University of Tromsø
Encyclopedia
The University of Tromsø is the world's northernmost university
. Located in the city of Tromsø
, Norway
, it was established in 1968, and opened in 1972. It is one of eight universities in Norway. The University of Tromsø is the largest research and educational institution in northern Norway. The University's location makes it a natural venue for the development of studies of the region's natural environment, culture, and society.
The main focus of the University's activities is on the Auroral light research, Space science
, Fishery science
, Biotechnology
, Linguistics
, Multicultural societies
, Saami culture
, Telemedicine
, epidemiology
and a wide spectrum of Arctic research projects. The close vicinity of the Norwegian Polar Institute
, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research
and the Polar Environmental Centre gives Tromsø added weight and importance as an international centre for Arctic research. Research activities, however, are not limited to Arctic studies. The University researchers work within a broad range of subjects and are recognised both nationally and internationally.
On January 1, 2009 the University of Tromsø was merged with Tromsø University College
.
s in the university's logo are Huginn and Muninn. In Norse mythology
, Hugin and Munin travel the world for Odin
, bringing him news and information. Hugin represents thought
and Munin memory
. Ravens are an early Norse symbol, used f.ex. on the raven banner
.
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. Located in the city of Tromsø
Tromsø
Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, it was established in 1968, and opened in 1972. It is one of eight universities in Norway. The University of Tromsø is the largest research and educational institution in northern Norway. The University's location makes it a natural venue for the development of studies of the region's natural environment, culture, and society.
The main focus of the University's activities is on the Auroral light research, Space science
Space science
The term space science may mean:* The study of issues specifically related to space travel and space exploration, including space medicine.* Science performed in outer space ....
, Fishery science
Norwegian College of Fishery Science
The Norwegian College of Fishery Science was established in 1972 as a joint responsibility of the three Norwegian universities in Tromsø, Bergen and Trondheim...
, Biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
, Linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, Multicultural societies
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, Saami culture
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
, Telemedicine
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities...
, epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
and a wide spectrum of Arctic research projects. The close vicinity of the Norwegian Polar Institute
Norwegian Polar Institute
The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's national institution for polar research. It is run under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The institute organizes expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions and runs a research station at Ny-Ålesund...
, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research
Norwegian Institute of Marine Research
The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research is a national consultative research institute which is owned by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. The Institute performs research and provides advisory services in the fields of marine ecosystems and aquaculture.With a staff of almost 700,...
and the Polar Environmental Centre gives Tromsø added weight and importance as an international centre for Arctic research. Research activities, however, are not limited to Arctic studies. The University researchers work within a broad range of subjects and are recognised both nationally and internationally.
On January 1, 2009 the University of Tromsø was merged with Tromsø University College
Tromsø University College
Tromsø University College was a university college located in Tromsø, Norway with programs within health care, engineering, business administration, teaching and music, dance and drama...
.
Faculties and other units
Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education
- Department of Language and Linguistics
- Department of Culture and Literature
- Department of Education
- Department of Philosophy
- Department of History and Religious Studies
- Department of Sociology, Political Science and Community Planning
- Department of Archaeology and Social Anthropology
- Centre for Peace Studies, TromsøCentre for Peace Studies, TromsøThe Centre for Peace Studies started out as a research and co-ordination project in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Tromsø, Norway...
- Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical LinguisticsCenter for Advanced Study in Theoretical LinguisticsThe Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics was established in 2002 as a Center of Excellence by the Norwegian Research Council. It is located in Tromsø, Norway, and is housed at the University of Tromsø...
Faculty of Health Sciences
- Department of Clinical Medicine
- Department of Community Medicine
- Department of Clinical Dentistry
- Department of Medical Biology
- Department of Pharmacy
- Department of Psychology
- Department of Health and Care Sciences
Faculty of Science and Technology
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Geology
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics
- Department of Physics and Technology
- Department of Engineering and Safety
- Tromsø Geophysical Observatory
- Centre for Theoretical and Computational ChemistryCentre for Theoretical and Computational ChemistryThe Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry was founded by the Norwegian Research Council in 2007. The duration of the project is ten years. The CTCC is split in two units. One unit is located at the Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo...
- Albe
Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology
- Norwegian College of Fishery ScienceNorwegian College of Fishery ScienceThe Norwegian College of Fishery Science was established in 1972 as a joint responsibility of the three Norwegian universities in Tromsø, Bergen and Trondheim...
- Tromsø University Business School (HHT, in Norwegian)
Faculty of Fine Arts
- Department of Music, Dance and Drama
- Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing
Other units
- Centre for Sami Studies
- Centre for Women's and Gender Research
- Tromsø University MuseumTromsø University MuseumTromsø University Museum is the oldest scientific institution in North-Norway. It was established in 1872 and incorporated in the University of Tromsø in 1976...
- The University Library of Tromsø
Honorary doctors
- Narve BjørgoNarve BjørgoNarve Bjørgo is a Norwegian historian.He was born in Meland. He graduated from the University of Bergen in 1964, and worked as a research assistant until 1970. Then, for two years, he was a research fellow and associate professor. In 1973 he was appointed professor of history at the University of...
, Norway (2008) - Ole Henrik MaggaOle Henrik MaggaOle Henrik Magga is a Sámi linguist and politician from Kautokeino, Norway.-As a linguist:As a linguist, Ole Henrik Magga is best known for his work on syntax...
, Norway (2008) - Barbara Neis, Canada (2008)
- Steven PinkerSteven PinkerSteven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
, USA (2008) - Ottar BroxOttar BroxOttar Brox is a Norwegian authority in social science and a politician for the Socialist Left Party. He was professor of sociology at the University of Tromsø from 1972 to 1984, and later associate professor while working as head of research at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional...
, Norway (2003) - Erica I.A. Daes, Greece (2003)
- Tor HagforsTor HagforsTor Hagfors was a Norwegian scientist, radio astronomer, radar expert and a pioneer in the studies of the interactions between electromagnetic waves and a plasma. He was one of several theorists who developed the theory underlying incoherent scattering in the early 1960s.Tor Hagfors was born in...
, Norway (2003) - Nawal el-Saadawi, Egypt (2003)
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibet (2001)
- Mordechai VanunuMordechai VanunuMordechai Vanunu ; is a former Israeli nuclear technician who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad agent, where he was drugged and kidnapped by...
, Israel (2000) - William NygaardWilliam NygaardWilliam Nygaard is a retired Norwegian publisher who graduated with a degree in economics in 1967. He is also chairman of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.-Business career:...
, Norway (1998) - Salman Rushdie, Great Britain (1998)
- Mikhail GorbachevMikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, Russia (1998) - Robert PaineRobert PaineRobert Paine may refer to:* Rob Paine, American DJ*Robert Treat Paine , signer of the United States Declaration of Independence* Robert Treat Paine, Jr. , poet and son of the signer* Robert Treat Paine , U.S...
, Canada (1998) - Susanne Romaine, England (1998)
- Rigoberta Menchú TumRigoberta MenchúRigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...
, Guatemala (1996) - Carsten SmithCarsten SmithCarsten Smith is a Norwegian judge and lawyer.He is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway and a professor of law at the University of Oslo....
, Norway (1995) - Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South Africa (1994)
- Jørn Dyerberg, Denmark (1993)
- Torstein Bertelsen, Norway (1993)
- Georg Henrik von WrightGeorg Henrik von WrightGeorg Henrik von Wright was a Finnish philosopher, who succeeded Ludwig Wittgenstein as professor at the University of Cambridge. He published in English, Finnish, German, and in Swedish. Belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland, von Wright also had Finnish and 17th-century Scottish...
, Finland (1993) - Ragnhild Sundby, Norway (1993)
- Helga Marie Hernes, Norway (1993)
- Parzival CopesParzival CopesParzival Copes, is a Canadian economist with a particular interest in regional science and specialization in fisheries economics and management....
, Canada (1993) - Amy von Marken, Nederland (1987)
- Kjell BondevikKjell BondevikKjell Bondevik was a Norwegian politician for the Christian Democratic Party.He was born in Leikanger. He graduated with the cand.philol. and mag.art. degrees in 1927. He worked as a teacher and headmaster in schools in Oslo, Haugesund and Sauda...
, Norway (1982) - Peter F. HjortPeter F. HjortPeter Fredrik Holst Hjort was a Norwegian professor of medicine and politician for the Labour Party. He is best known for his work to establish the University of Tromsø, and for his work with public health.-Personal life:...
, Norway (1982)
Logo
The ravenRaven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s in the university's logo are Huginn and Muninn. In Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, Hugin and Munin travel the world for Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, bringing him news and information. Hugin represents thought
Thought
"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...
and Munin memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
. Ravens are an early Norse symbol, used f.ex. on the raven banner
Raven banner
The raven banner was a flag, possibly totemic in nature, flown by various Viking chieftains and other Scandinavian rulers during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries A.D...
.