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Vincennes University ('''VU''') is a Public University in Vincennes, Indiana in the United States . Founded in 1801, as Jefferson Academy, VU is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Indiana. Since 1889 , VU has been a two-year university, although some four-year degree programs have been recently added. Unlike most other two-year higher-education institutions, however, VU is a residential campus and has been since its inception over two hundred years. VU was chartered in 1806 as the Territory of Indiana's four-year university and remained the State of Indiana's sole publicly-funded four-year university until the establishment of Indiana University Bloomington . Until 2005, Vincennes University served as the state-mandated coordinator of the Ivy Tech Community College system. {Link without Title} ACADEMICS Vincennes University offers a diverse set of majors that are focused on careers in teaching and industry. Vincennes University is organized into three divisions and two departments:
HISTORY Vincennes University is the oldest university north of the Ohio River and west of the Alleghenies . This institution was founded in 1801 as Jefferson Academy and incorporated as Vincennes University on November 29 , 1806 . Founded by William Henry Harrison , VU is one of only two U.S. colleges founded by a President Of The United States ; the other is the University Of Virginia , founded by Thomas Jefferson . For over two-hundred years, VU was historically the only Two-year University in Indiana , although the university has recently expanded some majors into four-year programs. In the mid 1800s, the Indiana state legislature tried to reclaim the original VU land grant, to be used for what would become Indiana University Bloomington . The resulting lawsuit ( Trustees For Vincennes University V Indiana , 1853 ) ended up being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court , who decided in VU's favor, based on its earlier decision in a similar case regarding Dartmouth College . The legal dispute arose in part because a portion of VU's Land-grant Public University status derives from the fact that VU is the inheritor of the land-grant and facilities of Territorial University. {Link without Title} Vincennes University, also known colloquially as Territorial University during the early 19th Century , was the first and only land-grant public university established by the Indiana Territory, prior to the formation of the states of Indiana and Illinois. The town of Vincennes was chosen as the location because it was centrally located in the Indiana Territory, instead of being along the Indiana-Illinois border as it is in the modern State of Indiana. Once the State of Indiana was formed out of a portion of the Territory of Indiana in 1818 , funding for Vincennes University became less certain with the partitioning of the former Territory of Indiana into the State of Indiana and the Territory of Illinois, coupled with the fact that Vincennes University, a territory-controlled university, was in the newly-formed State of Indiana and not in the remaining Territory of Illinois. Further complicating the question of funding for VU was the State of Indiana's desire to establish its own state-controlled public university in . Conversely, these complications also set the stage for VU's rich two-century long history with some of the most architecturally-significant beautiful early 19th-century buildings to be found at any two-year institution in the USA . To clarify the mission of VU ''vis a vis'' Indiana's other institutions of higher education at the time— Indiana University and Purdue University and the State Normal School —, the State of Indiana rechartered VU from a four-year university to a two-year university in 1889 . In 1897 , a small Literary Society called Tau Phi Delta (ΤΦΔ) was started at VU, which soon after became the founding ("Alpha") chapter of Sigma Pi (ΣΠ) Fraternity, making that organization the first of its kind to be founded west of the Ohio Valley . A clocktower on the VU campus commemorates that event and the Fraternity, despite having relocated its headquarters to Tennessee , recognizes VU as its birthplace. From the rechartering of Ivy Tech State College into a statewide system of community colleges named Ivy Tech Community College , Vincennes University was relieved of this relationship that never came to full fruition. ATHLETICS VU is a member of the NJCAA , competing as the Trailblazers (or just "Blazers") in baseball, bowling, golf, basketball, cross country, tennis, volleyball, swimming & diving, and track & field. Its bowling team is particularly well know having won 14 NJCAA national championships. NOTABLE ALUMNI Richard "Red" Skelton Richard "Red" Skelton was a comedian who was born in Vincennes, Indiana on July 18, 1913. During his career in the early 1900's, he was involved in many forms of entertainment including shows on Broadway and radio. He is most famous for being the star of "The Red Skelton Show," which aired from 1951-1971. Red Skelton passed away on September 17, 1997. The university has recently built the 'Red Skelton Center for Performing Arts' which opened in February 2006. Other notable alumni
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