University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota is one of the most comprehensive public universities in the United States and ranks among the most prestigious. It is both the state land-grant university, with a strong tradition of education and public service, and the state's primary research university, with faculty of national and international reputation. 
Founded in 1851, the University of Minnesota has four campuses�Twin Cities, Duluth, Morris, and Crookston�a collaborative center in Rochester, extension offices, and research and outreach centers throughout the state. 
The University of Minnesota, founded in the belief that all people are enriched by understanding, is dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth; to the sharing of this knowledge through education for a diverse community; and to the application of this knowledge to benefit the people of the state, the nation, and the world. The University's mission, carried out on multiple campuses and throughout the state, is threefold: 
Research and Discovery
Generate and preserve knowledge, understanding, and creativity by conducting high-quality research, scholarship, and artistic activity that benefit students, scholars, and communities across the state, the nation, and the world. 
Teaching and Learning 
Share that knowledge, understanding, and creativity by providing a broad range of educational programs in a strong and diverse community of learners and teachers, and prepare graduate, professional, and undergraduate students, as well as non-degree-seeking students interested in continuing education and lifelong learning, for active roles in a multiracial and multicultural world. 
Outreach and Public Service 
Extend, apply, and exchange knowledge between the University and society by applying scholarly expertise to community problems, by helping organizations and individuals respond to their changing environments, and by making the knowledge and resources created and preserved at the University accessible to the citizens of the state, the nation, and the world. 
In all of its activities, the University strives to sustain an open exchange of ideas in an environment that embodies the values of academic freedom, responsibility, integrity, and cooperation; that provides an atmosphere of mutual respect, free from racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice and intolerance; that assists individuals, institutions, and communities in responding to a continuously changing world; that is conscious of and responsive to the needs of the many communities it is committed to serving; that creates and supports partnerships within the University, with other educational systems and institutions, and with communities to achieve common goals; and that inspires, sets high expectations for, and empowers individuals within its community.

Pennsylvania State University

Penn State, founded in 1855 as an agricultural college, admitted its first class in 1859. The Pennsylvania legislature designated Penn State as the Commonwealth’s sole land-grant institution in 1863, which eventually broadened the University’s mission to include teaching, research, and public service in many academic disciplines. Penn State has awarded more than a half-million degrees, and has been Pennsylvania’s largest source of baccalaureate degrees at least since the 1930s. Although the University is privately chartered by the Commonwealth, it was from the outset considered an “instrumentality of the state,” that is, it carries out many of the functions of a public institution and promotes the general welfare of the citizenry. The Governor and other representatives of the Commonwealth have held seats on Penn State’s Board of Trustees since the University’s founding, and the legislature has made regular appropriations in support of the University’s mission since 1887. Today Penn State is one of four “state-related” universities (along with the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lincoln University), institutions that are not state-owned and -operated but that have the character of public universities and receive substantial state appropriations. With its administrative and research hub at the University Park campus, Penn State has 23 additional locations across Pennsylvania. While some of the these locations, such as the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, have specialized academic roles, they all adhere to a common overall mission and set of core values and strategic goals.

Washington University in St. Louis

Welcome to Washington University in St. Louis. I hope the information accessible here will help you learn more about the University.

While this electronic visit will prove informative, we invite you to come in person and visit our campus. You will find an intellectually vibrant and diverse community of scholars who challenge themselves to seek new knowledge and greater understanding of our ever-changing, multicultural world.

I think you will be impressed by the energetic teaching and learning and the pathbreaking research that go on here. The University and its people also play a significant role in the St. Louis, national and international communities.

We would welcome the opportunity to show you the campus and introduce our faculty, students and staff to you.

University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

Innovation is our tradition: Nestled along the Pacific Ocean on 1,200 acres of coastal woodland, UCSD is a powerful magnet for those seeking a fresh, next-generation approach to education and research. Since its founding over four decades ago, UCSD -- one of the ten campuses in the world-renowned University of California system -- has rapidly achieved the status as one of the top institutions in the nation for higher education and research. UCSD’s interdisciplinary ethos and tradition of innovation and risk-taking, underlie its research strength and ability to recruit top scholars and students.

Budget: UCSD’s annual revenues are $1.9 billion. (33% of this total is from the federal government for research; 14% is from the State of California for education.)

Students: UCSD received over 40,000 applications for fall 2005 admission (the second highest application rate in the University of California system and possibly in the nation). The average high school GPA of enrolled freshmen for fall 2005 was 3.93 and average SATI score was 1251. Total campus enrollment for fall ‘05 was approximately 26,140. UCSD ranks 2nd nationally among major research universities sending students abroad in full-year programs, and 3rd among University of California schools in graduation rates at 83%. 

Economic Impact: UCSD is an engine for regional economic growth. UCSD faculty and alums have spun-off close to 200 local companies, including over a third of the region’s biotech companies. In addition, UCSD is San Diego County’s largest single employer, with a monthly payroll in excess of $76 million, and over 23,500 employees. 

Specialized Resources: UCSD’s graduate and professional schools include Scripps Institution of Oceanography; School of Medicine; School of International Relations and Pacific Studies; Center for U.S. - Mexican Studies; Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Jacobs School of Engineering (graduate and undergraduate), and Rady School of Management. The campus is also home to the San Diego Supercomputer Center; California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2); Center for Research in Computing and the Arts; Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation; and Institute of the Americas.

Boston University

Boston University -- independent, coeducational, and non-sectarian -- is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research located along the banks of the Charles River and adjacent to the historic Back Bay district of Boston. 

With more than 30,000 students from all 50 states and 135 countries, it is one of the largest independent universities in the United States. For over 150 years, Boston University has anticipated the changing needs of its students while serving the greater needs of society.

As one of the nation's premier research universities, Boston University believes that all students benefit by learning from dedicated teachers who are actively engaged in original research. The University's learning environment is further enriched by an extraordinary array of direct involvements with the broader artistic, economic, social, intellectual, and educational life of the community. These relationships provide a distinctly practical edge to the University's educational and research programs, while enhancing the life and vitality of one of the world's great cities.

Boston University's policies provide for equal opportunity and affirmative action in employment and admission to all programs of the University.

University of Washington

Founded 4 November 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the Pacific coast. The University is comprised of three campuses: the Seattle campus is made up of seventeen schools and colleges whose faculty offer educational opportunities to students ranging from first-year undergraduates through doctoral-level candidates; the Bothell and Tacoma campuses, each developing a distinctive identity and undergoing rapid growth, offer diverse programs to upper-division undergraduates and to graduate students.

The primary mission of the University of Washington is the preservation, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge. The University preserves knowledge through its libraries and collections, its courses, and the scholarship of its faculty. It advances new knowledge through many forms of research, inquiry and discussion; and disseminates it through the classroom and the laboratory, scholarly exchanges, creative practice, international education, and public service. As one of the nation's outstanding teaching and research institutions, the University is committed to maintaining an environment for objectivity and imaginative inquiry and for the original scholarship and research that ensure the production of new knowledge in the free exchange of facts, theories, and ideas.

To promote their capacity to make humane and informed decisions, the University fosters an environment in which its students can develop mature and independent judgment and an appreciation of the range and diversity of human achievement. The University cultivates in its students both critical thinking and the effective articulation of that thinking.

As an integral part of a large and diverse community, the University seeks broad representation of and encourages sustained participation in that community by its students, its faculty, and its staff. It serves both non-traditional and traditional students. Through its three-campus system and through educational outreach, evening degree, and distance learning, it extends educational opportunities to many who would not otherwise have access to them.

The academic core of the University of Washington is its College of Arts and Sciences; the teaching and research of the University's many professional schools provide essential complements to these programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural and mathematical sciences. Programs in law, medicine, forest resources, oceanography and fisheries, library science, and aeronautics are offered exclusively (in accord with state law) by the University of Washington. In addition, the University of Washington has assumed primary responsibility for the health science fields of dentistry and public health, and offers education and training in medicine for a multi-state region of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The schools and colleges of architecture and urban planning, business administration, education, engineering, nursing, pharmacy, public affairs, and social work have a long tradition of educating students for service to the region and the nation. These schools and colleges make indispensable contributions to the state and, with the rest of the University, share a long tradition of educating undergraduate and graduate students toward achieving an excellence that well serves the state, the region, and the nation.

University of Wisconsin-Madison

In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as one of America's great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Many of its programs are hailed as world leaders in instruction, research and public service.

Origins
The university traces its roots to a clause in the Wisconsin Constitution, which decreed that the state should have a prominent public university. In 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin's first governor, signed the act that formally created the university, and its first class, with 17 students, met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849.

From those humble beginnings, the university has grown into a large, diverse community, with about 40,000 students enrolled each year. These students represent every state in the nation, as well as countries from around the globe, making for a truly international population.

Mission
UW-Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Wisconsin System, a statewide network of 13 comprehensive universities, 13 freshman-sophomore transfer colleges and an extension service. One of two doctorate-granting universities in the system, UW-Madison's specific mission is to provide "a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help insure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all."

The university achieves these ends through innovative programs of research, teaching and public service. Throughout its history, UW-Madison has sought to bring the power of learning into the daily lives of its students through innovations such as residential learning communities and service-learning opportunities. Students also participate freely in research, which has led to life-improving inventions ranging from more fuel-efficient engines to cutting-edge genetic therapies.

The Wisconsin Idea
Students, faculty and staff are motivated by a tradition known as the "Wisconsin Idea," first started by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904, when he declared that he would "never be content until the beneficent influence of the university [is] available to every home in the state." The Wisconsin Idea permeates the university's work and helps forge close working relationships among university faculty and students, and the state's industries and government.

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

With only 11,000 inhabitants in 1880, the pueblo of Los Angeles convinced the state government to establish a State Normal School in Southern California. Enthusiastic citizens contributed between $2 and $500 to purchase a site, and on August 29, 1882, the Los Angeles Branch of the State Normal School welcomed its first students in a Victorian building that had been erected on the site of an orange grove.

By 1914 Los Angeles had grown to a city of 350,000, and the school moved to new quarters�a Hollywood ranch off a dirt road that later became Vermont Avenue. In 1919, the school became the Southern Branch of the University of California and offered two years of instruction in Letters and Science. Third- and fourth-year courses were soon added; the first class of 300 students was graduated in 1925, and by 1927 the Southern Branch had earned its new name: University of California at Los Angeles. (The name was changed again in 1958 to University of California, Los Angeles.)

Continued growth mandated the selection of a site that could support a larger campus, and in 1927, ground was broken in the chaparral-covered hills of Westwood. The four original buildings�Royce Hall, Powell Library, Haines Hall, and Kinsey Hall�formed a lonesome cluster in the middle of 400 empty acres. The campus hosted some 5,500 students its first term in 1929. The Regents established the master�s degree at UCLA in 1933 and, three years later, the doctorate. UCLA was fast becoming a full-fledged university offering advanced study in almost every field.

The most spectacular growth at UCLA occurred in the 25 years following World War II, when it tripled its prewar enrollment of 9,000 students and undertook what would become a $260 million building program that included residence halls, parking structures, laboratories, more classrooms, service buildings, athletic and recreational facilities, and a 715-bed teaching hospital that is now one of the largest and most highly respected in the world.

Brown University

Brown University is a leading Ivy League institution with a distinctive undergraduate academic program, a world-class faculty, outstanding graduate and medical students, and a tradition of innovative and rigorous multidisciplinary study. A commitment to diversity and intellectual freedom has remained a hallmark of the University since its establishment. 

Brown students are distinguished by their academic excellence, self-direction, and collaborative style of learning. Brown faculty are deeply committed to teaching, preeminent in their fields, and leaders in advancing knowledge that has broad scholarly, theoretical, and practical applications.

Carnegie Mellon University

The only top 25 university founded in the 20th century, Carnegie Mellon has rapidly evolved into an internationally recognized institution with a distinctive mix of world-class educational and research programs in computer science, robotics, engineering, the sciences, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities.

More than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students at Carnegie Mellon receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions to solve real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors.

The university consists of seven colleges and schools: The Carnegie Institute of Technology (engineering), the College of Fine Arts, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Mellon College of Science, the David A. Tepper School of Business, the School of Computer Science and the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. Carnegie Mellon also has campuses in California and the Arabian Gulf nation of Qatar and is expanding its international presence in Europe and Asia with master's programs and other educational partnerships.

Carnegie Mellon is one of the most technologically sophisticated campuses in the world. When it introduced its "Andrew" computing network in the mid-1980s, it pioneered educational applications of technology. Today, the university employs a university-wide wireless computing network that allows faculty, staff and students to log on to the Internet and communicate via email from anywhere at any time. Carnegie Mellon was ranked as the nation's "most wired" university by Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine.

University of California, Berkeley (UCB)

The University of California, Berkeley is one of the world’s leading academic institutions. Widely known as "Cal," the campus is renowned for the size and quality of its libraries and laboratories, the scope of its research and publications, and the distinction of its faculty and students. National rankings consistently place Berkeley’s undergraduate and graduate programs among the very best in a variety of disciplines.

Our high-acclaimed faculty currently includes: 7 Nobel Laureates, 225 members of the Academy of Arts & Sciences, 131 members of the National Academy of Science, 87 members of the National Academy of Engineering, a Poet Laureate Emeritus of the United States, and 141 Guggenheim Fellows, more than any other university in the country. It was here that two professors discovered plutonium in 1941 as well as numerous other elements, including berkelium and californium. Berkeley faculty are quoted daily in newspapers and journals throughout the world as experts in their fields.

But Berkeley is also about extraordinary students! While most of our 22,800 undergraduates are Californians, every state and more than 100 foreign countries are represented on campus. The student body can best be characterized by its talent and its diversity; in fact, there is no single ethnic majority here. Berkeley students represent all age groups, economic, cultural, ethnic and geographic backgrounds. This dynamic mix produces the wide range of opinion and perspective found on the Berkeley campus.

Overlooking San Francisco Bay, UC Berkeley is a lush and tranquil 1,232 acre campus—yet close to many urban opportunities. It is bordered by wooded, rolling hills and the City of Berkeley, one of America’s most lively, culturally diverse, and politically adventurous municipalities. Cal students are also just minutes away from the many cultural, recreational and culinary resources of Oakland, San Francisco, and other Bay Area communities.

Northwestern University

Northwestern is a major private research university with 12 academic divisions located on two lakefront campuses in Evanston and Chicago. By any measure, Northwestern ranks among the premier universities in the nation, combining the resources of a major research university with the intimacy of a small college. The number of undergraduates here is relatively small -- only 7,900 -- yet, with more than 80 formal academic concentrations in six undergraduate schools, we offer an astonishing range of study. 

Northwestern's excellence is evident in many ways: test scores and class rank of entering students, library holdings, the success of our graduates. What sets us apart from many other large universities, however, is our commitment to undergraduate teaching: Our faculty teach more than 95 percent of the courses on campus, and the opportunities for undergraduates to do research projects or independent study are plentiful.

No matter which school or course of study you choose, you will find that a foundation in the liberal arts is an integral part of your education at Northwestern. Whether you enter the University knowing your major or, like most, are undecided, you will be encouraged to explore in directions both unexpected and exciting.

Our students rarely confine their talent and energy to the classroom. Northwestern's student-run daily newspaper has received national recognition, and audiences applaud performances featuring our student body. Approximately 250 campus organizations serve the interests and needs of our students.

If you would like to apply to Northwestern or if you would simply like to learn more about the University, keep surfing. We've answered some of the more common questions about Northwestern in the links to the left, and we've also provided opportunities for you to request more information below. To learn more about the concentrations, special programs, and requirements of our undergraduate programs, follow the links above.

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, founded in Baltimore in 1876, was the first university in the Western Hemisphere founded on the model of the European research institution, where research and the advancement of knowledge were integrally linked to teaching. Its establishment began a revolution in U.S. higher education.
The university is named for its initial benefactor, Baltimore merchant Johns Hopkins, whose $7 million bequest -- the largest U.S. philanthropic gift to that time -- was divided evenly to finance the establishment of both the university and The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan, one of the world's leading public universities, has 26,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate/professional students from all 50 states and 117 countries. Students may choose from over 200 undergraduate majors, over 90 master's programs, and over 100 doctoral programs. Numerous research and study abroad opportunities are offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. A wide variety of social, cultural, and athletic activities are available. There is something for everyone here.

Michigan's programs are responsive to the changing needs of society; relevant to the goals of our students and community partners; rich in opportunities for independent and collaborative study, research and practical applications; and reflective of the traditions of excellence, innovation, and leadership.

The University is located in the culturally rich and exciting community of Ann Arbor. Distinct yet closely integrated with the University, Ann Arbor offers its own array of social and cultural offerings, to which University students are enthusiastically welcomed. The city is home to numerous parks and athletic facilities, and boasts an excellent public transportation system. Michigan's primary international airport is conveniently located less than 30 miles (48 km) away.

Duke University

Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke. The Dukes, a Durham family that built a worldwide financial empire in the manufacture of tobacco and developed electricity production in the Carolinas, long had been interested in Trinity College. Trinity traced its roots to 1838 in nearby Randolph County when local Methodist and Quaker communities opened Union Institute. The school, then-named Trinity College, moved to Durham in 1892. In December 1924, the provisions of James B. Duke's indenture created the family philanthropic foundation, The Duke Endowment, which provided for the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University.

As a result of the Duke gift, Trinity underwent both physical and academic expansion. The original Durham campus became known as East Campus when it was rebuilt in stately Georgian architecture. West Campus, Gothic in style and dominated by the soaring 210-foot tower of Duke Chapel, opened in 1930. East Campus served as home of the Woman's College of Duke University until 1972, when the men's and women's undergraduate colleges merged. Both men and women undergraduates now enroll in either the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering. In 1995, East Campus became the home for all first-year students.

Stanford University

Stanford University, founded in 1885, is recognized as one of the world's leading research and teaching institutions, with one of the most renowned faculties in the nation. Stanford students—men and women of all races, ethnicities and ages —are distinguished by their love of learning and desire to contribute to the greater community.

Stanford University offers its students a remarkable range of academic and extracurricular activities. We are committed to offering an education that is unrivaled among research universities. 

In this community of scholars, there is no greater objective than being at the edge of a field and advancing the frontier of knowledge. We believe that collaboration across disciplines will be key to future advances and are pursuing multidisciplinary initiatives in the areas of biosciences, the environment and international affairs. As a research and teaching university, we offer both undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to work closely with faculty and researchers.

The pioneering spirit that inspired Jane and Leland Stanford to start this university more than a century ago and that helped build Silicon Valley at the doorstep of the campus encourages boldness in everything we do - whether those efforts occur in the library, in the classroom, in a laboratory, in a theater or on an athletic field.

University of Pennsylvania

For more than two centuries, the University of Pennsylvania has been committed to excellence in scholarship, research and service. From its highly regarded undergraduate, graduate and professional schools to its wide-ranging program of interdisciplinary research and scholarship, Penn takes pride in being a place where students and faculty can pursue knowledge without boundaries, a place where theory and practice combine to produce a better understanding of our world and ourselves.

We invite you to explore this great university and take advantage of all it has to offer.

Columbia University

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

Princeton University

Princeton is the fourth-oldest college in the United States. The ambience of its earliest days is palpable in historic landmarks on campus, most notably Nassau Hall, which in 1783 was the temporary capitol of the United States. 

From such a distinctive beginning grew something great -- a community of learning that continues to evolve, providing abundant opportunities to talented students from around the world. 

As a research university, it seeks to achieve the highest levels of distinction in the discovery and transmission of knowledge and understanding, and in the education of graduate students. At the same time, Princeton is distinctive among research universities in its commitment to undergraduate teaching. 

The University provides its students with academic, extracurricular and other resources -- in a residential community committed to diversity in its student body, faculty and staff -- that help them achieve at the highest scholarly levels and prepare them for positions of leadership and lives of service in many fields of human endeavor. 

Through the scholarship and teaching of its faculty, and the many contributions to society of its alumni, Princeton seeks to fulfill its informal motto: “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

The mission of the California Institute of Technology is to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education. We investigate the most challenging, fundamental problems in science and technology in a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere, while educating outstanding students to become creative members of society.

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago was founded in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society and oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, who later described the University of Chicago as “the best investment I ever made.” The land for the new university, in the recently annexed suburb of Hyde Park, was donated by Marshall Field, owner of the Chicago department store that bears his name. 

William Rainey Harper, the first president, imagined a university that would combine an American-style undergraduate liberal arts college with a German-style graduate research university. The University of Chicago quickly fulfilled Harper's dream, becoming a national leader in higher education and research. 

Frederick Rudolph, professor of history at Williams College, wrote in his 1962 study, The American College and University: A History, “No episode was more important in shaping the outlook and expectations of American higher education during those years than the founding of the University of Chicago, one of those events in American history that brought into focus the spirit of an age.” 

One of Harper's curricular innovations was to run classes all year round, and to allow students to graduate at whatever time of year they completed their studies. Appropriately enough, the first class was held on Saturday at 8:30 in the morning. Just as appropriately, Harper and the other faculty members had pulled a feverish all-nighter beforehand, unpacking and arranging desks, chairs and tables in the newly-constructed Cobb Hall. 

Although the University was established by Baptists, it was non-denominational from the start. It also welcomed women and minority students at a time when many universities did not. 

The first buildings copied the English Gothic style of architecture, complete with towers, spires, cloisters, and gargoyles. By 1910, the University had adopted more traditions, including a coat of arms that bore a phoenix emerging from the flames and a Latin motto, Crescat Scientia, Vita Excolatur (“Let knowledge increase so that life may be enriched”). 

In 1929, Robert Hutchins became the University's fifth president. During his tenure, Hutchins established many of the undergraduate curricular innovations that the University is known for today. These included a curriculum dedicated specifically to interdisciplinary education, comprehensive examinations instead of course grades, courses focused on the study of original documents and classic works, and an emphasis on discussion, rather than lectures. While the Core curriculum has changed substantially since Hutchins' time, original texts and small discussion sections remain a hallmark of a Chicago education. 

Less well-known is that the University was a founder member of the Big Ten Conference. The University's first athletic director, Amos Alonzo Stagg, was also the first tenured coach in the nation, holding the position of Associate Professor and Director of the Department of Physical Culture and Athletics. In 1935, senior Jay Berwanger was awarded the first Heisman trophy. Just four years later, however, Hutchins famously abolished the football team, citing the need for the University to focus on academics rather than athletics. Varsity football was reinstated in 1969. 

In the early 1950s, Hyde Park, once a solidly middle-class neighborhood, began to decline. In response, the University became a major sponsor of an urban renewal effort for Hyde Park, which profoundly affected both the neighborhood's architecture and street plan. As just one example, in 1952, 55th Street had 22 taverns; today, the street features extra-wide lanes for automobile traffic, the twin towers of University Park Condominiums (I. M. Pei, 1961) and one bar, the Woodlawn Tap. 

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the University began to add modern buildings to the formerly all-Gothic campus. These included the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle (Eero Saarinen, 1959) and the School of Social Service Administration (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1965). In 1963, the University acquired the Robie House, built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1909. By 1970, the Regenstein Library -- at seven stories, and almost a block square, the largest building on campus by far -- occupied the site of Old Stagg Field. 

The University experienced its share of student unrest during the 1960s, beginning in 1962, when students occupied President George Beadle's office in a protest over the University's off-campus rental policies. In 1969, more than 400 students, angry about the dismissal of a popular professor, occupied the Administration Building for two weeks. 

In 1978, Hanna Gray, Professor of History, was appointed President of the University, becoming the first woman to serve as president of a major research university. During Gray's tenure, both undergraduate and graduate enrollment increased, and a new science quadrangle was completed. 

In the 1990s, controversy returned to campus -- but this time, the point of contention was the undergraduate curriculum. After a long discussion process that received national attention, the new curriculum was announced in 1998. While continuing the dedication to interdisciplinary general education, the new curriculum included a new emphasis on foreign language acquisition and expanded international and cross-cultural study opportunities. 

The University of Chicago has had a profound impact on American higher education; curricula across the country have been influenced by the emphasis on broad humanistic and scientific undergraduate education. The University also has a well-deserved reputation as the “teacher of teachers” -- teaching is the most frequent career path for alumni, luring more than one in seven. 

“The question before us is how to become one in spirit, not necessarily in opinion,” President Harper said at the first faculty meeting in 1892. In the intervening century, the University's programs, curricula and campus have undergone substantial changes, many of which were deeply controversial. However, as President Don Michael Randel pointed out in his inaugural speech of 2000, “A number of words and phrases recur through the eleven administrations and 108 years since that first faculty meeting. 

“They speak of the primacy of research, the intimate relationship of research to teaching, and to the amelioration of the condition of humankind, a pioneering spirit, the ‘great conversation’ among and across traditional disciplines that creates not only new knowledge but whole new fields of knowledge, the ‘experimental attitude’ and the intellectual freedom that makes this attitude possible, the intimate and essential relationship to the city of Chicago, and, fundamental to all this, a distinguished faculty committed to this spirit,” he said. “At no other university is such a spirit so deeply and widely shared among faculty, students and alumni.”

Yale University

Yale University was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School in the home of Abraham Pierson, its first rector, in Killingworth, Connecticut. In 1716 the school moved to New Haven and, with the generous gift by Elihu Yale of nine bales of goods, 417 books, and a portrait and arms of King George I, was renamed Yale College in 1718. 

Yale embarked on a steady expansion, establishing the Medical Institution (1810), Divinity School (1822), Law School (1843), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1847), the School of Fine Arts (1869), and School of Music (1894). In 1887 Yale College became Yale University. It continued to add to its academic offerings with the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (1900), School of Nursing (1923), School of Drama (1955), School of Architecture (1972), and School of Management (1974). 

As Yale enters its fourth century, it's goal is to become a truly global university—educating leaders and advancing the frontiers of knowledge not simply for the United States, but for the entire world. Richard C. Levin, the president of Yale University, says: “The globalization of the University is in part an evolutionary development. Yale has drawn students from outside the United States for nearly two centuries, and international issues have been represented in its curriculum for the past hundred years and more. But creating the global university is also a revolutionary development—signaling distinct changes in the substance of teaching and research, the demographic characteristics of students, the scope and breadth of external collaborations, and the engagement of the University with new audiences.”

Harvard University

Harvard College was established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and was named for its first benefactor, John Harvard of Charlestown. 

Harvard is America's oldest institution of higher learning, founded 140 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 18,000 degree candidates, including undergraduates and students in 10 principal academic units. An additional 13,000 students are enrolled in one or more courses in the Harvard Extension School. Over 14,000 people work at Harvard, including more than 2,000 faculty. There are also 7,000 faculty appointments in affiliated teaching hospitals. 

Our mission, to advance new ideas and promote enduring knowledge, has kept the University young. We strive to create an academic environment in which outstanding students and scholars from around the world are continually challenged and inspired to do their best possible work. It is Harvard's collective efforts that make this university such a vibrant place to live, to learn, to work, and to explore.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges. MIT is dedicated to providing its students with an education that combines rigorous academic study and the excitement of discovery with the support and intellectual stimulation of a diverse campus community. We seek to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.

The Institute admitted its first students in 1865, four years after the approval of its founding charter. The opening marked the culmination of an extended effort by William Barton Rogers, a distinguished natural scientist, to establish a new kind of independent educational institution relevant to an increasingly industrialized America. Rogers stressed the pragmatic and practicable. He believed that professional competence is best fostered by coupling teaching and research and by focusing attention on real-world problems. Toward this end, he pioneered the development of the teaching laboratory.

Today MIT is a world-class educational institution. Teaching and research-with relevance to the practical world as a guiding principle-continue to be its primary purpose. MIT is independent, coeducational, and privately endowed. Its five schools and one college encompass 34 academic departments, divisions, and degree-granting programs, as well as numerous interdisciplinary centers, laboratories, and programs whose work cuts across traditional departmental boundaries.