Halcyon Metropolitan University

Halcyon University, home to Halcyon Sparrows

Halcyon Metropolitan University, or Hal U, is a public metropolitan research university that rests on the northern border of Downtown, drawing a large number of students from all over the world to its undergraduate and professional schools, including a sizable foreign population. Small businesses catering to students and people in the tech industry are found throughout the area, including computer stores, clothing shops, and small cafés and coffeehouses. It’s a contrast to nearby October Hill.

The university is organised through faculties of science, engineering, medicine, and business with emphasis on technology and its practical application through laboratory instruction and experimentation. The institute is also known to have a strong entrepreneurial culture and the aggregated revenues of companies founded by Hal U alumni would rank as the eleventh-largest economy in the world.

## Background

Hal U was established in 1977 shortly after The Exposure incident. Metahumans and mundanes alike banded together in the pursuit of knowledge and pooled resources to fund and manage a university that catered to the special experiences, challenges, and educational needs of promising mundane and metahuman youth in Halcyon City. Over the years, the university has expanded greatly thanks to the generous donations of affluent alumni. As of 2005, Hal U has been ranked among the top research universities in the U.S., public and private, based on research output, innovation, development, research expenditures, number of awarded patents and awarded research grant proposals. Visionaries and geniuses such as Alistair Sinclair, Ahmed Bukhari, Selensia Fournier, and much more studied and lived in this prestigious yet humble campus and have contributed to valuable research in their respective fields.

## Student Life

Along with multiple athletic clubs and recreational facilities, Hal U is home to more than 500 registered student organizations, reflecting the student body's diversity. To keep pace with the student population's growth, the university continuously renovates and expands infrastructure. The demand for new academic halls, athletic facilities, student recreation centers, and residential halls is being addressed with donor contributions, particularly from HARMONI and Powell Industries as well as public-private investments.

## Notable Accomplishments

The pool of outstanding graduates has resulted in strong research partnerships with the Federal government. Many members of the faculty receive research funding and institutional support from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Powell Industries, Fournier Bank, and the Department of Homeland Security.

It was in Hal U’s Sato Labs that the Terri-Dot was brought to this dimension/reality/planet, after a mishap involving the analysis of meteorites. Halcyon University’s Psychology Department is also well known by both metahumans and mundanes alike for its affordable mental health services. Individuals with extraordinary abilities are regular clients to Dr. Jiwa Yunus, a telepath and his colleague, Dr. Joan Bright, an empath. They are both UMA licensed and have been recognized by UMA to help metahumans cope with their newfound abilities as well as the daily struggles that come along with it.