David Andersson (born 25 December 1981)
is a Swedish orienteering competitor and European champion.

He received a gold medal in relay at the European Orienteering Championships in 2006 in Otepää, together with Niclas Jonasson and Peter Öberg.

He received a silver medal in relay at the 2007 World Orienteering Championships in Kyiv, together with Peter Öberg and Emil Wingstedt.

He received a gold medal at the 2001 Junior World Ski Orienteering Championships.

References

External links

1981 births
Living people
Swedish orienteers
Male orienteers
Foot orienteers
Ski-orienteers
World Orienteering Championships medalists
21st-century Swedish people
Junior World Orienteering Championships medalists

David Andersson (orienteer)


Christianity is the most widely professed religion in Argentina, with Roman Catholicism being its largest denomination. This historical background is very much due to the Spanish influence brought about through the newly conquered territories. However, affiliation with Protestant churches is increasing and immigration throughout the 20th century has brought other religions from various regions to Argentina.

Argentina is a secular nation and its constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Good Friday and Christmas are recognised as national holidays.

Christianity

Roman Catholicism

In 2020, estimates for the number of Roman Catholics vary from as low as 62.9% of the population, to as much as 92.12%. The CIA Factbook lists 92% of the country as Catholic, but adds that less than 20% practice their faith regularly.

Argentina's society, culture, and politics are deeply imbued with Roman Catholicism. The Church's place in Argentine national identity, which spans across the ideological spectrum, stems from the perpetual ability of Argentines on different sides of political and social divides to find some level of support in the Church. The Church solidified its hold on the territory of modern-day Argentina during the period of Spanish colonial rule from the 16th to early 19th centuries. Church leaders variously supported and opposed the policies of Juan Perón and the violent tactics of the Dirty War. Although Roman Catholicism is not the official religion of the state, and freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution, Catholic representatives take part in many state functions. Today, areas of Church-State contention include contraception, economic policies, and the disputed involvement of the Church in the Dirty War.

Catholic practices in Argentina (especially in indigenous areas) might be seen as incorporating a great deal of syncretism; for example, religious festivals in the north-western provinces feature Catholic icons in (or along with) ancient Andean indigenous ceremonies. The Pachamama worship is still widespread throughout Salta and Jujuy along with Catholic beliefs, without opposition from the Catholic bishops.

The church in Argentina is divided into dioceses and archdioceses. Buenos Aires, for example, is an archdiocese owing to is size and historical significance as the nation's capital. Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop, houses the remains of General José de San Martín in a mausoleum.

There are nine Catholic universities in Argentina: the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (Buenos Aires), the Universidad del Salvador (Buenos Aires), the Universidad Católica de Córdoba, the Universidad de La Plata, the Universidad de Salta, the Universidad de Santa Fe, the Universidad de Cuyo, and the Universidad de Santiago del Estero. Religious orders run and sponsor hundreds of primary and secondary schools throughout the country, with and without government funding.

Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to the papacy, as Pope Francis, on 13 March 2013.

Other Christian denominations
Protestant churches have been gaining ground since the 1980s. In Latin America, most Protestants are called Evangélicos (Evangelicals). One survey in 2008 found approximately 9% of the total population were Protestant; most of whom, 7.9% of the total population were Pentecostal. While Pentecostal churches originally attracted mostly the lower class, they show an increasing appeal to the urban middle class. Middle class congregations develop a distinctive style of Pentecostalism, more adapted to society.

In addition 1.2% of the population were Jehovah's Witnesses and 0.9% The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This study also found that Protestants were the only group in which a majority regularly attended services. A 2013 survey found 15% Protestant (9% Pentecostal, 2% mainline, and 4% refusing to say which Protestant denomination).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims over 474,000 members with two temples and 726 congregations.

The very first Waldensian settlers from Italy arrived in South America in 1856 and today the Waldensian Church of the Río de La Plata (which forms a united church with the Waldensian Evangelical Church) has approximately 40 congregations and 15,000 members shared between Uruguay and Argentina.

The Argentine Catholic Apostolic Church is a derivative movement of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira) founded by the excommunicated Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa of Brazil in 1945. The Argentine Catholic Apostolic Church was founded, according to varying sources, in 1970 or 1971, in Buenos Aires by its first Archbishop–Primate Leonardo Morizio Dominguez.

The Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America represents the Anglican Communion in Argentina.

A 2015 study estimates some 2,200 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.

Orthodox Christianity is represented by Antiochian, Constantinople, Russian, Serbian, Romanian and Greek Orthodox Churches.

Islam

Argentina has the largest Muslim minority in Latin America. Although the national census does not ask about religious affiliation, precluding accurate statistics, Argentina's Muslim community is estimated to number around 1% of the total population. Estimates in 2000 ranged around 400,000.

The 20th century saw an influx of immigrants from the Ottoman Empire, mostly Arabs from Syria and Lebanon. They are generically called 'Turcos' (Turks) in Argentina, because when most arrived, Lebanon and Syria were territories of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It is estimated that today there are about 3.5 million Argentines of Arab descent. The majority of these Arab immigrants were Arab Christians and some were Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. Though accurate information is unavailable, it is likely that less than a quarter of Arab migrants were Muslim Arabs. The descendants of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews are more likely to identify themselves as just Jews rather than Arab Jews today.

The King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center, the largest mosque in South America, was completed in 1996 with the help of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, on a piece of land measuring 20,000 m2. The total land area granted by the Argentine government measures 34,000 m2, and was offered by President Carlos Menem following his visit to Saudi Arabia in 1992. The project cost around US$30 million, includes a mosque, library, two schools, and a park, and is located in the middle-class district of Palermo, Buenos Aires.

The Islamic Organization of Latin America (IOLA), headquartered in Argentina, is considered the most active organization in Latin America in promoting Islamic-affiliated endeavors. The IOLA holds events to promote the unification of Muslims living in Latin America, as well as the propagation of Islam.

Judaism

Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America and south of the Tropic of Cancer, with about 300,000 people. The community numbered about 400,000 after World War II, but the appeal of Israel, and economic and cultural pressures at home led many to leave for Israel, Europe or the United States; recent instability in Israel has resulted in a modest reversal of the trend since 2003.

One of the Jewish groups in Argentina includes the Sephardi Jews, composed of Spanish and Portuguese migrants to Argentina. Migration began in the 18th century and continued until a few years following the birth of Israel. A majority of Sephardi Jews migrated to Argentina because of both groups speaking the Spanish language. However, after the creation of Israel, Sephardi tensions amongst Muslims in Latin American countries began to rise resulting in the remaining Sephardi populations, found mainly in Morocco, migrating to Argentina. Buenos Aires holds almost the entire Sephardic Jewish population in Argentina, home to roughly 50,000.  In Argentina, Sephardi Jews remained separate of Ashkenazi Jews, who in the later half of the 20th century, made up most of the Jewish population in Latin America. However, as an overwhelming amount of the Argentinian population became Ashkenazic, the Sephardic Jews began marrying outside of the Sephardi Jewish community.

Although Jews account for less than 1% of Argentina's population, Buenos Aires has the largest population of Jews in the Americas, outside of the United States. It is the seventh largest Jewish community in the world.

Buddhism
Buddhism in Argentina has been practiced since the early 1980s.

Although Argentina is largely Catholic Christianity, Chinese immigrants established the first Chinese Buddhist temple in 1986, and Korean immigrants founded their own temple. Since then many groups have been giving teachings, some of them rooted in the best known Sōtō tradition from Japan, but also in many Tibetan institutes for the practice of meditation(Mahamudra, Dzog Chen, Lam Rim).

The XIV Dalai Lama visited Buenos Aires twice. The first time was in 2006, the second in 2011.

Hinduism

Argentina has 2,030 persons of Indian origin (PIOs) and 1,300 non-resident Indians (NRIs). Some of them still refer to ayurveda, practice yoga, enjoy Indian classical music and speak Hindustani dialects and languages. They have established an Indian Association in the northern provinces and organize social and cultural events to celebrate Indian festivals. Unfortunately, there is little interaction between them and those who have settled down in other parts of the extensive country. A large number of the Indian diaspora living in Buenos Aires are businessmen, doctors, financial or business executives, and employees of multinational corporations. Most of them have retained their Indian citizenship. Many Hindus are Indo-Caribbeans from Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname.

Legal status
The Constitution states that the federal government sustains the Apostolic Roman Catholic religion, but guarantees freedom of religion. In a 2023 study assessing nations' levels of religious regulation and persecution with scores ranging from 0-10 where 0 represented low levels of regulation or persecution, Argentina received a score of 1.5 on Government Regulation of Religion, 4.7 on Social Regulation of Religion and 8.1 on Government Favoritism of Religion.  In the same year, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom by Freedom House, a US government funded think tank.

The law that regulates the acknowledgement of religions by the state dates from 1978, and makes it prohibitively bureaucratic for minority cults to attain official recognition, since it was passed by the dictatorial government of the time basically to search those cults for politically subversive elements.

State-Catholic church relations

The Constitution requires the government to support Roman Catholicism economically. Despite this, the Supreme Court ruled that the Roman Catholic Church was not granted the status of official religion by the constitution or any federal legislation.

The Constitution once stated that the president must be a Roman Catholic. This requirement was removed from the text in the 1994 constitutional reform, since the president no longer designates Argentine bishops. The old 1853 text also included a goal "to keep a pacific relationship with the Indians and promote their conversion to Catholicism", which was deleted in the reform.

Each bishops receives a monthly salary from the state. Older seminarians and retired priests receive state pensions, and parishes in convective or near the border are subsidised. The state also subsidises catholic schools.

Popular cults and other smaller religions in Argentina

Besides mainstream religious practices, there are also a number of unconventional practices, usually part of local folklore. One of the most famous is the veneration of La Difunta Correa ("The Deceased Correa"). Many other beliefs in advocations of the Virgin, saints and other religious characters exist throughout the country, which are locally or regionally popular and church-endorsed.

Another popular cult is that of the Gauchito Gil ("the little gaucho Gil", Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez), born in the province of Corrientes (allegedly in 1847). Gil was forced to enlist to fight in the civil war, but he deserted and became an outlaw à la Robin Hood.

From the Río Negro Province, Ceferino Namuncurá, son of the Mapuche cacique Manuel Namuncurá, is also source of veneration all over the Patagonia. He died of tuberculosis with only 18 years of age, while in Italy during his catholic education, and was later named venerable by the Vatican.

There is also the popular cult of Miguel Ángel Gaitán, from Villa Unión, in La Rioja, known as El Angelito Milagroso ("The Miraculous Little Angel"), an infant who died of meningitis just short of his first birthday, who people recur to for requests and miracles.

The Iglesia Maradoniana is sport themed self-subscribed Parody religion founded by three fans at Christmas party for creating a new religion based around their favorite football player Diego Maradona. Since then it has gained between 120,000 and 200,000 followers since the 'religion' was founded.

Affiliation estimates
Evangelical churches have been gaining a foothold since the 1980s with approximately 9% of the total population, Pentecostal churches and traditional Protestant denominations are present in most communities.

In 2023, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims 474,985 followers in Argentina (their seventh-largest congregation in the world).

According to the World Christian Database in 2022, Argentines are 88.77% Christian, 6.9% agnostic, 2% Muslim, 0.4% Jewish, and 0.9% atheist, with no other category exceeding 0.3%.

According to a 2008 CONICET survey on creeds, about 76.5% of Argentines are Roman Catholic, 11.3% religiously indifferent, 9% Protestant (with 7.9% in Pentecostal denominations), 1.2% Jehovah's Witnesses, and 0.9% Mormons.

A 2008 survey called America's Barometer by the Vanderbilt University reported for Argentina, Catholic 77.1%, No religion 15.9%, Protestant, Evangelical and other Christian 4.8% (with Pentecostal 3.3%), Other 2.1%.

A 2019 survey made online by the Universidad de San Andrés showed that 59% of Argentines identify themselves as Catholics, 8% as Protestant, 9% follow other religions, 15% consider themselves not religious, 1% identified themselves as either Jewish or Muslim and a further 7% refused to answer. The same survey revealed that 76% of Argentines believe in God (a decrease from 91% in 2008), 44% believe in heaven, 32% believe in hell, around 29% pray daily, only 13% attend religious services weekly and about 24% consider religion to be very important in their lives.

See also
 Roman Catholicism in Argentina
 Islam in Argentina
 Judaism in Argentina
 Buddhism in Argentina
 Hinduism in Argentina
 Freedom of religion in Argentina
 Religion in the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata

References

Further reading

External links
 The Argentine Constitution
 U.S. Department of State - 2004 Annual Report for International Religious Freedom: Argentina
 Religious Freedom World Report - Argentina
 Marita Carballo. Valores culturales al cambio del milenio (). Cited in La Nación, 2005-05-08.
 ACI Digital, January 2000 (In Spanish)

Religion in Argentina


In geometric optics, the paraxial approximation is a small-angle approximation used in Gaussian optics and ray tracing of light through an optical system (such as a lens).

A paraxial ray is a ray which makes a small angle (θ) to the optical axis of the system, and lies close to the axis throughout the system. Generally, this allows three important approximations (for θ in radians) for calculation of the ray's path, namely:

The paraxial approximation is used in Gaussian optics and first-order ray tracing. Ray transfer matrix analysis is one method that uses the approximation.

In some cases, the second-order approximation is also called "paraxial". The approximations above for sine and tangent do not change for the "second-order" paraxial approximation (the second term in their Taylor series expansion is zero), while for cosine the second order approximation is

The second-order approximation is accurate within 0.5% for angles under about 10°, but its inaccuracy grows significantly for larger angles.

For larger angles it is often necessary to distinguish between meridional rays, which lie in a plane containing the optical axis, and sagittal rays, which do not.

References

External links
 Paraxial Approximation and the Mirror by David Schurig, The Wolfram Demonstrations Project.

Geometrical optics

Paraxial approximation


Sir Albert Edward Kemp  (August 11, 1858 – August 12, 1929) was a Canadian businessman and politician. Kemp was a Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence and Minister of Overseas Military Forces during World War I. A Conservative and Unionist, Kemp was elected five times to the House of Commons of Canada as the Member of Parliament for electoral district of Toronto East. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Arthur Meighen in 1921.

Background
Edward Kemp was born in Saint-Georges-de-Clarenceville, Quebec in what was then Canada East. Kemp's father was a farmer and country merchant who was an immigrant from Yorkshire, England; his mother was Canadian-born. He was raised near the village of Clarenceville, where he attended Clarenceville Academy, and later studied at the academy in Lacolle, excelling in mathematics, but he did not finish. Leaving home at 16, Kemp headed to Montreal and eventually gaining employment as a bookkeeper at a hardware store.

Business ambition
At the age of 20, Kemp became engaged to Cecilia Wilson. Soon afterwards, he and a partner opened a manufacturing and retailing shop on St Catherine Street in Montreal. He and Cecilia moved to Toronto in 1885, where he entered into partnership with Thomas McDonald, owner of the struggling Dominion Tin and Stamping Works. In 1888 Kemp bought out McDonald and formed the Kemp Manufacturing Company with his younger brother, William Arthur, who had left the lumber trade in Quebec to apply his talents in Toronto. Kemp served as president of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association in 1895 and 1896, and as president of the Toronto Board of Trade in 1899 and 1900. The brothers expanded their operations and opened plants in Montreal and Winnipeg, eventually reorganizing their business as the Sheet Metal Products Company of Canada Limited in 1911.

Political ambition
Kemp was elected five times to the House of Commons of Canada as the Member of Parliament for the Ontario electoral district of Toronto East. He was first elected in the Canadian federal election of 1900, and was re-elected in 1904. He lost in 1908 to an "independent Conservative", Joseph Russell, who had been nominated by some constituents who were unhappy with Kemp's connections to the Albany Club and Toronto's wealthy class, and who also charged that Kemp was hiring foreign workers at low wages at the expense of Canadians. Out of office, Kemp threw his efforts into rebuilding the Conservative machine in Ontario as well as paying off its debts. He used his business connections to rally opposition to the Laurier government's Naval Service Act as well as its plans for reciprocity with the United States - a campaign to which he recruited prominent Ontario Liberals. Through Kemp's efforts, he regained his seat in 1911 and helped Robert Borden defeat Laurier to become Prime Minister. Borden rewarded Kemp by appointing him minister without portfolio in his first Cabinet.

World War I

During World War I Kemp sat as a Unionist in the coalition government formed under Robert Borden. Kemp played an increasingly important part in the government of Canada during the war years. In 1915 he was appointed chairman of the War Purchasing Commission; in 1916, he succeeded Sam Hughes as Minister of Militia and Defence; and in 1917 he went to London as Minister of Overseas Military Forces of Canada, a portfolio which he retained until the demobilization of the Canadian overseas forces was completed. In 1918 he was a member of the Imperial War Cabinet; and in 1919 he was one of the commissioners representing Canada at the Paris Peace Conference. For his service during World War I, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1917.

On November 4, 1921, Kemp was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the recommendation of Prime Minister Arthur Meighen. He represented the senatorial division of Toronto, Ontario until his death.

Personal
Kemp married Cecilia Amanda Wilson (1858–1924) in 1879 and had three daughters: Alice Irene (Mrs. Walter Scott Waldie), Hazel Beatrice (Mrs. Francis Chattan Stephens), and Florence Evelyn (Mrs. Albert Henry Proctor).

Hazel married Captain F. Chattan Stephens of Montreal, who was a son of liberal politician George Washington Stephens and half-brother to Saar president George Washington Stephens, Jr. Their only son, John H. C. Stephens, and F. Chattan's mother, Frances McIntosh Stephens, perished in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915.

After the death of his first wife Kemp remarried to Virginia Norton Copping on March 3, 1925. By her first marriage to Norman Judson Copping she had two daughters, Cynthia Dana Copping and Virginia Norton Copping. Norman Copping's parents, George R. and Emma (Black) Copping, were victims of the RMS Lusitania as well. With Virginia, Kemp had another daughter, Katharine Edward Hanley Kemp Cross (1926–2001).

Albert Edward Kemp died at Pigeon Lake in 1929 and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.

He was a member of the Orange Order.

Archives
There are Albert Edward Kemp fonds at Library and Archives Canada and the University of Toronto.

Electoral record

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|Conservative
|Albert Edward Kemp
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References

External links

Sir Edward Albert Kemp archival papers held at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services

1858 births
1929 deaths
Canadian senators from Ontario
Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs
Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators
Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Unionist Party (Canada) MPs

Albert Edward Kemp


Eastern Michigan University (EMU,  EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal school (teachers' college) established in the United States and the first American normal school founded outside New England. In 1899, the Michigan State Normal School became the first normal school in the nation to offer a four-year curriculum and gained the name Michigan State Normal College. In 1959, the college became a university and gained its current name of Eastern Michigan University.

EMU is one of the eight research universities in the state of Michigan and is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". It is governed by an eight-member board of regents whose members are appointed by the governor of Michigan and confirmed by the Michigan Senate for eight-year terms.

The university comprises eight colleges and schools: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Education, College of Health and Human Services, GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology, School of Music & Dance, the Honors College, and the Graduate School. The university is composed of an academic and athletic campus spread across , with over 120 buildings. EMU has a total enrollment of more than 15,000 students.

In 1991, Eastern Michigan Athletics started competing as the "Eagles" and the school mascot, Swoop, was officially adopted by the university three years later in 1994. The Eastern Michigan Eagles compete in the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference. EMU Athletics utilizes Rynearson Stadium for its football games, Oestrike Stadium for its baseball games, and the multipurpose George Gervin GameAbove Center (formerly the EMU Convocation Center) for its basketball games.

History

Influenced by similar academies in Europe, the state of Michigan founded the Michigan State Normal School in 1849 with its campus in Ypsilanti. There was a significant contest among municipalities across Michigan to become the home of the state's first normal school. These other contending villages and towns included Niles, Jackson, and Marshall. The school officially opened its doors for classes on March 29, 1853, with 122 enrolled students.  American normal schools were intended to be institutions to improve the quality of the burgeoning common school system by producing qualified teachers.

Adonijah Welch, a University of Michigan graduate, served as the Normal School's first principal. He later became the first president of Iowa State Agricultural College, now Iowa State University. The university's Georgian Revival-style Welch Hall bears his name. Constructed in 1895, Welch Hall is the second-oldest surviving building on the university's campus and an Eastern Michigan University Historic District contributing property.

In 1899, the school became the Michigan State Normal College when it developed the first four-year curriculum for a normal school in the nation. The Normal College began the twentieth-century as Michigan's premier teacher-preparatory school. The school continued through World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, and continued to expand further. In 1956, under President Eugene Elliott, the school officially became Eastern Michigan College. This was mostly due to the expansion of the school's programs and increased enrollment following the Second World War.

In 1959 the school became a university, gaining the title Eastern Michigan University after establishing the Graduate School (graduate classes had been offered for two decades, since 1939). Between 1959 and 1980 the College of Education, College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School, College of Business, College of Health and Human Services, and College of Technology (now GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology) were formally organized and established. In the early 1970s, international student exchange schemes were organized, including one with Coventry College of Education (later part of the University of Warwick) in Britain. In 2005, the Honors Program officially became the Eastern Michigan University Honors College.

More recently, extended programs were added, such as Continuing Education (which includes EMU Online), the Centers for Corporate Training, the World College, and numerous community-focused institutes. Most programs are undergraduate or master's level, although the university has doctoral programs in Educational Leadership, Technology, and Psychology.

Under Michigan's 1964 state constitution, Eastern Michigan University is governed by an eight-member Board of Regents. The Regents are appointed by the governor, "with the advice and consent of the Senate", and serve eight-year terms. The Regents, in turn, elect the president of the university.

Academics

Admissions

Undergraduate

EMU is considered "selective" by U.S. News & World Report. For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), EMU received 17,506 applications and accepted 14,811 (84.6%). Of those accepted, 2,312 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 15.6%. EMU's freshman retention rate is 69%, with 48% going on to graduate within six years.

For fall 2021, EMU received 2,875 applications for transfer admission and accepted 2,129, an admission rate of 74.1%. Of those accepted, 1,139 enrolled, a yield rate of 53.5%. A transfer applicant must have a minimum of 12 credits completed and maintain a 2.0 overall grade point average (or better).

The enrolled first-year class of 2025 had the following standardized test scores: the middle 50% range (25th–75th percentiles) of SAT scores was 950–1180, while the middle 50% range of ACT scores was 18–25.

Academic divisions

Eastern Michigan University offers degrees and programs at the bachelor's, master's, specialist's and doctoral levels. There are more than 200 majors and minors at the undergraduate level, and more than 170 graduate programs. EMU has six Academic Divisions and eight University Sites which include satellite campuses. Just like many other large universities EMU does offer online courses and degrees.

The university has seven colleges and schools: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Education, College of Health and Human Services, GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology, the Honors College, and the Graduate School. Eastern Michigan University has offered graduate courses since 1939. The Graduate School has over 2,000 graduate students enrolled in post-baccalaureate, certificate, master's, and doctoral programs.

The two oldest colleges at the university are the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). The College of Arts and Sciences is also the largest academic college at Eastern Michigan University with 125 programs of study. The CAS also occupies the most buildings on campus including Pray-Harrold, Sherzer Hall, the Kresge Environmental Education Center, the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Research Facility, and Pease Auditorium. Eastern Michigan University has had a long history of developing educators since its founding in 1849. EMU prides itself as being one of the largest producers of educational personnel in the country since 1991. Eastern Michigan University's Department of Special Education is also among the oldest special education program in the United States, being started in 1923.

The College of Business (COB) was established in 1964. In 1991, a new College of Business campus was constructed in Downtown Ypsilanti on Michigan Avenue with the hope of contributing to the redevelopment of the area. In 2020, EMU announced its decision to move the COB back to its Main Campus. The COB's current home is Boone Hall, located next to Cross Street in South Campus. The College of Business is known for having the first Ethos Week and Ethos Honor Society in the country.

Eastern Michigan University established the College of Human Services in 1975. Eventually the university changed the name to the College of Health and Human Services on April 21, 1982.

The most recent college of the university is the Honors College founded in 2005. Its predecessor program, the EMU Honors Program, was founded in 1984.

Its most popular undergraduate majors, by 2021 graduates, were:
Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse (500)
Psychology (189)
Social Work (173)
Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies (142)
Speech Communication and Rhetoric (105)
Business Administration and Management (94)
Marketing/Marketing Management (93)
Accounting (83)
Biology/Biological Sciences (81)
Computer Science (81)

Campus

Ypsilanti

Eastern Michigan University's main campus is located in Ypsilanti, Michigan, comprising 122 buildings and spanning .

Satellite campuses
EMU offers courses at 7 satellite campuses. The earliest off-site campus is EMU-Jackson. Courses have been offered in Jackson, Michigan since the 1970s. Course catalog records show courses have been offered at the Kresge Environmental Center dating back to at least 1976. EMU has held courses in Flint and Traverse City since 1987. EMU–Livonia began offering courses in 2000. In 2001, EMU–Detroit opened. EMU opened its Monroe location in 2002. The last off-campus site, EMU–Brighton, opened in 2003. EMU and Grand Valley State University offers a joint doctoral program in Educational Leadership at the Eberhard Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Eberhard Center facility is part of the GVSU downtown campus. This location is sometimes referred to as EMU–Grand Rapids but is not officially listed as a university site.

EMU–Brighton – Brighton, MI
EMU–Detroit – Detroit, MI
EMU–Jackson – Jackson, MI
EMU–Monroe – Monroe, MI
EMU–Northern Michigan – Traverse City, MI
Kresge Environmental Center – Lapeer, MI

Student life

Just like many large universities EMU has many student oriented facilities outside the classroom. The university has plays, musicals, student organizations, and various social activities for students. On-campus hangouts include the Student Center, The Rec/IM, Halle Library, and dining facilities like the Eastern Eateries and the Commons (DC1). EMU's office of Campus Life provides many co-curricular opportunities for both resident students and commuter students which include Friday night movies, Laugh Lounge and Sky Lounge. In addition to activities on campus, EMU's campus life office also organizes occasional "Eastern Excursions" to cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. Off-campus hangouts include Depot Town, Frog Island, Riverside Park, downtown Ann Arbor and The Ugly Mug coffee shop.

Student organizations
Student Organizations at Eastern are housed under Campus Life. Most academic departments on campus have at least one student organization for students who are interested in that subject area. Students work with volunteer organizations such as Habitat for Humanity both during the school year and on breaks. Other clubs include the Muslim Student Association, Eastern Michigan Smash Club (EMUSC) and the LGBTA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual Association). Eastern Michigan University has over 340 student clubs and organizations.

EMU offers a variety of Greek organizations on campus. The Greek system provides fraternities and sororities students can join, many of which have houses within walking distance of campus. Just like most universities EMU has a National Pan-Hellenic Council, College Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council Interfraternity Council comprises eight fraternities, and the Panhellenic Council is made up of nine sororities. National Pan-Hellenic Council consists of 9 historically African-American fraternities and sororities, five fraternities and four sororities.

Alpha Sigma Tau, a national Panhellenic sorority was founded at EMU on November 4, 1899. Sigma Nu Phi, a local sorority, was founded on Eastern's campus September 30, 1897. It is the oldest Greek organization on campus as well as the oldest continually-functioning local sorority in the nation. Greek Life at EMU hosts a yearly event called Greek Week. Greek Week is a week of events centered on Greek unity and spirit. The week often occurs in the beginning of April. Other traditions include Greek Awards. The yearly awards are based on the university's Greek Standards and Assessment Program (GSAP).

Campus media and publications

The Eastern Echo, EMU's independent student newspaper, is published three times a week during the fall and winter semesters and once a week during the spring semester, as well as publishing content online. The paper won eight awards in the 2005 Division 1 Michigan Collegiate Press Association contest, including second place in the general excellence category. The newspaper, which is funded through advertising revenue and university funds, is not under the editorial control of the university.

Also part of the EMU Student Media Office is Cellar Roots, the school's student-run literary and fine arts magazine. Cellar Roots celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2006 with a week of events that highlighted the history of the publication. Cellar Roots is a five-time winner of the National Pacemaker award for design, an award often equated with the Pulitzer Prize for the college level, as well numerous other awards.

EMU hosts two radio stations WQBR and WEMU 89.1 FM. WEMU is a National Public Radio member station. The radio station, which features jazz music, has many student employees and broadcasts many EMU athletic games. WQBR stands for Quirk Building Radio, where the station was once hosted in Quirk. Today WQBR is named Eagle Radio and is no longer hosted in Quirk. Eagle Radio broadcasts from Halle library and is an Internet only radio station at www.eagleradio.org.

The LINGUIST List is a major online resource for the academic field of linguistics. It was founded by Anthony Aristar in early 1990 at the University of Western Australia, and is used as a reference by the National Science Foundation in the United States. Its main and oldest feature is the premoderated electronic mailing list, now with thousands of subscribers all over the world, where queries and their summarized results, discussions, journal table of contents, dissertation abstracts, calls for papers, book and conference announcements, software notices and other useful pieces of linguistic information are posted.

Traditions

Eastern Michigan has several campus-wide traditions throughout the school year. Longstanding traditions include Homecoming, Martin Luther King Jr. Week and the use of the Pray-Harrold Kiosk by students.

The Pray-Harrold Kiosk (or Pillar) is a large cement pillar outside the Pray-Harrold Building and the Rec/IM. The Pillar is painted by various organizations for campus awareness, advertisements and organization unity. The legend is that it started as a flagpole and layers of paint have accumulated over the years.

During Eastern's fall semester, traditions include EagleFest, Community Plunge, and Homecoming. EagleFest occurs during the school's orientation and welcoming weekend in September. The event brings more than 300 campus offices, and student organizations together in University Park & Bowen Field House to showcase campus organizations and services. Community Plunge also occurs during orientation and offers the opportunity for students, staff and faculty to participate in service in the Ypsilanti community.

During Eastern's winter semester campus traditions include: Ethos Week; The Gold Medallion Awards; Relay For Life; and Martin Luther King Jr. Week, held in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, with speakers, community building events and awards in celebration of King and his dream. Ethos Week is a week-long annual event occurring in March and is led by the COB. The event promotes business ethics and ethics education. The Gold Medallions Awards are split into two ceremonies. The Gold Medallion Awards started in 1982 and is organized by Eastern's Student Affairs Division to recognize faculty, students and staff. In 1996, the Student Gold Medallion Awards were established. The award ceremony recognizes student leaders, student organizations, divisional programs, activities or service. Eastern's Relay For Life event is a 24-hour, yearly event held in University Park that started in 1985. The event is centered on supporting the American Cancer Society. The event brings in campus organizations from the entire campus. The event has been held at various times during the year but in recent times the event is held in early April before the school-year ends.

Residence halls & apartments

Eastern Michigan University has 14 residence halls. As of Fall 2014 first-year only residence halls will include Putnam and Phelps. Upperclassmen student living options include: the Village, Buell, and the three apartment complexes. Sellers, Wise, Walton, Downing, Wise, Hill, Hoyt, Pittman and Best house all students, regardless of class ranking. Honors students are housed in Downing and Best Halls. Past locations included Jones and Goddard Halls. Eastern also offers faculty, staff and family housing options in Cornell Courts, and Westview apartments.

According to the university, approximately 5,000 students live on campus. In the fall of 2010, EMU began housing some full-time students in the Village Complex from Washtenaw Community College, which is less than half a mile away, however the program ended in 2011 when housing enrollment went up.

In 2011, Eastern Michigan became the first university in Michigan and the eighth nationwide to offer a targeted program to house single parents with their children on campus. Called "Keys to Degrees", the program will house single-parent families near each other in one of Eastern Michigan's on-campus apartment complexes, and will offer extra academic and personal support to enrollees.

Dining services at EMU are operated by Chartwells Higher Education. Facilities include one buffet-style dining hall, two à la carte dining halls, the Student Center food court, and convenience stores across campus.

In June 2022, Eastern Michigan finalized plans to invest $200 million into a long-term renovation and addition to the campus' residence halls, including the renovation of all existing residence halls and the construction of two new residence halls.

Safety

EMU former-President Susan W. Martin, Ph.D., took office as EMU's twenty-second president on July 7, 2008, just after the university was fined a then-record $350,000 for not reporting to students the sexual assault and murder of a student in her residence hall room.

Athletics

Eastern Michigan athletic teams have been successful on a national level, winning three NCAA Division II national championships and 13 NAIA Division I national championships in five different sports (baseball, men's cross country, men's swimming and diving, men's indoor track and field, and men's outdoor track and field).

EMU has also been NCAA Division I national runner-up twice in 1940 and 1976. In 1940, the men's cross country team finished second to the Indiana Hoosiers. In 1976, the baseball team was defeated by the Arizona Wildcats in the final game of the College World Series. The Eagles have the most MAC championships in a single sport, 29, in men's swimming and diving. For men's and women's Track and field (indoor and outdoor), collectively holds the record for most MAC titles out of all the EMU athletics teams.

Eastern's men's basketball team has appeared in four NCAA Division I tournaments, and have a 3–4 record, tied for third best among Michigan colleges. In the 1996 men's basketball tournament, Eastern Michigan defeated the Duke Blue Devils in the opening round.

The 2006–2007 season was a successful one for Eastern Michigan, as they won an EMU and Mid-American Conference record eight conference titles: Men's Cross Country, Men's Swimming And Diving, Women's Swimming And Diving, Softball, Men's Indoor Track, Women's Gymnastics, Men's Golf and Men's Outdoor Track. This beat the school's previous record of five titles as well as the previous MAC record of six.

In 1987, EMU won its first Mid-American Conference title then defeated 17-point favorite San Jose State in the California Bowl.

There have been small successes though, such as a 6–4 record against rivals the Western Michigan Broncos and the Central Michigan Chippewas in the 5 years under coach Jeff Genyk from 2004 to 2008, setting a school record for a 5-year span against Western and Central.

Since the 1991 season, Eastern Michigan athletic teams have gone by the nickname "Eagles". Prior to the 1991 season EMU used the name "Hurons". EMU used the Hurons name and Indian logo from 1929 until 1991. Despite much controversy, support of the Huron tribes in Oklahoma and Quebec, and anger among its alumni, EMU changed the logo after the Michigan Department of Civil Rights issued a report suggesting all schools drop such logos. During the Michigan State Normal College years the school went by the nicknames such as "Normalites" and "Men from Ypsi" and various other titles.

People

EMU has more than 145,000 living alumni. Notable politicians and public servants from Eastern Michigan include 7nd Governor of North Dakota Frederick Fancher, 31st Governor of Michigan Fred W. Green, Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Jean Kelly, Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Marvin B. Rosenberry, U.S. Senators Royal Copeland, Charles E. Potter, U.S. Representatives William W. Chalmers, William Horace Frankhauser, Patrick H. Kelley, Carl D. Pursell, Henry F. Thomas, Frank W. Wheeler, and Alfred Lucking, and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater.

Billionaire Bruce T. Halle, founder of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Jack Roush are all also EMU alums. Other notable EMU alumni include Dann Florek, Winsor McCay, Nagarjuna, Greg Mathis, Dave Coverly, Ryan Drummond.

EMU alumni in the NBA include Earl Boykins, Kennedy McIntosh, and "the Iceman" George Gervin.

NFL player Maxx Crosby attended Eastern Michigan University and will have the Football stadium named after him in 2024.

Other notable NFL Players include Charlie Batch and T. J. Lang also attended Eastern Michigan.

Notes

References

External links

 Eastern Michigan Athletics website

Public universities and colleges in Michigan
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Universities and colleges in Washtenaw County, Michigan
Educational institutions established in 1849
1849 establishments in Michigan
Buildings with sculpture by Corrado Parducci
Universities and colleges accredited by the Higher Learning Commission
Aviation schools in the United States

Eastern Michigan University


Sport is considered a national pastime in Finland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly. Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage are ice hockey and Formula One. In spectator attendance, harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.

Other popular sports include floorball, bandy, football, ringette, and Pesäpallo.

Popular sports in Finland

Ice hockey

Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland. The Finnish main league Liiga has an attendance average of 4,850 people. Ice Hockey World Championships 2016 final Finland-Canada, 69% Finnish people watched that game in TV MTV3-channel. The Finnish national team has won the World Championship four times, in 1995, 2011, 2019 and in 2022 and is considered a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, Czechia, Russia, Sweden and the United States. At the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Finnish hockey team won at the Men's tournament Olympic gold for the first time. Some of the most notable Finnish players are Teemu Selänne, Jari Kurri, Jere Lehtinen, Teppo Numminen, Tuukka Rask and brothers Saku and Mikko Koivu. Finland has hosted Men's Ice Hockey World Championships in 1965, 1974, 1982, 1991, 1997, 2003, 2022 and co-hosted  2012 - 2013 and 2023.

Football

Football in Finland, unlike in most European countries, is not the most popular spectator sport, as it falls behind ice hockey, which enjoys a huge amount of popularity in the country. Football tops ice hockey in the number of registered players (115,000 vs. 60,000) and as a popular hobby (160,000 vs. 90,000 in adults and 230,000 vs. 105,000 in youth). It is the most popular hobby among 3- to 18-year-olds, whereas ice hockey is 9th.
Football's standing is constantly increasing, where the yearly growth rate has lately been over 10 percent. In season 2006–07 19.9 percent of registered players were female. The Football Association of Finland (Palloliitto) has approximately a thousand clubs as its members. According to a Gallup poll, nearly 400,000 people include football in their hobbies.

HJK is the most successful Finnish football club and has won 32 Finnish championship. Also it is only Finnish club that has played in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League in group stage.

Floorball

Floorball is a popular sport and Finland was one of the three founding countries of International Floorball Federation. Finland men's national floorball team has won the World Floorball Championships in 2008, 2010, 2016 and 2018, making floorball the only team sport in which Finland has defended a World Championship title, and placed second in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2012 and 2014.

Finland has hosted Men's World Floorball Championships in 2002 and 2010 and will host it again in 2020. The game is played similar to floor hockey, with five players and a goal keeper on each team. The game is played indoors for men and woman, using 95 to 115.5 cm. sticks, and a plastic ball. The length of the game is three twenty minute periods.

Motorsport

Motorsport became popular in Finland in the 1950s with the birth of rallying competitions. In the 1960s Finnish rally drivers such as Rauno Aaltonen, Timo Mäkinen and Pauli Toivonen started to dominate international events and have held the post since, making Finland the most successful nation in the World Rally Championship. Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen both won the World Championship four times during their respective careers and Marcus Grönholm won the title twice in 2000 and 2002. After 20 years later Kalle Rovanperä won the World Championship in 2022. Finland's WRC event, Neste Oil Rally Finland, gathers 500,000 spectators every year. The city of Jyväskylä in the Central Finland region has often served as the main venue for Finnish rally competitions.

Currently the most popular form of motorsport is Formula One. F1 was popularized in Finland in the 1980s by Keke Rosberg, who in 1982 became the first Finnish Formula One World Driver's champion, and reached its peak when Mika Häkkinen won the championship twice in 1998 and 1999. Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 champion, has retired from the sport at the end of 2021. Since 2013, Valtteri Bottas has competed for the Williams F1, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo teams.

Other forms of motorsport popular in Finland include Grand Prix motorcycle racing, which reached its peak in the early 1970s before the death of Jarno Saarinen. In enduro, 7 and 13-time World Enduro Champions Kari Tiainen and Juha Salminen have ensured media coverage in their home country.

Bandy

Bandy is played throughout Finland. It was the first team sport with a national Finnish championship. The Bandyliiga is still popular. In 2004, Finland won the Bandy World Championship. The game consists of two teams whose goal is to put a single ball in opposing team's goal to score. The game is played on ice, with both teams on skates. In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world. Finland's Bandy Association (Finnish: Suomen Jääpalloliitto, Swedish: FinlandsBandyförbund) is the governing body for the sport of bandy in Finland.

Pesäpallo

Developed by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala in the 1920s and often considered as a national sport of Finland, pesäpallo has a steady popularity around the country, especially in the Ostrobothnia region. The main national league, Superpesis, has an attendance average of about 1,600 in men's and 500 in the women's league.

Ringette

In 1979, Juhani Wahlsten introduced ringette in Finland. Wahlsten created some teams in Turku. Finland's first ringette club was Ringetteläisiä Turun Siniset, and the country's first ringette tournament took place in December, 1980. In 1979 Juhani Wahlsten invited two coaches, Wendy King and Evelyn Watson, from Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to teach girls of various ages how to play ringette. The Ringette Association of Turku was established in 1981 and several Canadian coaches went there to initiate the training and help establish the sport. The ski national week then organized an annual tournament to bring together all the ringette teams.

Internationally Canada and Finland have always been the most active ambassadors in the International Ringette Federation. Canada and Finland regularly travel across various countries to demonstrate how ringette is played.

Ice cross downhill

Racers are typically athletes with a background in ice hockey, however competitors from the sports of bandy and ringette have also competed with great success, such as Salla Kyhälä from Finland's national ringette team, who also played in Canada's National Ringette League and Mirko Lahti has win Finnish downhill skating championship two times 2020 and 2021. Junior World championship 2017-2018 and Men`s World championship 2022-23.

Synchronized Skating

Inline skating originated in Finland in the 1980s and was initially known as group patterning. The first Finnish Synchronized skating team, The Rockets (HTK; now Helsinki Rockettes), was founded in 1984. Today, Finland is one of the top countries in figure skating - the teams have done well in international competitions for years. There are more than 100 Synchronized skating teams in Finland.

Skiing

FIS Nordic Wolrd Ski Championships Seefeld 2019 - Men 15 km Interval Start Classic. Picture shows Iivo Niskanen (FIN).
Finland has always produced successful competitors in the disciplines of nordic skiing. Championship-winning male cross-country skiers from Finland include Veli Saarinen (winner of an Olympic gold and three World Championship titles in the 1920s and 1930s), Veikko Hakulinen (who won three Olympic and three World Championship golds in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a World Championship silver medal in biathlon) and Juha Mieto (who won an Olympic gold medal in 1976 and two overall FIS Cross-Country World Cups). Among female athletes, Marjo Matikainen-Kallström won a gold at the 1988 Winter Olympics, three World Championships and three overall World Cups and Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi won three golds at both the Olympics and World Championships and two overall World Cup titles.

Finland has been the most successful nation in Ski jumping at the Winter Olympics, having won ten golds, eight silvers and four bronze medals. Notable names include Matti Nykänen, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, a five time Ski Jumping World Champion, the 1985 winner of the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships, a four-time winner of the overall World Cup title, and a double winner of the prestigious Four Hills Tournament. More recently Janne Ahonen has been one of the top competitors in the sport since the mid-1990s, winning five World Championship golds and two overall World Cups. He is also the record holder for wins in the Four Hills Tournament, having won the competition five times.

As a country strong in both cross-country skiing and ski jumping Finland has also enjoyed success in Nordic combined. Heikki Hasu won golds in Nordic combined in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, as well as a cross-country gold in the 4 x 10 kilometre relay at the 1952 Olympics. He also won a World Championship gold in 1950. Eero Mäntyranta won 7 Olympic medals (3 golds, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes) spread over the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Olympics in addition to his five World Championship medals (2 gold, 2 silver and a bronze) spread over the 1962 and 1966 games. Samppa Lajunen won three Olympic golds at the 2002 Olympics and two FIS Nordic Combined World Cups. Hannu Manninen won the World Cup for four consecutive seasons between 2003/4 and 2006/7.

Although traditionally not as strong as Norway, Sweden, Germany and Russia in biathlon, Finland has had world-class competitors in this discipline. Heikki Ikola and Juhani Suutarinen were both highly successful in the 1970s - Ikola won four World Championship golds and Suutarinen won three. In 2011 Kaisa Mäkäräinen won a World Championship title in the pursuit at the Biathlon World Championships and was Biathlon World Cup champion. She won her second overall Biathlon World Cup in 2014, and a third in 2018.

In recent years Finnish skiers have enjoyed success in the technical disciplines of alpine skiing. Kalle Palander was Slalom World Champion in 1999 and World Cup Slalom champion in the 2003 Alpine Skiing World Cup. Tanja Poutiainen won three discipline World Cup titles in Slalom and Giant Slalom in the 2000s.

Athletics

The sport of athletics has historically been an important part of both Finnish sports history and national identity. Hannes Kolehmainen has been said to "run Finland onto the world map" at the 1912 Summer Olympics, and from the 1920 Summer Olympics to World War II Finland was the second most successful country in athletics, as only the United States managed to collect more Olympic medals. Javelin throw is the only event in which Finland has enjoyed success all the way from the 1900s to this day. Thus, it is currently the most popular athletics event in Finland. Jukola Relay and Venla's Relay are the largest and
the most famous orienteering events in Finland.

Combat sports

Wrestling

Wrestling was a successful sport for Finns in the early 20th century. The first wrestling club was the Helsingin Atleettiklubi founded in 1891, and the Finnish championship series (SM-kilpailut) were organized for the first time in 1898. Verner Weckman won his series At the 1906 Athens Intermediate Olympics and achieved Finland's first official Olympic victory two years later in London. In total, Finns won 20 Olympic gold medals in wrestling between 1908 and 1936, thirteen of them in Greco-Roman wrestling and seven in freestyle wrestling. From the period after the Second World War, Finland has six wrestling gold medals, five of which are from Greco-Roman wrestling. The last Finnish men's world champion is Marko Yli-Hannuksela from 1997, but the European Finns have won championships even in the 2000s, when women's wrestling became more common, and in 2018 Petra Olli became the first Finnish female wrestler to win the world championship.

Boxing

Finnish boxing championship competitions started in 1923. Finnish Olympic champions are Sten Suvio from 1936 and Pentti Hämäläinen from 1952. However, the most famous Finnish boxer of the 1930s was Gunnar Bärlund, who was the second challenger to world champion Joe Louis in the professional boxing heavyweight rankings. The first Finn to compete in the professional world championship was Olli Mäki, who lost to Davey Moore in the World Championship match at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in August 1962. Mäki is the only Finn who has won both the amateur and professional European championships. The amateur WC medal has been achieved by Tarmo Uusivirta 1978 and 1982, Jyri Kjäll 1993 and Joni Turunen 1995 and 2001. Women's boxing n's biggest star is Eva Wahlström, who in 2015 was the first Finn to win the world championship in professional boxing. Today, Robert Helenius is Finland's most successful boxer.

Mixed martial arts

In judo, Finland's only World Championship medal has been achieved by Juha Salonen, who in 1981 took bronze in the heavyweight category. Jukka-Pekka Väyrynen was the first Finn to win the World Championship in karate in 1982. The most successful Finnish karateka is Sari Laine, who won seven European championships in the years 1987–1996 in addition to her one World Championship in individual series. The first Finn seen in UFC events was Tony Halme, who participated in the UFC 13 event organized on May 30, 1997 in Augusta, Georgia, USA. Halme lost his match in less than a minute to the future star of the sport, Randy Couture, by submission after Couture got a choke hold.  Another Finn who fought in the UFC was Anton Kuivanen, who fought two fights in the organization in 2012 and one fight in 2013. The third Finn in the organization was Tom Niinimäki who won one and lost three matches. Today, one Finnish citizen, Kurd Makwan Amirkhani, is a member of the organization.

American Football

American football has a long history in Finland. The American Football Association of Finland is the governing body and the Vaahteraliiga founded in 1980, is the highest level in Finland signing import talent from North America and Europe. The Finland national American football team has won five European championships.

Basketball

As Finland appeared at the 2014 Basketball World Cup for the first time, the sport received a huge boost and major public attention. More than 8,000 basketball fans travelled to Spain to support their team. Overall, they booked more than 40 airplanes. For the second time, Finland made it in 2023 Basketball World Cup, for the first time through the qualifiers.

As in many countries worldwide, Finland has shown some major improvements in its professionalization of the game of basketball recently. Its Korisliiga sends teams to European competitions and has drawn the interest of an increasing number of talents especially from North America but also from Southeastern Europe.

Fiba Europe Cup in the 2022-23 season, Karhu Basket become the first Finnish club to advance to the final four.

Volleyball

 Finland men's national volleyball team has often participated in the EuroVolley Championships and succeeded steadily. the World Championships also made a comeback in 2014, challenging the big volleyball countries to finish in 9th place. Finland Volleyball League is highest level in Finland.
Finland featured a women's national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.

Disc golf

Disc golf is the fastest growing sport in Finland. According to the Finnish Research Institute for Olympic Sports (KIHU), it is more popular among Finns than ball golf, volleyball, basketball and tennis. , there are approximately 700 disc golf courses in Finland.

Harness racing

Harness racing in Finland is characterised by the use of the coldblood breed Finnhorse along with modern light trotters such as the Standardbred. In lack of gallop racing culture, harness racing is the main equestrian sport in Finland. Horses used for harness racing in Finland are exclusively trotters.

Racing back home from church had been a tradition long before the first organised race was held in 1817. Modern racing started in the 1960s, when light breeds were allowed to enter the sport and Parimutuel betting gained foothold as pastime. Nowadays harness racing remains popular, with the main events gathering tens of thousands of spectators in the country with a population of some 5 million.

Rugby union

Rugby union is a minor but growing sport. With both Men's and Women's 15's teams are represented in world rankings and both Women and Men's Sevens teams competing internationally. Finland Men's 15's team is currently ranked 86th out of 105 by World Rugby. Finland Women's 15's team is currently ranked 47th out of 56 by World Rugby.

Sport shooting
The Finnish Shooting Sport Federation is the umbrella organization for sport shooting in Finland.

Tennis

Tennis came to Finland in 1881. The first club was Wiborgs lawntennisklubb, founded in 1898. The Finnish Tennis Federation was founded in 1911, and it immediately joined the international tennis federation. The first Finnish championship was won in 1912 by Boris Schildt. in 2023 Finnish team advanced to the Davis Cup final tournament for the first time and knocking out 32-time champions USA to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Henri Kontinen has involved in winning Wimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles and Australian Open – Men's doubles, Harri Heliövaara has involved in winning US Open – Mixed doubles. Jarkko Nieminen is the highest-ranked Finnish tennis player ever in the world and the only Finn to win an ATP singles tournament.

Cue sports
Kaisa or karoliina is a cue sport mainly played in Finland and its the most traditional form of billiards in Finland and has been practiced in Finland for several decades before the birth of Finnish billiards association. The sport is still popular in Finland, and 20–30 tournaments under the Finnish Billiards Association are organized every year. In addition to the main series, there are different series, Seniors and Juniors.

Controversies
Arto Halonen made a documentary about doping in sport in Finnish winter sports in 2012. Janne Immonen, Jari Isometsä and Harri Kirvesniemi were convicted in October 2013 by the Helsinki District Court.

International championships hosted by Finland

See also
Finland at the Olympics
The Flying Finns
Sportspersons on List of Finns
Finnish Wheelchair Curling Championship

References

External links
Finnish Olympic Committee
Suomen Urheiluliitto

Sport in Finland


A trademark examiner is an attorney employed by a government entity such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to determine whether an applicant should be permitted to receive a trademark registration, thus affording legal protection to the applicant's trademark. The job of a trademark examiner is thus to examine marks applied for to determine if they run afoul of any prohibitions on registration, such as infringing upon an existing registration of the same mark, or constituting the generic name of the goods with which the mark is associated.

In the United States
The USPTO employs several hundred trademark examiners at any given time, although the number fluctuates with the strength of the economy, which influences how many new trademark filings are being submitted. These employees are evaluated by a point system, based on the number of applications that they address and dispose of, either by permitting them to go forward to registration, or denying registration in an office action, and seeing this denial through any appeals taken within the USPTO. Some USPTO trademark examiners work in the USPTO building in Alexandria, Virginia, but a majority telework full-time.

In 2011, proposed budget cuts of $100 million to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office budget of slightly over $2 billion were reported to not have any impact on the size of the Trademark staff.  However, all hiring in 2011 at the USPTO was frozen.

In Turkey
The TPI (Turkish Patent Institute) employs more than hundred trademark examiners at any given time.
All TPI trademark examiners work in the TPE building in Ankara, Turkey.

At first, an examiner starts to work as an assistant for three years. After 2 years TPE wants from him to prepare a thesis about any subject of trademark. He studies on thesis nearly 10 months. After that he presents it to the Board of Directors. If thesis accepted by the Board, examiner will enter an exam about the thesis.
If everything goes on its way,  assistant examiner is going to leave the assistance label and will become a trademark examiner.

See also
Trademark attorney
Patent examiner

References

Examiner
Legal professions
Intellectual property law

Trademark examiner


Beth Israel Synagogue is a historic former Jewish synagogue building at 238 Columbia Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Built in 1901, it was the first and principal synagogue to serve the East Cambridge area, and is a fine local example of Romanesque architecture.  Now converted into residential condominiums, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Description and history
The former Beth Israel Synagogue stands in The Port neighborhood of eastern Cambridge, on the east side of Columbia Street, between Hampshire and Market Streets.  It is a two-story brick building with a gabled roof and flanking square towers.  Its Romanesque styling includes bands of narrow round-arch windows and a large Syrian arch sheltering the main entrance.  Brick corbelling adorns the eaves of the pyramidal tower roofs, and is featured in multiple bands at the base of the front gable.  The building was designed by Nathan Douglass and completed in 1903.

The known history of Jewish worship in East Cambridge begins in 1898, with the founding of Congregation Anshai Sfard.  It originally met in private residences.  Congregation Beth Israel was founded in 1900, and construction was begun on this building in 1901.  In 1906 the congregation divided over doctrinal differences, resulting in the founding of Congregation Agudath Ashkenazim.  Congregation Anshai Sfard merged with Beth Israel in 1957. In 1962 Beth Israel and Agudath Ashkenazim merged to form Temple Beth Shalom of Cambridge, and the new congregation chose to use the Temple Ashkenaz building on Tremont Street in Cambridge.  By 1982, the Beth Israel building, no longer used as a synagogue, was taken over by the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The former synagogue building currently houses condominium units.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts

References

Former synagogues in Massachusetts
Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Romanesque Revival synagogues
Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Synagogues completed in 1901

Beth Israel Synagogue (Cambridge, Massachusetts)


Winston is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by ITG Brands, subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco in the United States and by Japan Tobacco outside the U.S. The brand is named after the town where R. J. Reynolds started his business which is Winston-Salem, North Carolina. , Winston has the seventh-highest U.S. market share (2 percent) of all cigarette brands, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maxwell Report.

This market share has been falling since 2003, when it peaked at 3.92 percent, although Winston has consistently been in the top 10 cigarette brands by U.S. market share since 2001, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

History
Winston was introduced in 1954 by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and quickly became one of the top-selling cigarette brands, using the slogan "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should". It became the number one cigarette sold in the world by 1966, a position it held until 1972 when Marlboro overtook the brand.

In the 1980s, Winston was the most favored brand in Puerto Rico, thanks to their advertising slogan "Winston y Puerto Rico: No hay nada mejor" (Winston and Puerto Rico: There is nothing better).

Winston then became the #2 cigarette, a position it continues to maintain today under ownership of Japan Tobacco outside of the U.S. while the American version of the brand has faced steadily declining sales, dropping to sixth place by 2005 in the last national survey. The American version of Winston is also known for its more recent claim of becoming additive-free in the late 1990s. This in turn led to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission requiring Winston to clarify subsequent advertisements that the lack of additives did not result in a safer cigarette.

In 1999, R.J. Reynolds was spun off from RJR Nabisco and subsequently sold its non-U.S. operations to Japan Tobacco.

On July 15, 2014, Reynolds American (R.J. Reynolds parent company) agreed to purchase the Lorillard Tobacco Company for $27.4 billion and as a result, (to alleviate antitrust concerns) Winston, along with the Kool, Maverick, and Salem cigarette brands, was sold to Imperial Tobacco for $7.1 billion.

On June 12, 2015, Reynolds American and Lorillard completed their merger and Winston officially fell under ownership of Imperial tobacco spinoff ITG brands.

Sponsorship

NASCAR
Beginning in 1971, Winston was the sponsor of the highest title of the NASCAR series, known as the Winston Cup Series. R. J. Reynolds ended Winston's association with the series in 2003. The series is now known as the NASCAR Cup Series.

Drag Racing
From 1975 to 2001, Winston was also the sponsor of the NHRA drag racing series, which is currently sponsored by Camping World.

Superbike World Championship
Winston sponsored the Ten Kate Racing team in 2005 and 2006. In countries where tobacco advertising was prohibited, the acronym "WinWin" was used instead.

Football/Soccer
Winston was a sponsor of the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Formula 1

In 1998 and 1999 they were lanced as the main donator for the Williams F1-Team.

Controversy

Winston and The Flintstones
In 1960, Winston was one of the original sponsors of The Flintstones up until 1962. In the commercials, Flintstones characters Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were seen promoting Winston, and every episode ended with Fred lighting a Winston for his wife Wilma while singing the product's jingle. By the third season, however, the show's ads became more oriented towards children and Winston was replaced by Welch's.

Winston and targeting of African Americans
In the 1970s, Winston specifically targeted the Afro-American minority, similar to what Kool and Newport did during the time.

After World War II had ended, American tobacco companies started to explore new markets to maintain their prosperity. The growth in urban migration and the growing incomes of African Americans (called at the time the "emerging Negro market") gave the tobacco companies what was sometimes called an "export market at home". Additionally, a new kind of media started to appear after the war when several glossy monthly magazines including Negro Digest (1942, renamed Black World), Ebony (1945) and Negro Achievements (1947, renamed Sepia) began to be published. These relatively expensively produced magazines were far more attractive to the tobacco advertisers than the cheap "Negro" daily newspapers of the pre-war era, with glossy pages and a far wider national distribution. The magazines meant for a purely African-American audience also meant that advertisers could produce adverts aimed at and featuring African Americans away from the eyes of white consumers.

David Goerlitz and the Winston Man
Between 1982 and 1988, David Goerlitz was the "Winston Man", appearing in 42 billboard advertisements – more than the Marlboro man. In 1988, he publicly denounced the tobacco industry and joined the emerging anti-smoking movement after suffering health issues related to smoking. He has spent more than 20 years working in schools as a public speaker, encouraging kids not to start smoking.

Winston and additive-free claims
In September 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned ITG Brands, the makers of Winston cigarettes, that labeling the product as "additive-free" violated federal law because the claim implied that the cigarettes were safer than other brands.

The August warning letter to ITG marked the first time the FDA had used its authority under a 2009 tobacco-control law to take action against a company for making "additive-free" ("No Bull" ad campaign) claims on product packaging. It was one of three warning letters that the agency shipped out in August 2015 to cigarette companies whose products were labeled "additive-free", "natural" or both.

Markets

Winston cigarettes were or still are sold in the following countries: Iran, Canada, United States, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Iceland, Romania, Moldova, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tunesia, South Africa, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Kosovo, Morocco, Myanmar, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Norway, Cyprus, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, North Macedonia, the Philippines, Timor Leste, and Ethiopia.

See also

 Tobacco smoking

References

External links

Imperial Brands brands
Products introduced in 1954

Winston (cigarette)


Veritas University is a private university, located in Abuja. It was founded in March 2002 by the Catholic Church in Nigeria. The Institution received its provisional operation licence in 2007 from the National Universities Commission and commenced admission of students in October 2008, at its take-off campus in Obehie, Abia State, Nigeria.

History
Veritas University Abuja (VUNA), also known as the Catholic University of Nigeria, was founded by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria through a resolution given at its March 2002 meeting in Abuja. The initiative was born by the collective desire of the attending Bishops for a University that would provide high quality tertiary education according to the tradition of the Catholic Church.

The Institution received its provisional operation licence in 2007 from the National Universities Commission and commenced admission of students in October 2008 at its take-off campus in Obehie, Abia State, Nigeria. In 2014, it moved to its permanent site with its campus now located in the Bwari Area council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Nigeria.

The University emphasizes moral values, self-reliance and the development of the students' entrepreneurial capabilities for the social and economic benefit of the graduates and the Nigerian society.

Academics
The University currently offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs across five faculties:

Natural and Applied Sciences
B.Sc. Applied Chemistry
 B.Sc. Physics with Electronics
B.Sc. Biochemistry
 B.Sc. Microbiology
B.Sc. Computer science
B.Sc. Software Engineering

Management Sciences
 B.Sc. Accounting
B.Sc. Banking and Finance
 B.Sc. Business Administration
 B.Sc. Entrepreneurship
B.Sc. Public Administration
B.Sc. Marketing

Humanities
B.A. English and Literary Studies
 B.A. History and International Relations
B.A. Philosophy
B.A. Religion and Intercultural Studies
B.A. Theology

Social Sciences
 B.Sc. Economics
B.Sc. Mass Communication
 B.Sc. Political Science and Diplomacy
 B.Sc. Peace and conflict studies

Education
 B.Ed. Science Education
 B.Ed. Educational Management
 B.Ed. Arts and Social Science
 B.Ed. Guidance and Counseling
 B.Ed. English Education
 B.Sc. Ed. Economics Education
 B.Sc. Ed. Physics Education
 B.Sc. Ed. Chemistry Education

Engineering
B.Eng. Computer engineering
B.Eng. Electronic engineering

Law
LL.B. Law

Postgraduate Studies

 Post-graduate Diploma (PGD)
 Masters of Art (M.A.)
 Master of Science (M.Sc.)

Accreditation

A provisional License to operate the university was granted by the National Universities Commission in May 2007.
 As at 2019, there were over 30 undergraduate and 15 Post Graduate programmes offered by the university, which have passed the National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation and resource verification.

In March 2019, Veritas University awarded certificates to 141 graduating students for its 2017/18 academic session at its 7th convocation ceremony.

Veritas Journal of Humanities
The Veritas Journal of Humanities (VEJOH) is the official maiden multidisciplinary academic journal of Veritas University from the Humanities Faculty published bi-annually. It is based on the following principles; Afroconstructivity, Humanity, Society and Development. Articles come from scholars within and outside Africa.

Gallery

References

External links

Universities in Nigeria
Accredited Universities in Nigeria

See also
Academic libraries in Nigeria

Education in Abuja
Veritas University
Educational institutions established in 2002
2002 establishments in Nigeria
Catholic universities and colleges in Nigeria
Academic libraries in Nigeria

Veritas University


Analamaho is a town and commune () in northern Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Sambava, which is a part of Sava Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 6,000 in 2001 commune census.

Only primary schooling is available in town. The majority 90% of the population in the commune are farmers.  The most important crop is vanilla, while other important products are coffee and rice.  Services provide employment for 10% of the population.

References and notes

Populated places in Sava Region

Analamaho


Scoop, Scoops or The Scoop may refer to:

Objects
 Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things
 Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging
 Scoop (theater), a type of wide area lighting fixture
 Scoop (utensil), a specialized spoon for serving
 Scoop neckline, a kind of shirt neckline
 Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualty lifting
 Hood scoop, a ventilating opening in the bonnet (hood) of a car

Arts and entertainment

Fictional characters
 Scoop, a backhoe loader character in Bob the Builder
 Scoop, a toy bulldozer in Scoop and Doozie
 Scoop (G.I. Joe), a character in the G.I. Joe universe
 Scoop Smith, a character in Fawcett Comics' Whiz Comics
 Todd "Scoops" Ming, a character on WordGirl

Film
 Scoop, a Malaysian film by Aziz M. Osman
 Scoop!, a 2016 Japanese film
 Scoop (1987 film), a film based on novel by Evelyn Waugh
 Scoop (2006 film), a film by Woody Allen
 The Scoop (film), a 1934 British crime film
 Scoop (upcoming film), a Netflix film scheduled for release in 2024

Television
 Scoop (British TV series), a children's series on CBBC
 Scoop (Indian TV series), a 2023 Netflix courtroom drama series

Publications
 Scoop (news), a news story, normally an exclusive for a journalist
 Scoop (novel), a 1938 satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh
 Scoop (website), a news website based in New Zealand
 Scoop (journalism magazine), a quarterly publication by the Australian Journalists Association
 Scoops (magazine), a 1934 UK science fiction magazine

Music and dance
 "Scoop", a song by Lil Nas X from Montero (2021)
 Scoop (album), a 1983 album by Pete Townshend
 Scoop (dance project), a Belgian dance project by Jan Vervloet
 Scoop (music), a type of glissando performed by wind instruments

Video games
 The Scoop (video game), a 1986 video game for the Apple II
 Scoops — Ice Cream Fun for Everyone, an IOS game developed by NimbleBit LLC

Sport
 Scoop, a professional wrestling hold
 Scoop (cricket), a modern shot in cricket which involves reversing the grip on the bat

Technology
 LG Scoop, a phone
 Python SCOOP (software), a Python framework for scalable concurrent operations
 SCOOP (software), the Simple Concurrent Object-Oriented Programming extension for concurrent programming in the Eiffel programming language
 Scoop Package Manager, a command-line installer for Windows

Other uses
 The Scoop, an outdoor amphitheatre in London
 Scoop (nickname), a list of people nicknamed "Scoop" or "Scoops"
 Scoop Lake, Idaho, an alpine lake
 Sixties Scoop, aka The Scoop, Canadian government policy of removing Indigenous children from their families

See also
 Fatman Scoop (born 1979), American rapper
 Operation Primicia or Operation Scoop, a guerrilla attack on October 5, 1975, in Formosa, Argentina

Scoop


Cyperus ustulatus, also known as giant umbrella-sedge or coastal cutty grass is a species of sedge native to New Zealand. C. ustulatus generally grows in coastal or lowland areas near water in the North Island and on the Kermadec Islands.

The leaves are wide, shiny and folded. It produces long, dark brown seed heads after flowering in summer. The seed heads are held by a cluster of leaves at the top of the plant.

The Māori name for the plant is toetoe upoko-tangata. The word toetoe by itself generally refers to Austroderia which are in Poaceae, a different family. Alongside cattails (Typha orientalis, called raupō in the Maori language), it was a material used in traditional Māori kite-making.

See also
 List of Cyperus species

References

ustulatus
Flora of New Zealand
Plants described in 1832

Cyperus ustulatus


The FSR Tarpan was a van and light truck produced in Poznań, Poland between 1973 and 1994. It was exported to Greece and Iran. The first prototype was presented  in 1972. In December 1972 25 first vehicles left the assembly plant. The mass production began in 1973 after the necessary modifications.

233 model
Tarpan 233 had a standard cab with 575 kg carrying capacity or an extended cab with 350 kg capacity.

235 model
Tarpan 235 had a reinforced chassis and a carrying capacity of 1000 kg. It had also turn signals from Fiat 126p. The production began in 1980.

F-233/F-235 model
Tarpan F-233/F-235 had the steering wheel and a 1481 cm³ engine from Fiat 125p.

239D model
Tarpan 239D had a diesel engine.

Cars of Poland
Vans
Science and technology in Poland

FSR Tarpan


Bom Jardim is a municipality in the state of Maranhão in the Northeast region of Brazil. The population is 41,822. The former mayor of Bom Jardim, Lidiane Leite, was arrested for the embezzlement of US$4 million from the municipality.

The municipality contains a small part of the Baixada Maranhense Environmental Protection Area, a  sustainable use conservation unit created in 1991 that has been a Ramsar Site since 2000.
The municipality also contains part of the  Gurupi Biological Reserve, a full protected conservation unit created in 1988. Average annual rainfall is .
Temperatures range from  with an average of .

References

Municipalities in Maranhão

Bom Jardim, Maranhão


Quango is an acronym used especially in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Quangos are arms-length bodies funded by government departments but not run by them. They are given power and paid for by government departments.

They were invented because most government departments do two rather different jobs. One is to make policy about how the country should be run, as indicated by laws passed in Parliament. This is called administration. Their other task is to run or operate the policies in action. Examples would be: to run the prison system, to collect taxes, to guard the country's borders, and so on. Quangos were invented to do the second type of task. They are supposed to do some practical job better than a government department could. Of course, if they fail, the fault is theirs, rather than the government department's.

The acronym QUANGO is spelt out in various ways:
• quasi non-governmental organisation,
• quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation,
• quasi-autonomous national government organisation
• In the United Kingdom the official term is non-departmental public body or NDPB.

History
The term 'quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization' was created in 1967 by the Carnegie Foundation's Alan Pifer. He wrote an essay on independence and accountability in public-funded bodies. This term was shortened to 'quango' by Anthony Barker, a Briton, during a follow-up conference.

Many quangos were created from the 1980s onwards. The UK government's definition in 1997 of a non-departmental public body or quango was:
"A body which has a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one, and which accordingly operates to a greater or lesser extent at arm's length from government Ministers".

UK
According to the Tax Payers Alliance, in the year 2006-07, tax payers funded 1,162 Quangos at a cost of nearly £64bn; equivalent to £2,550 per household.  About a thousand still remain.

In 2010 the British Government said it had earmarked (chosen) nearly 200 quangos for closure, and 120 more for merging. This was part of its Whitehall efficiency programme. In August 2012, the government said that 106 quangos had lost their public status since then. Some were axed, some were sold off, and some had their work done elsewhere.

Scotland
Since Scotland was given devolved self-government in 1999, their government has also set up a number of quangos.

Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland in 2006 had more than 800 quangos, 482 at national and 350 at local level, with a total of 5,784 individual appointees and a combined annual budget of €13 billion.

Issues
Depending upon one's point of view, the separation of a quango from government might allow its functions to be more commercially exercised. Or else it might allow an elected minister to evade responsibility for spending public money. Quangos have been criticised as undemocratic, expensive and letting government grow too big.

The Times has accused quangos of bureaucratic waste and excess. In 2005 Dan Lewis, author of The Essential Guide to Quangos, claimed that many quangos were useless and duplicated the work of others. In August 2008 a report by the right-leaning pressure group the Taxpayers' Alliance, claimed that £15 billion was being wasted by the regional development agencies, quangos set up to encourage economic development in their regions.

Other websites

 Defining 'Quango': article from political site Governing Dynamo
 Economic Research Council - online database of all UK quangos 1998-2006
 Cabinet Office - Agencies and Public Bodies
 The Sunday Times Article on Quangos - Sept 2006

References

Acronyms
Government-related organizations

Quango