1. Turns out most people weren’t a fan of “Catholepistemiad,” U-M’s original name: Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan Territory, referred to it as the “Cathole-what's its name,” and Justice James V. Campbell said it was “neither Greek, Latin, nor English, [but merely] a piece of language gone mad.” What year did they change the name to the University of Michigan?

a.    1826

b.    1821

c.    1824

 

2. In 1837, Michigan became a state and its legislature passed an act officially creating U-M’s first departments. Which of the following was not one of the original three?

a.    Literature, Science, and the Arts

b.    Law

c.    Engineering

 

3. How many men were in Michigan’s first graduating class of 1845?

a.     117

b.     12

c.     38

 

4. In 1856, U-M constructed the first of this kind in the nation:

a.    Building designed solely for instruction and research in chemistry

b.    Bathroom with indoor plumbing and water closets

c.    Modern laboratory with two-way mirrors for psychological studies

 

5. What was the first organized sport played on campus?

a.    Baseball

b.    Football

c.    Cricket

 

6. U-M admitted its first female students in the 1870s. What did Louisa Reed Stowell, the first woman instructor, teach?

a.    Botany

b.    English

c.    Philosophy

 

7. John Dewey, one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, began his teaching career in LSA. In addition to being the “father of functional psychology,” Dewey ultimately went on to help establish:

a.    The New School

b.    Psychology Today magazine

c.    Sears, Roebuck, & Company

 

8. The LSA graduating class of 1894 was the first at U-M to:

a.    Throw their caps in the air

b.    Wear academic gowns

c.    Issue graduation cords for summa cum laude students


9. Research on the synthesis of tetraphenylmethane by Chemistry Professor Moses Gomberg led to the discovery of what?

a.     Organic free radicals

b.     The element radon

c.     The source of radioactivity

10. Which of these is not a hat, but rather a term used to refer to first-year students in a campus poster put up by sophomores in 1916?

a.    Slouch

b.    Bowler

c.    Roundhead

 

11. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Frost was one of the first “poets in residence” in the country when he came to U-M. Which of the following lines were not penned by Frost?

a.     The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

b.    The woods are lovely, dark and deep,  
But I have promises to keep,  
And miles to go before I sleep,  
And miles to go before I sleep.

c.     Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

 

12. U-M counts a United States President on its long list of distinguished alumni. No surprise to us, Gerald R. Ford, the 38th commander-in-chief, was an LSA student. What did he study?

a.    Political Science

b.    French

c.    Psychology

 

13. In support of World War II efforts, the U.S. Army established a school for what language in East Quadrangle?

a.    German

b.    Russian

c.    Japanese

 

14. In 1957, 200 acres were donated to the University for the future home of what?

a.    North Campus

b.    Edwin S. George Reserve

c.    Matthaei Botanical Gardens

 

15. The concept of the “teach-in” was designed by LSA Professor Marshall Sahlins, modeled after the sit-ins of the civil rights movement. The nation’s first teach-in against the Vietnam War happened at U-M in 1965 and drew how many participants?

a.    1,400

b.    3,500

c.    550

 

16. In 1973, LSA’s executive committee approved a proposal for a new program in what?

a.    Women’s Studies

b.    Video and Film Studies

c.    Judaic Studies

 

17. In 1981, hoping to make the enrollment process quicker and more efficient, the University moved from registering students in person at the (no longer extant) Waterman Gym, to a computerized system, which was used in some form until 1999. What was it called?

a.    CREF

b.    CRAIG

c.    CRISP

 

18. Of the four buildings comprising the iconic classroom complex on State Street, Angell Hall was built first. Which hall was the last—and final—addition, completed in 1997?

a.    Haven Hall

b.    Tisch Hall

c.    Mason Hall

 

19. Researchers in LSA published the Middle English Dictionary in 2001, a 15,000-page volume that is the most extensive resource of its kind. When did the dictionary project begin?

a.    1926

b.    1989

c.    1888

 

20. In 2016, LSA physicists helped detect gravitational waves for the first time, confirming a major prediction by:

a.    Niels Bohr

b.    Albert Einstein

c.    Stephen Hawking

ANSWERS

1. B                      6. A                               11. A                     16. A 
2. C                      7. A                               12. A                    17. C
3. B                      8. B                               13. C                    18. B
4. A                      9. A                              14. C                    19. A
5. C                      10. C                             15. B                     20. B 
                   

How'd you do?

170-200 Highest honors
130-160 High honors
90-120 Distinction
50-80 You graduated
Below 50 Make sure you brush up in summer school!