History
Oakland University was created in 1957 when Matilda Dodge Wilson, widow of automobile magnate John Francis Dodge, and her second husband, Alfred Wilson, donated their 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) estate to Michigan State University, including Meadow Brook Hall, Sunset Terrace and all the estate's other buildings and collections, along with $2 million. Main campus buildings were completed near Squirrel Road in Pontiac Township (now the city of Auburn Hills). Originally known as Michigan State University–Oakland, the university enrolled its first students in 1959 and was renamed Oakland University in 1963. The university has been officially independent since 1970. Wilson asked U.S. Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield to let the university use a Rochester, Michigan mailing address, even though the main part of the campus was in Pontiac Township. After reminding Summerfield that she had contributed to his administration, Summerfield granted her request. The city of Rochester is five miles (8 km) from the main campus buildings.
For the Fall 2011 semester, OU had an enrollment of 19,379 students. The current president of the university is Dr. Gary Russi, who replaced Dr. Sandra Packard on an interim basis in 1995 and was appointed president by the Board of Trustees in 1996.
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—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)