The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (Minnesota; locally known as the U of M or simply the U) is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses are approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) apart, and the Saint Paul campus is actually in neighboring Falcon Heights. It is the oldest and largest campus within the University of Minnesota system and has the sixth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 51,853 students in 2012–2013. The university is organized into 19 colleges and schools, and it has sister campuses in Crookston, Duluth, Morris, and Rochester.Minnesota's athletic teams at the Twin Cities campus are known as the Minnesota Golden Gophers and compete in the NCAA's Division I as members of the Big Ten Conference.
Minneapolis campus
The original Minneapolis campus overlooked the Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River, but it was later moved about a mile (1.6 km) downstream to its current location. The original site is now marked by a small park known as Chute Square at the intersection of University and Central Avenues. The school shut down following a financial crisis during the American Civil War, but reopened in 1867 with considerable financial help from John S. Pillsbury. It was upgraded from a preparatory school to a college in 1869. Today, the University's Minneapolis campus is divided by the Mississippi River into an East and West Bank.
The campus now has buildings on both river banks. The "East Bank", the main portion of the campus, covers 307 acres (124 ha). The West Bank is home to the University of Minnesota Law School, the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the Carlson School of Management, various social science buildings, and the performing arts center. The St. Paul campus is home to the College of Biological Sciences (CBS), the College of Design (CDes), the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS), and the veterinary program
Northrop Mall, or the Mall area, is arguably the center of the Minneapolis campus. It was based on a design by Cass Gilbert, although his plans were too extravagant to be fully implemented. Several of the campus's primary buildings surround the Mall area. The Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium provides a northern anchor, with Coffman Memorial Union (CMU) to the south. Four of the larger buildings to the sides of it are the primary mathematics, physics, and chemistry buildings, (Vincent Hall, Tate Laboratory and Smith Hall, respectively) and Walter Library. The Mall area is home to both the College of Liberal Arts, which is Minnesota's largest public or private college, and the College of Science and Engineering. Behind CMU is another residence hall, Comstock Hall, and another student-apartment complex, Yudof Hall.
