal conditions for flying year-round.

Facilities at the Prescott Campus include the multi-lab Aerospace Experimentation and Fabrication Building, a wind tunnel lab, aviation safety center with accident investigation lab, library, the 48,000 sq ft (4,500 m²) academic complex, an engineering and technology center, chapel, dining hall, student union and residence halls. Total fall 2010 student enrollment at the Prescott campus was 1,705 students, including 51 graduate students.^[3]

The Prescott campus has the only Global Security and Intelligence Studies program in the country.^[37]

The Prescott campus also features a space-oriented Physics Department that involves undergraduate students in research projects funded by NSF and NASA.

Embry-Riddle's two Air Force ROTC detachments form the largest university-based Air Force commissioning source in the nation. Embry-Riddle's AFROTC detachments also produce more commissioned officers, more pilots and other rated officers for the Air Force than any other institution in the nation except the Air Force Academy. Army ROTC also operates a large detachment on the Prescott Campus.^[38]

The Prescott campus is home to the Golden Eagles Flight Team, which competes in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association. Prescott's Golden Eagles Flight Team has won the regional championship each year for the past 23 years and are the NIFA National Champions for the years 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2008.^[39]

[edit] Worldwide campus

Embry-Riddle Worldwide was established in 1970 and is a network of more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Canada, the Middle East and Asia, plus a virtual "online campus".^[40] It is available at installations with aviation functions for students not able to attend a residential campus. Many study programs are offered at undergraduate and post-graduate level. In the 2009-2010 school year 27,261 students, many serving with the United States Armed Forces, were enrolled in the worldwide campus.^[3] Embry-Riddle Worldwide is organized into three divisions: Academic Affairs, Worldwide Online (which offers degrees through Internet classes), and the Center for Professional Education (which offers continuing education credits and non-degree programs). As of 2012^[update] it was headed by Executive Vice President John R. Watret.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Embry-Riddle Athletics
• Embry-Riddle YouTube Channel

Coordinates: 29°11′19″N 81°02′55″W / 29.18857°N 81.04871°W / 29.18857; -81.04871