Harvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Harvard College was established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.
The college was named for its first benefactor, British-born John Harvard of Charlestown, a young minister who, upon his death in 1638, left his library and half his estate to the new institution.
The charter creating the corporation of Harvard College was signed by Massachusetts Governor Thomas Dudley in 1650. The College's original purpose was to train Puritan ministers.
Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units.[4] It is also the first and oldest corporation in the United States.
Initially called "New College" or "the college at New Towne", the institution was renamed Harvard College on March 13, 1639.
| Established : | September 8, 1636 (OS), September 18, 1636 (NS) |
| Faculty: | about 2,401 |
| Staff : | 2,497 non-medical, 10,674 medical |
| Students: | 19,136 |
| Undergraduates: | 6,714 |
| Postgraduates: | 12,422 |
| Location: | Cambridge, MA, USA |
| Campus: | Urban 380 acres (1.5 km2) |
| Newspaper: | The Harvard Crimson |
| Colors: | Crimson |
| Website: | www.harvard.edu |
Governing bodies
Harvard is governed by two boards, one of which is the President and Fellows of Harvard College, also known as the Harvard Corporation and founded in 1650, and the other is the Harvard Board of Overseers. The President of Harvard University is the day-to-day administrator of Harvard and is appointed by and responsible to the Harvard Corporation. There are 16,000 staff and faculty.
Faculties and schools
Harvard today has nine faculties, listed below in order of foundation:
Harvard Yard with freshman dorms in the background
* The Faculty of Arts and Sciences and its sub-faculty, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which together serve:
o Harvard College, the university's undergraduate portion (1636)
o The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (organized 1872)
o The Harvard Division of Continuing Education, including Harvard Summer School (1871) and Harvard Extension School (1909).
* The Faculty of Medicine, including the Medical School (1782)
* The Harvard School of Dental Medicine (1867).
* Harvard Divinity School (1816)
* Harvard Law School (1817)
* Harvard Business School (1908)
* The Graduate School of Design (1914)
* The Graduate School of Education (1920)
* The School of Public Health (1922)
* The John F. Kennedy School of Government (1936)
Admissions
US News and World Report listed 2006 admissions percentages of 14.3% for the school of business, 4.5% for public health, 12.5% for engineering, 11.3% for law, 14.6% for education, and 4.9% for medicine.[80] In September 2006, Harvard College announced that it would eliminate its early admissions program as of 2007, which university officials argued would lower the disadvantage that low-income and under-represented minority applicants are faced within the competition to get into selective universities.
Library system and museums
The Harvard University Library System is centered in Widener Library in Harvard Yard and comprises over 80 individual libraries and over 15 million volumes. According to the American Library Association, this makes it the largest academic library in the United States, and the second largest library in the country (after the Library of Congress). Harvard describes its library as the "largest academic library in the world".
Cabot Science Library, Lamont Library, and Widener Library are three of the most popular libraries for undergraduates to use, with easy access and central locations. There are rare books, manuscripts and other special collections throughout Harvard's libraries; Houghton Library, the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, and the Harvard University Archives consist principally of rare and unique materials.