Harvard University

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Harvard University
Harvard Wreath Logo 1.svg
Latin: Universitas Harvardiana
Former names
Harvard College
Motto Veritas[1]
Motto in English
Truth
Type Private research
Established 1636[2]
Endowment $34.541 billion (2016)[3]
President Drew Gilpin Faust
Academic staff
4,671[4]
Students 21,000[5]
Undergraduates 6,700[5]
Postgraduates 14,500[5]
Location Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Campus Urban
210 acres (85 ha)
Newspaper The Harvard Crimson
Colors Crimson[6]
Athletics NCAA Division I Ivy League
Nickname Harvard Crimson
Affiliations NAICU
AICUM
AAU
URA
Website harvard.edu
Harvard University logo.PNG
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, established in 1636, whose history, influence, and wealth have made
it one of the world's most prestigious universities.[7]

Established originally by the Massachusetts legislature and soon thereafter named

for John Harvard (its first benefactor), Harvard is the United States' oldest
institution of higher learning,[8] and the Harvard Corporation (formally, the
President and Fellows of Harvard College) is its first chartered corporation.
Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College
primarily trained Congregational and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student
body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, and by the 19th century
Harvard had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites.[9]
[10] Following the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot's long tenure
(18691909) transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a
modern research university; Harvard was a founding member of the Association of
American Universities in 1900.[11] James Bryant Conant led the university through
the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and
liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational
after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College.

The university is organized into eleven separate academic unitsten faculties and
the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studywith campuses throughout the Boston
metropolitan area:[12] its 209-acre (85 ha) main campus is centered on Harvard Yard
in Cambridge, approximately 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Boston; the business school
and athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located across the Charles
River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston and the medical, dental, and public
health schools are in the Longwood Medical Area.[13] Harvard's $34.5 billion
financial endowment is the largest of any academic institution.[6]

Harvard is a large, highly residential research university.[14] The nominal cost of

attendance is high, but the university's large endowment allows it to offer
generous financial aid packages.[15] It operates several arts, cultural, and
scientific museums, alongside the Harvard Library, which is the world's largest
academic and private library system, comprising 79 individual libraries with over
18 million volumes.[16][17][18] Harvard's alumni include eight U.S. presidents,
several foreign heads of state, 62 living billionaires, 359 Rhodes Scholars, and
242 Marshall Scholars.[19][20][21] To date, some 130 Nobel laureates, 18 Fields
Medalists, and 13 Turing Award winners have been affiliated as students, faculty,
or staff.[22]