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Harvard University is a
private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and one of the most prestigious and highly ranked universities in the world. The university is composed of ten academic faculties plus Harvard Radcliffe Institute. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences offers study in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate academic disciplines, and other faculties offer only graduate degrees, including professional degrees. Harvard has three main campuses: the Cambridge campus centered on Harvard Yard; an adjoining campus immediately across Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston; and the medical campus in Boston's Longwood Medical Area. Harvard's endowment is valued at $50.9 billion, making it the wealthiest academic institution in the world. Endowment income enables the undergraduate college to admit students regardless of financial need and provide generous financial aid with no loans.
Harvard Library Harvard Library is the umbrella organization for Harvard University's libraries and services. It is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic library and largest private library in the world. Its collection ...
is the world's largest academic library system, comprising 79 individual libraries holding 20 million items. Harvard's founding was authorized by the Massachusetts colonial legislature, "dreading to leave an illiterate
ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...
to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust"; though never formally affiliated with any denomination, in its early years Harvard College primarily trained Congregational clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century. By the 19th century, Harvard emerged as the most prominent academic and cultural institution among the Boston elite. Following the American Civil War, under President Charles William Eliot's long tenure (1869–1909), the college developed multiple affiliated professional schools that transformed the college into a modern research university. In 1900, Harvard co-founded the Association of American Universities. James B. Conant led the university through the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and World War II, and liberalized admissions after the war. Throughout its existence, Harvard alumni, faculty, and researchers have included numerous heads of state,
Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...
, Fields Medalists, members of Congress,
MacArthur Fellows The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...
,
Rhodes Scholars The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
, Marshall Scholars, and Fulbright Scholars; by most metrics, Harvard ranks at the top, or near the top, of all universities in the world in its alumni in each of these categories. Its alumni include eight U.S. presidents and 188 living billionaires, the most of any university. Fourteen Turing Award laureates have been Harvard affiliates. Students and alumni have won 10 Academy Awards, 48
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
s, and 110 Olympic medals (46 gold), and they have founded many notable companies.


History


Colonial era

Harvard was established in 1636 in the colonial, pre-Revolutionary era by vote of the Great and General Court of
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
. In 1638, the university acquired British North America's first known printing press. In 1639, it was named Harvard College after John Harvard, an English clergyman who had died soon after immigrating to Massachusetts, bequeathed it £780 and his library of some 320 volumes. The charter creating Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650. A 1643 publication defined the university's purpose: "to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust." The college trained many Puritan ministers in its early years and offered a classic curriculum that was based on the English university modelmany leaders in the colony had attended the University of Cambridgebut also conformed to the tenets of Puritanism. While Harvard never affiliated with any particular denomination, many of its earliest graduates went on to become Puritan clergymen. Increase Mather served as Harvard College's president from 1681 to 1701. In 1708, John Leverett became the first president who was not also a clergyman, marking a turning of the college away from Puritanism and toward intellectual independence.


19th century

In the 19th century,
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
ideas of reason and free will were widespread among Congregational ministers, putting those ministers and their congregations at odds with more traditionalist, Calvinist parties. When Hollis Professor of Divinity David Tappan died in 1803 and President Joseph Willard died a year later, a struggle broke out over their replacements. Henry Ware was elected Hollis chair in 1805, and liberal
Samuel Webber Samuel Webber (1759 – July 17, 1810) was an American Congregational clergyman, mathematician, academic, and president of Harvard University from 1806 until his death in 1810. Biography Samuel Webber was born in Byfield, Massachusetts in 1759. ...
was appointed president two years later, signaling a shift from traditional ideas at Harvard to liberal,
Arminian Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...
ideas. Charles William Eliot, Harvard president from 1869–1909, eliminated the favored position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. Though Eliot was an influential figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated more by Transcendentalist
Unitarian Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present ...
convictions influenced by William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and others of the time than by secularism. In 1816, Harvard launched new programs in the study of
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and Spanish with George Ticknor as first professor for these language programs.


20th century

Harvard's graduate schools began admitting women in small numbers in the late 19th century. During World War II, students at
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
(which, since its 1879 founding, had been paying Harvard professors to repeat their lectures for women) began attending Harvard classes alongside men. In 1945, women were first admitted to the
medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
. Since 1971, Harvard had controlled essentially all aspects of undergraduate admission, instruction, and housing for Radcliffe women; in 1999, Radcliffe was formally merged into Harvard. In the 20th century, Harvard's reputation grew as its endowment burgeoned and prominent intellectuals and professors affiliated with the university. The university's rapid enrollment growth also was a product of both the founding of new graduate academic programs and an expansion of the undergraduate college. Radcliffe College emerged as the female counterpart of Harvard College, becoming one of the most prominent schools for women in the United States. In 1900, Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities. The student body in its first decades of the 20th century was predominantly "old-stock, high-status
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
, especially Episcopalians,
Congregationalists Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
, and
Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
," according to sociologist and author
Jerome Karabel Jerome Bernard Karabel (born May 20, 1950) is an American sociologist, political and social commentator, and Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley. He has written extensively on American institutions of higher educatio ...
. In 1923, a year after the percentage of Jewish students at Harvard reached 20%, President A. Lawrence Lowell supported a policy change that would have capped the admission of Jewish students to 15% of the undergraduate population. But Lowell's idea was rejected. Lowell also refused to mandate forced desegregation in the university's freshman dormitories, writing that, "We owe to the colored man the same opportunities for education that we do to the white man, but we do not owe to him to force him and the white into social relations that are not, or may not be, mutually congenial." President James B. Conant led the university from 1933 to 1953; Conant reinvigorated creative scholarship in an effort to guarantee Harvard's preeminence among the nation and world's emerging research institutions. Conant viewed higher education as a vehicle of opportunity for the talented rather than an entitlement for the wealthy. As such, he devised programs to identify, recruit, and support talented youth. An influential 268-page report issued by Harvard faculty in 1945 under Conant's leadership, ''
General Education in a Free Society ''General Education in a Free Society'', also known as the Harvard Redbook, is a 1945 Harvard University report on the importance of general education in American secondary and post-secondary schools. It is among the most important works in ...
'', remains one the most important works in
curriculum studies Curriculum studies (CS) is a concentration within curriculum and instruction concerned with understanding curricula as an active force of human educational experience. Overview Specific questions related to curriculum studies include the followin ...
. Between 1945 and 1960, admissions standardized to open the university to a more diverse group of students; for example, after World War II, special exams were developed so veterans could be considered for admission. No longer drawing mostly from select New England prep schools, the undergraduate college became accessible to striving middle class students from public schools; many more Jews and Catholics were admitted, but still few Blacks, Hispanics, or Asians versus the representation of these demoraphics in the general population. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Harvard incrementally became vastly more diverse.


21st century

Drew Gilpin Faust, who was dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, became Harvard's first female president on July 1, 2007. In 2018, Faust retired and joined the board of
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
. On July 1, 2018, Lawrence Bacow was appointed Harvard's 29th president. Bacow intends to retire in 2023, and on December 15, 2022, it was announced that Claudine Gay will succeed him.


Campuses


Cambridge

Harvard's main campus is centered on Harvard Yard ("the Yard") in Cambridge, about west-northwest of downtown Boston, and extends into the surrounding
Harvard Square Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The term "Harvard Square" is also used to delineate the busin ...
neighborhood. The Yard contains administrative offices such as University Hall and Massachusetts Hall; libraries such as Widener, Pusey, Houghton, and Lamont; and Memorial Church. The Yard and adjacent areas include the main academic buildings of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, including the college, such as Sever Hall and Harvard Hall. Freshman dormitories are in, or adjacent to, the Yard. Upperclassmen live in the twelve residential housesnine south of the Yard near the Charles River, the others half a mile northwest of the Yard at the
Radcliffe Quadrangle The Radcliffe Quadrangle (or Rad Quad as it is known to students of the College) is the second Quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle of University College, Oxford, University College, University of Oxford, Oxford, England. The buildings have b ...
(which formerly housed
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
students). Each house is a community of undergraduates, faculty deans, and resident tutors, with its own dining hall, library, and recreational facilities. Also in Cambridge are the Law, Divinity (theology), Engineering and Applied Science, Design (architecture), Education,
Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States * John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana * Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...
(public policy), and
Extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...
schools, as well as the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in Radcliffe Yard. Harvard also has commercial real estate holdings in Cambridge.


Allston

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
,
Harvard Innovation Labs Harvard Innovation Labs (i-Lab) is an institution which aims to promote team-based and entrepreneurial activities among Harvard students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Allston and Greater Boston communities. The i-Lab's mission is to ...
, and many athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located on a campus in Allston, a Boston neighborhood just across the Charles River from the Cambridge campus. The
John W. Weeks Bridge The John W. Weeks Memorial Bridge, usually called the Weeks Footbridge or simply Weeks Bridge, is a pedestrian bridge over the Charles River, located four miles northwest of downtown Boston on the Harvard University campus. The bridge connects Ha ...
, a pedestrian bridge over the Charles River, connects the two campuses. The university is actively expanding into Allston, where it now owns more land than in Cambridge. Plans include new construction and renovation for the Business School, a hotel and conference center, graduate student housing, Harvard Stadium, and other athletics facilities. In 2021, the
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...
will expand into a new, 500,000+ square foot Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) in Allston. The SEC will be adjacent to the Enterprise Research Campus, the Business School, and the Harvard Innovation Labs to encourage technology- and life science-focused startups as well as collaborations with mature companies.


Longwood

The schools of Medicine,
Dental Medicine Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...
, and Public Health are located on a campus in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, about south of the Cambridge campus. Several Harvard-affiliated hospitals and research institutes are also in Longwood, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital,
Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts Gener ...
, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Joslin Diabetes Center, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Additional affiliates, most notably
Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...
, are located throughout the Greater Boston area.


Other

Harvard owns the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C., the
Harvard Forest Harvard Forest is an ecological research area of owned and managed by Harvard University and located in Petersham, Massachusetts. The property, in operation since 1907, includes one of North America's oldest managed forests, educational and resea ...
in Petersham, Massachusetts, the Concord Field Station in
Estabrook Woods The Estabrook Woods is a wild tract of more than of woodland, hills, ledge, and swamp straddling Concord and Carlisle Massachusetts, two miles (3 km) north of the center of Concord, Massachusetts, Town of Concord. It is the largest contiguous ...
in Concord, Massachusetts, the Villa I Tatti research center in Florence, Italy, the Harvard Shanghai Center in Shanghai, China, and the
Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...
in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston.


Organization and administration


Governance

Harvard is governed by a combination of its Board of Overseers and the President and Fellows of Harvard College (also known as the Harvard Corporation), which in turn appoints the
President of Harvard University The president of Harvard University is the chief academic administration, administrator of Harvard University and the ''Ex officio member, ex officio'' president of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Corporation. Each is appoi ...
. There are 16,000 staff and faculty, including 2,400 professors, lecturers, and instructors. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is the largest Harvard faculty and has primary responsibility for instruction in Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Division of Continuing Education, which includes
Harvard Summer School Harvard Summer School, founded in 1871, is a summer school run by Harvard University. It serves more than 5,000 students per year. History Harvard Summer School was founded in 1871. It is the first academic summer session established and the ol ...
and Harvard Extension School. There are nine other graduate and professional faculties as well as the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Joint programs with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology include the
Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology The Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, or HST, is one of the oldest and largest biomedical engineering and physician-scientist training programs in the United States. It was founded in 1970 and is the longest-standing collab ...
, the Broad Institute, The Observatory of Economic Complexity, and edX.


Endowment

Harvard has the largest
university endowment A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of Financial instrument, financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to Donor intent, the will of its fou ...
in the world, valued at about $50.9 billion as of 2022. During the recession of 2007–2009, it suffered significant losses that forced large budget cuts, in particular temporarily halting construction on the Allston Science Complex. The endowment has since recovered. About $2 billion of investment income is annually distributed to fund operations. Harvard's ability to fund its degree and financial aid programs depends on the performance of its endowment; a poor performance in fiscal year 2016 forced a 4.4% cut in the number of graduate students funded by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Endowment income is critical, as only 22% of revenue is from students' tuition, fees, room, and board.


Divestment

Since the 1970s, several student-led campaigns have advocated divesting Harvard's endowment from controversial holdings, including investments in apartheid South Africa,
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
during the Darfur genocide, and the tobacco,
fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...
, and private prison industries. In the late 1980s, during the divestment from South Africa movement, student activists erected a symbolic "shantytown" on Harvard Yard and blockaded a speech by South African Vice Consul Duke Kent-Brown. The university eventually reduced its South African holdings by $230 million (out of $400 million) in response to the pressure.


Academics


Teaching and learning

Harvard is a large, highly residential research university offering 50 undergraduate majors, 134 graduate degrees, and 32 professional degrees. During the 2018–2019 academic year, Harvard granted 1,665 baccalaureate degrees, 1,013 graduate degrees, and 5,695 professional degrees. The four-year, full-time undergraduate program has a liberal arts and sciences focus. To graduate in the usual four years, undergraduates normally take four courses per semester. In most majors, an honors degree requires advanced coursework and a senior thesis. Though some introductory courses have large enrollments, the median class size is 12 students.


Research

Harvard is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and a preeminent research university with "very high" research activity (R1) and comprehensive doctoral programs across the arts, sciences, engineering, and medicine according to the Carnegie Classification. With the
medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
consistently ranking first among medical schools for research, biomedical research is an area of particular strength for the university. More than 11,000 faculty and over 1,600 graduate students conduct research at the medical school as well as its 15 affiliated hospitals and research institutes. The medical school and its affiliates attracted $1.65 billion in competitive research grants from the National Institutes of Health in 2019, more than twice as much as any other university.


Libraries and museums

. The
Harvard Library Harvard Library is the umbrella organization for Harvard University's libraries and services. It is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic library and largest private library in the world. Its collection ...
system is centered in Widener Library in Harvard Yard and comprises nearly 80 individual libraries holding about 20.4 million items. According to the American Library Association, this makes it the largest academic library in the world. 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. America's oldest collection of maps, gazetteers, and atlases both old and new is stored in Pusey Library and open to the public. The largest collection of East-Asian language material outside of East Asia is held in the Harvard-Yenching Library The Harvard Art Museums comprise three museums. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum covers Asian, Mediterranean, and Islamic art, the
Busch–Reisinger Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
(formerly the Germanic Museum) covers central and northern European art, and the Fogg Museum covers Western art from the Middle Ages to the present emphasizing Italian early Renaissance, British pre-Raphaelite, and 19th-century French art. The Harvard Museum of Natural History includes the
Harvard Mineralogical Museum The Mineralogical and Geological Museum at Harvard (MGMH), or the Harvard Mineralogical Museum, is located on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of the three research museums which collectively comprise the col ...
, the
Harvard University Herbaria The Harvard University Herbaria and Botanical Museum are institutions located on the grounds of Harvard University at 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Botanical Museum is one of three which comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural ...
featuring the
Blaschka Leopold Blaschka (27 May 1822 – 3 July 1895) and his son Rudolf Blaschka (17 June 1857 – 1 May 1939) were glass artists from Dresden, Germany, native to the Bohemian (Czech)–German borderland, and known for the production of biological m ...
Glass Flowers exhibit, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Other museums include the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, designed by
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
and housing the film archive, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, specializing in the cultural history and civilizations of the Western Hemisphere, and the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East featuring artifacts from excavations in the Middle East.


Reputation and rankings

Among overall rankings, the ''
Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...
'' (''ARWU'') has ranked Harvard as the world's top university every year since it was released. When ''QS'' and '' Times Higher Education'' collaborated to publish the '' Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings'' from 2004 to 2009, Harvard held the top spot every year and continued to hold first place on '' THE World Reputation Rankings'' ever since it was released in 2011. In 2019, it was ranked first worldwide by '' SCImago Institutions Rankings''. It was ranked in the first tier of American research universities, along with Columbia, MIT, and Stanford, in the 2019 report from the Center for Measuring University Performance. Harvard University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Among rankings of specific indicators, Harvard topped both the University Ranking by Academic Performance (2019–2020) and '' Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking of World Universities'' (2011), which measured universities' numbers of alumni holding CEO positions in ''Fortune'' Global 500 companies. According to annual polls done by The Princeton Review, Harvard is consistently among the top two most commonly named "dream colleges" in the United States, both for students and parents. Additionally, having made significant investments in its engineering school in recent years, Harvard was ranked third worldwide for Engineering and Technology in 2019 by '' Times Higher Education''.


School rankings


Student life

Student life and activities are generally organized within each school.


Student government

The Undergraduate Council represents College students. The Graduate Council represents students at all twelve graduate and professional schools, most of which also have their own student government.


Athletics

Both the undergraduate College and the graduate schools have intramural sports programs. Harvard College competes in the NCAA Division I Ivy League conference. The school fields 42 intercollegiate sports teams, more than any other college in the country. Every two years, the Harvard and Yale track and field teams come together to compete against a combined Oxford and Cambridge team in the oldest continuous international amateur competition in the world. As with other Ivy League universities, Harvard does not offer athletic scholarships. The school color is crimson. Harvard's athletic rivalry with Yale is intense in every sport in which they meet, coming to a climax each fall in the annual football meeting, which dates back to 1875.


''Harvard University Gazette''

The Harvard Gazette, also called the ''Harvard University Gazette'', is the official press organ of Harvard University. Formerly a print publication, it is now a web site. It publicizes research, faculty, teaching and events at the university. Initiated in 1906, it was originally a weekly calendar of news and events. In 1968 it became a weekly newspaper. When the ''Gazette'' was a print publication, it was considered a good way of keeping up with Harvard news: "If weekly reading suits you best, the most comprehensive and authoritative medium is the ''Harvard University Gazette''". In 2010, the ''Gazette'' "shifted from a print-first to a digital-first and mobile-first" publication, and reduced its publication calendar to biweekly, while keeping the same number of reporters, including some who had previously worked for the '' Boston Globe'', ''
Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...
'', and the Associated Press.


Notable people


Alumni

Over more than three and a half centuries, Harvard alumni have contributed creatively and significantly to society, the arts and sciences, business, and national and international affairs. Harvard's alumni include eight U.S. presidents, 188 living billionaires, 79 Nobel laureates, 7 Fields Medal winners, 9 Turing Award laureates, 369
Rhodes Scholars The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
, 252 Marshall Scholars, and 13 Mitchell Scholars. Harvard students and alumni have won 10 Academy Awards, 48
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
s, and 108 Olympic medals (including 46 gold medals), and they have founded many notable companies worldwide. File:US Navy 031029-N-6236G-001 A painting of President John Adams (1735-1826), 2nd president of the United States, by Asher B. Durand (1767-1845)-crop.jpg, 2nd President of the United States John Adams (AB, 1755; AM, 1758) File:John Quincy Adams.jpg, 6th President of the United States John Quincy Adams (AB, 1787; AM, 1790) File:Ralph Waldo Emerson ca1857 retouched.jpg, Essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (AB, 1821) File:Benjamin D. Maxham - Henry David Thoreau - Restored - greyscale - straightened.jpg, Naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher
Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
(AB, 1837) File:President Rutherford Hayes 1870 - 1880 Restored.jpg, 19th President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes (LLB, 1845) File:Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr circa 1930-edit.jpg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (AB, 1861, LLB) File:Charles Sanders Peirce.jpg, Philosopher, logician, and mathematician Charles Sanders Peirce (AB, 1862, SB 1863) File:President Theodore Roosevelt, 1904.jpg, 26th President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Theodore Roosevelt (AB, 1880) File:WEB DuBois 1918.jpg, Sociologist and civil rights activist
W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...
(PhD, 1895) File:FRoosevelt.png, 32nd President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt (AB, 1903) File:Helen Keller circa 1920 - restored.jpg, Author, political activist, and lecturer Helen Keller (AB, 1904, Radcliffe College) File:Thomas Stearns Eliot by Lady Ottoline Morrell (1934).jpg, Poet and Nobel laureate in literature
T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
(AB, 1909; AM, 1910) File:JROppenheimer-LosAlamos.jpg, Physicist and leader of the Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer (AB, 1925) File:Paul Samuelson.jpg, Economist and Nobel laureate in economics Paul Samuelson (AM, 1936; PhD, 1941) File:Leonard Bernstein by Jack Mitchell.jpg, Musician and composer
Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
(AB, 1939) File:John F. Kennedy, White House color photo portrait.jpg, 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy (AB, 1940) File:Mary Robinson (2014).jpg, 7th President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson (LLM, 1968) File:Al Gore, Vice President of the United States, official portrait 1994.jpg, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
(AB, 1969) File:Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, April 2010.jpg, 24th President of Liberia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (MPA, 1971) File:Chuck Schumer official photo.jpg, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (AB, 1971; JD, 1975) File:Benazir Bhutto.jpg, 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
(AB, 1973, Radcliffe College) File:Ben Bernanke official portrait.jpg, 14th Chair of the Federal Reserve and Nobel laureate in economics
Ben Bernanke Ben Shalom Bernanke ( ; born December 13, 1953) is an American economist who served as the 14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Fed, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. Durin ...
(AB, 1975; AM, 1975) File:George-W-Bush.jpeg, 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush (MBA, 1975) File:Official roberts CJ.jpg, 17th Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (AB, 1976; JD, 1979) File:Bill Gates June 2015.jpg, Founder of Microsoft and philanthropist Bill Gates (College, 1977;Nominal Harvard College class year: did not graduate LLD  hc, 2007) File:Ban Ki-Moon Davos 2011 Cropped.jpg, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
(MPA, 1984) File:Elena Kagan Official SCOTUS Portrait (2013).jpg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Elena Kagan Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 10, 2010, and has served since August 7, 2010. Kagan ...
(JD, 1986) File:Michelle Obama 2013 official portrait.jpg, Former First Lady of the United States
Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
(JD, 1988) File:Professor Jennifer Doudna ForMemRS.jpg, Biochemist and Nobel laureate in chemistry Jennifer Doudna (PhD, 1989) File:Official portrait of Barack Obama.jpg, 44th President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama (JD, 1991) File:KBJackson.jpg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ketanji Brown Jackson (AB, 1992; JD, 1996) File:Mark Zuckerberg F8 2019 Keynote (32830578717) (cropped).jpg, Founder of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), o ...
(College, 2004; LLD  hc, 2017)


Faculty

File:Louis Agassiz H6.jpg,
Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...
File:Danielle Allen 2017.jpg, Danielle Allen File:Alan dershowitz 2009 retouched cropped.jpg, Alan Dershowitz File:Paul_Farmer_2011.jpg, Paul Farmer File:Jason Furman official portrait.jpg, Jason Furman File:John Kenneth Galbraith 1982.jpg, John Kenneth Galbraith File:Henry Louis Gates 2014 (cropped).jpg, Henry Louis Gates Jr. File:Asa Gray 1870s.jpg,
Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...
File:Seamus Heaney Photograph Edit.jpg, Seamus Heaney File:Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr c1879.jpg, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. File:William James b1842c.jpg, William James File:Timothy-Leary-Los-Angeles-1989.jpg, Timothy Leary File:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron in 1868.jpg, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow File:James Russell Lowell - 1855.jpg, James Russell Lowell File:GregoryMankiw.jpg, Greg Mankiw File:102111 Pinker 344.jpg, Steven Pinker File:Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. 1961.jpg, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. File:Amartya Sen.jpg, Amartya Sen File:B.F. Skinner at Harvard circa 1950 (cropped).jpg, B. F. Skinner File:Lawrence Summers 2012.jpg, Lawrence Summers File:Cass Sunstein (2008).jpg,
Cass Sunstein Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, law and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ...
File:Elizabeth Warren 2016.jpg, Elizabeth Warren File:Cornel West by Gage Skidmore.jpg, Cornel West File:Plos wilson.jpg, E. O. Wilson File:Shing-Tung Yau Screenshot (cropped).png, Shing-Tung Yau File:Sec. Robert Reich.jpg, Robert Reich


Literature and popular culture

The perception of Harvard as a center of either elite achievement, or elitist privilege, has made it a frequent literary and cinematic backdrop. "In the grammar of film, Harvard has come to mean both tradition, and a certain amount of stuffiness," film critic Paul Sherman has said.


Literature

* '' The Sound and the Fury'' (1929) and '' Absalom, Absalom!'' (1936) by William Faulkner both depict Harvard student life. * '' Of Time and the River'' (1935) by Thomas Wolfe is a fictionalized autobiography that includes his alter ego's time at Harvard. * '' The Late George Apley'' (1937) by John P. Marquand parodies Harvard men at the opening of the 20th century; it won the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
. * ''The Second Happiest Day'' (1953) by John P. Marquand Jr. portrays the Harvard of the World War II generation.


Film

Harvard permits filming on its property only rarely, so most scenes set at Harvard (especially indoor shots, but excepting aerial footage and shots of public areas such as Harvard Square) are in fact shot elsewhere. * ''
Love Story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...
'' (1970) concerns a romance between a wealthy Harvard hockey player ( Ryan O'Neal) and a brilliant Radcliffe student of modest means ( Ali MacGraw): it is screened annually for incoming freshmen. * ''
The Paper Chase The Paper Chase (stylized as "the pAper chAse") was an American alternative rock band formed in 1998 by producer/engineer John Congleton in Dallas, Texas, who were signed to Kill Rock Stars and Southern Records. Their albums ''God Bless Your Blac ...
'' (1973) * ''
A Small Circle of Friends ''A Small Circle of Friends'' is a 1980 American drama film directed by Rob Cohen (in his directing debut) and starring Brad Davis, Karen Allen and Jameson Parker. It was distributed by United Artists. Premise The film follows the life of th ...
'' (1980) * ''
Prozac Nation ''Prozac Nation'' is a memoir by Elizabeth Wurtzel published in 1994. The book describes the author's experiences with atypical depression, her own character failings and how she managed to live through particularly difficult periods while compl ...
'' (2001) is a psychological drama about a 19-year-old Harvard student with atypical depression.


See also

*
2012 Harvard cheating scandal The 2012 Harvard cheating scandal involved approximately 125 Harvard University students who were investigated for cheating on the take-home final examination of the spring 2012 edition of Government 1310: "Introduction to Congress". Harvard annou ...
*
Academic regalia of Harvard University As the oldest college in the United States, Harvard University has a long tradition of academic dress. Harvard gown facings bear crow's-feet emblems near the yoke, a symbol unique to Harvard, made from flat braid in colours distinctive of the wea ...
*
Gore Hall Gore Hall was a historic building on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, designed by Richard Bond. Harvard's first dedicated library building, a Gothic structure built in 1838 of Quincy granite, it was named in ho ...
*
Harvard College social clubs Harvard College has several types of social clubs. These are split between gender-inclusive clubs recognized by the college, and unrecognized single-gender clubs which are subject to College sanctions. The Hasty Pudding Club holds claim as the old ...
*
Harvard University Police Department The Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), a private police agency of Harvard University, is a full-service police department responsible for the safety and security of students, faculty, staff, and visitors at the university’s Cambridge an ...
* Harvard University Press * Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society *
I, Too, Am Harvard I, Too, Am Harvard is a campaign primarily expressed as a collection of photos that has been posted on Tumblr to illustrate the personal experiences of black students at Harvard University. The multimedia project was the result of interviews with 6 ...
* List of oldest universities in continuous operation * List of Nobel laureates affiliated with Harvard University *
Outline of Harvard University This outline is provided as an overview of, and topical guide to Harvard University: Harvard University – private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislatur ...
* Secret Court of 1920


Notes


References


Bibliography

* Abelmann, Walter H., ed. ''The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology: The First 25 Years, 1970–1995'' (2004). 346 pp. * Beecher, Henry K. and Altschule, Mark D. ''Medicine at Harvard: The First 300 Years'' (1977). 569 pp. * Bentinck-Smith, William, ed. ''The Harvard Book: Selections from Three Centuries'' (2d ed.1982). 499 pp. * Bethell, John T.; Hunt, Richard M.; and Shenton, Robert. ''Harvard A to Z'' (2004). 396 pp
excerpt and text search
* Bethell, John T. ''Harvard Observed: An Illustrated History of the University in the Twentieth Century'', Harvard University Press, 1998, * Bunting, Bainbridge. ''Harvard: An Architectural History'' (1985). 350 pp. * Carpenter, Kenneth E. ''The First 350 Years of the Harvard University Library: Description of an Exhibition'' (1986). 216 pp. * Cuno, James et al. ''Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting'' (1996). 364 pp. * Elliott, Clark A. and Rossiter, Margaret W., eds. ''Science at Harvard University: Historical Perspectives'' (1992). 380 pp. * Hall, Max. ''Harvard University Press: A History'' (1986). 257 pp. * Hay, Ida. ''Science in the Pleasure Ground: A History of the Arnold Arboretum'' (1995). 349 pp. * Hoerr, John, ''We Can't Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard;'' Temple University Press, 1997, * Howells, Dorothy Elia. ''A Century to Celebrate: Radcliffe College, 1879–1979'' (1978). 152 pp. * Keller, Morton, and Phyllis Keller. ''Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America's University'' (2001), major history covers 1933 to 200
online edition
* Lewis, Harry R. ''Excellence Without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education'' (2006) * Morison, Samuel Eliot. ''Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636–1936'' (1986) 512pp
excerpt and text search
* Powell, Arthur G. ''The Uncertain Profession: Harvard and the Search for Educational Authority'' (1980). 341 pp. * Reid, Robert. ''Year One: An Intimate Look inside Harvard Business School'' (1994). 331 pp. * Rosovsky, Henry. ''The University: An Owner's Manual'' (1991). 312 pp. * Rosovsky, Nitza. ''The Jewish Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe'' (1986). 108 pp. * Seligman, Joel. ''The High Citadel: The Influence of Harvard Law School'' (1978). 262 pp. * Sollors, Werner; Titcomb, Caldwell; and Underwood, Thomas A., eds. ''Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe'' (1993). 548 pp. * Trumpbour, John, ed., ''How Harvard Rules. Reason in the Service of Empire'', Boston: South End Press, 1989, * Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher, ed.,
Yards and Gates: Gender in Harvard and Radcliffe History
', New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. 337 pp. * Winsor, Mary P. ''Reading the Shape of Nature: Comparative Zoology at the Agassiz Museum'' (1991). 324 pp. * Wright, Conrad Edick. ''Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and the Consequences of Independence'' (2005). 298 pp.


External links

* * {{Authority control 1636 establishments in Massachusetts Universities and colleges in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Universities and colleges in Cambridge, Massachusetts Colonial colleges Educational institutions established in the 1630s Private universities and colleges in Massachusetts