The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a public land-grant university in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The UPRM is the second-largest university campus of the University of Puerto Rico system, a member of the sea-grant, and the space-grant research consortia.
In 2009, the campus population was composed of 12,108 students, 1,924 regular staff members, and 1,037 members of the education staff. In 2013, the student population remained relatively steady at 11,838, but the instructional faculty dropped to 684. In the second semester of 2019 around 12,166 students were enrolled. By the end of the academic year 2022-2023 there were 10,071 students enrolled. UPRM has been accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) since 1946.
History The University of Puerto Rico was created by an act of the Legislative Assembly on March 12, 1903, emerging as an outgrowth of the Normal School, which had been established three years earlier to train teachers for the Puerto Rican school system. In 1908, the benefits of the Morill-Nelson Act declared applicable to the island, fostered the rapid growth of the university. Evidence of that growth was the establishment of the College of Liberal Arts at Río Piedras in 1910 and the College of Agriculture at Mayagüez in 1911 as a land-grant university.
The founding of the institution is credited to D.W. May (Director of the Federal Experiment Station), José de Diego and Carmelo Alemar. In 1912 the name of the institution was changed to the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts or Colegio de Agricultura y Artes Mecánicas (CAAM).
In 1918, an earthquake and a fire caused significant damage to the institution. The ruins of the entrance of one of the buildings, Degetau Hall — which not only withstood the earthquake, but proved to be almost indestructible after the rebuilt hall was torn down in the late 1950s — would later become the emblem of the institution. In 1988, the archway (the portico) was rebuilt, landscaped and turned into a monument.
The campus rectory was located at the José de Diego building, the oldest standing edification within the campus, built in 1911. The building was inscribed in the National Historic Building Registry as an architectural patrimony. In 1940, a clock tower was built into the main building. In 1993, the building underwent a restoration.
In 1929, the Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria was created at the Mayagüez campus. The LAI is an athletic organization, similar to the NCAA, created with the purpose of promoting and regulating sports activities. It originally consisted of a three event competition: basketball, baseball and track and field. Currently the competition consists of more than 25 sports.
In 1942 as a result of university reform, the campus was organized with a considerable degree of autonomy into the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, and Science under the direction of a vice-chancellor. In the 1950s the institution saw more programs added when the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Nuclear Center were established.
The Puerto Rican Legislative Assembly reorganized the University of Puerto Rico's system in 1966. This reorganization of the system led to the controversial change of its name to University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez Campus, which is used to the present day as the official name of the institution.
In 2007, 35.4% of all Engineering degrees were granted to women at UPRM, one of the largest percentages in US universities. The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez is the second largest Hispanic-serving institution in the United States.
In 2010 the campus went on strike as part of the 2010–2011 University of Puerto Rico strikes. In 2017 in response to budget cuts to the university system by the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico the campus students voted to join the University of Puerto Rico strikes, 2017.
Organization UPRM consists of the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, and the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies. The College of Agricultural Sciences includes the Agricultural Experiment Station.
Administrative board The Administrative board of the Mayagüez Campus consists of the chancellor as presiding officer, the deans, two academic senators elected among those faculty members of the senate who are not ex officio, senators, and an elected student representative. The president of the university serves as an ex officio member. The board acts as an advisory body to the chancellor, prepares the development plan of the campus, approves the proposed budget prepared by the chancellor, and grants tenure, promotions and leaves of absence.
Dean Years1 Frank Lincoln Stevens 1911 -2 Ralph Stillman Garwood 3 Charles E. Horne Joseph Axtamayer -1943
Vice - Chancellor Years1 Luis Stefani 1943–1965
Chancellor Years1 José Enrique Arrarás Mir 1966–1971 – José L. Martínez Picó 19712 Fred Soltero Harrington 1971–1973 – Luis A. Rodríguez 1973–19743 Rafael Pietri Oms 1974–1979 – Rafael Faría González 19794 Salvador Alemañy 1981–19845§ José Luis Martínez Picó 1985–1989 – Pablo Rodríguez 19906 Alejandro Ruiz Acevedo 1990–1993 – Pablo Rodríguez 1993–19947 Stuart José Ramos Biaggi 1994–19978§ Antonio Santos Cabrera 1997–1998 – Omar Ruiz 1998 – Fred V. Soltero Harrington 1998‐19999 Zulma R. Toro Ramos 1999–2001 – Pablo Rodríguez 2001–200210 Jorge Iván Vélez Arocho 2002–2009 – Jorge Rivera Santos 2010–201111 Miguel A. Muñoz Muñoz 2010–201112§ Jorge Rivera Santos 2011–201313 John Fernández Van Cleve 2014–201714Wilma L. Santiago Gabrielini.2017–201915Agustín Rullán Toro2019–2026 § Interim chancellor later made permanent
Academic Senate The Academic Senate at UPRM is composed of the members of the administrative board, the director of the library, the director of the counseling office, representatives elected from the faculties whose total must not be less than twice the number of the elected ex officio members, an elected member of the Library and Counseling Office, and ten student representatives. The academic senate is the official forum of the academic community. Its main task is to participate in the formulation of academic processes within the university's legal structure.
Campus
The UPR-Mayagüez campus encompasses approximately 315 acres (1.27 km2). The campus has a sports complex that includes a gym, a weight room, rooms for dance/aerobic classes, courts for basketball, a tennis and volleyball complex, a natatorium, an outdoor sports field and the Rafael A. Mangual Coliseum. The Hotel Colegial serves as the only on-campus dorms and is reserved for athletes. The campus offers two cafeterias, a bookstore, a Popular Bank branch, a lounge called La Cueva de Tarzán (Tarzan's cave) and a computer center, although several academic departments also operate their own computer laboratories. In 2016 after more than a decade in planning MUSA, a museum of art, was inaugurated on the campus. In 2019 a new cafe was opened in the College of Business Administration. The campus also contains the ruins of a historic structure called La Casilla del Caminero.
The Mayagüez Campus General Library serves the campus community as well as residents of Mayagüez.
Academics
The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez consists of four major colleges: College of Agricultural Sciences College of Arts and Sciences College of Business Administration College of Engineering
UPRM offers 55 bachelor's programs, 44 master's programs, and 9 doctoral programs. The 5 most popular undergraduate bachelor's in the university are Mechanical Engineering, Biology, Industrial Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Civil Engineering.
UPRM offers undergraduate and graduate education in all of their four colleges, while doctoral programs are only offered in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the College of Engineering.
The college of Agricultural Sciences includes the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Extension Service.
UPRM College of Engineering graduation rates are higher than the University of Wisconsin, Texas A&M University, University of Washington and the University of Minnesota. It has increased the percentage of its faculty with doctorates from 66.5% in the 1999–2000 academic year to 79.4% in 2007. As of spring 2023, the campus had 634 instructional faculty (585 full-time and 49 part-time), which includes those who are tenured, on tenure-track, and not on tenure-track. In terms of student enrollment, a total of 10,071 students were enrolled (9,251 undergraduates and 820 graduates).
The Mayagüez campus is one of two land-grant universities in the tropics and the only one where Spanish is the native language (although English is also used extensively). The academic calendar has two semesters: fall (early August to mid-December) and spring (early January to mid-May). While textbooks and research materials used at the University of Puerto Rico are often in English, Spanish is the language of instruction in most courses at UPRM, and students are required to have a working knowledge of the English language. The individual professor decides the language used in class lectures and in student evaluation activities.
Research UPRM is one of the important centers in the Atlantic region for the study of tropical marine science due to its location, facilities, and researchers. The research facilities includes the Puerto Rico Water Resources and Environmental Research Institute, the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute (CCRI), the Research and Development Center, the Agricultural Research Station and the Caribbean Atmospheric Research Center (ATMOSCarib).
The College of Engineering offers computerized laboratories for teaching, measuring fatigue and fractures in different materials, designing manufactured products and the processes to build them, and computer design. There is a Center for Civil Infrastructure used to design structures resistant to natural disasters and transportation systems. Other research areas include development of solar powered vehicles and boats, use of satellite photography to study earth phenomena, and study of the environmental impact of industrial toxins.
The Departments of English, Humanities, and Hispanic Studies also produce first-rate scholarship. Some of the most important fields include digital humanities, Caribbean cultural studies, and transnational topics.
In addition to the numerous research laboratories under direct faculty supervision, the Mayagüez campus has several research and development institutes that provide valuable support for research activities. Arts and Sciences is the college with the largest portfolio of funded research at the university and the highest number of patents, mostly from the Physics Department. Most of the science education funded efforts are in the following areas: science and mathematics education, detection of explosives, environmental sciences, biotechnology, ecosystems and conservation, oceanic processes, nanotechnology and advanced materials, human behavior and energy.
Its researchers, faculty, graduate and undergraduate students are at the forefront of areas such as tsunamis, nanotechnology, protein, oceanic processes, bio‐markers, coral reefs, applied economics, disasters, monitoring of seismic activity, biodiversity and physical oceanography.