Howard 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 ...

historically black Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...

research university in Washington, D.C., located in the

Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village *Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton *Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...

neighborhood. It is

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper *The Classified, a 1980s American roc ...

among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

. Established in 1867, Howard is a nonsectarian institution. It offers undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees in more than 120 programs.

History

19th century

Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, members of the First Congregational Society of Washington considered establishing a theological seminary for the education of black clergymen. Within a few weeks, the project expanded to include a provision for establishing a university. Within two years, the university consisted of the colleges of liberal arts and medicine. The new institution was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War hero who was both the founder of the university and, at the time, commissioner of the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

. Howard later served as president of the university from 1869 to 1874. The U.S. Congress chartered Howard on March 2, 1867, and much of its early funding came from endowment, private benefaction and tuition. (In the 20th and 21st centuries, an annual congressional appropriation, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, funds Howard University and Howard University Hospital.) Many improvements were made on campus. Howard Hall was renovated and made a dormitory for women.

20th century

From 1926 to 1960, preacher

Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Mordecai Wyatt Johnson (January 4, 1890 – September 10, 1976) was an American educator and pastor. He served as the first African-American president of Howard University, from 1926 until 1960. Johnson has been considered one of the three lead ...

was Howard University's first African-American president. The Great Depression years of the 1930s brought hardship to campus. Despite appeals from Eleanor Roosevelt, Howard saw its budget cut below Hoover administration levels during the

presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt For the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, see: * Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, first and second terms (1933–1937 and 1937–1941), as U.S. president * Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, third and fourth terms (1941–1945 and January� ...

. In the 1930s, Howard University still had segregated student housing. Howard University played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement on a number of occasions. Alain Locke, chair of the Department of Philosophy and first African American

Rhodes Scholar 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' ...

, authored '' The New Negro'' (1925), which helped to usher in the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner of African descent, served as chair of the Department of Political Science. Beginning in 1942, Howard University students pioneered the "stool-sitting" technique of occupying stools at a local cafeteria which denied service to African Americans, blocking other customers waiting for service. This tactic was to play a prominent role in the later Civil Rights Movement. By January 1943, students had begun to organize regular sit-ins and pickets around Washington, D.C. at cigar stores and cafeterias which refused to serve them because of their race. These protests continued until the fall of 1944. Stokely Carmichael, also known as

Kwame Toure Kwame Ture (; born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael; June 29, 1941November 15, 1998) was a prominent organizer in the civil rights movement in the United States and the global pan-African movement. Born in Trinidad, he grew up in the Unite ...

, a student in the Department of

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and the Howard University

School of Divinity A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

, coined the term " Black Power" and worked in Lowndes County, Alabama as a voting rights activist. Historian Rayford Logan served as chair of the Department of History.

E. Franklin Frazier Edward Franklin Frazier (; September 24, 1894 – May 17, 1962), was an American sociologist and author, publishing as E. Franklin Frazier. His 1932 Ph.D. dissertation was published as a book titled ''The Negro Family in the United States'' (19 ...

served as chair of the Department of Sociology. Sterling Allen Brown served as chair of the Department of English. The first sitting president to speak at Howard was

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

in 1924. His graduation speech was entitled, "The Progress of a People", and highlighted the accomplishments to date of African-Americans since the Civil War. His concluding thought was, "We can not go out from this place and occasion without refreshment of faith and renewal of confidence that in every exigency our Negro fellow citizens will render the best and fullest measure of service whereof they are capable." In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered a speech to the graduating class at Howard, where he outlined his plans for civil rights legislation and endorsed aggressive affirmative action to combat the effects of years of segregation of blacks from the nation's economic opportunities. At the time, the voting rights bill was still pending in the House of Representatives. Howard University School of Law

In 1975, the historic Freedman's Hospital closed after 112 years of use as Howard University College of Medicine's primary teaching hospital. Howard University Hospital opened that same year and continues to be used as HUCM's primary teaching hospital, with service to the surrounding community. Also in 1975,

Jeanne Sinkford Jeanne Craig Sinkford (born 1933) is an American dentist and academic administrator. She was the first female dean of an American dental school. She is a senior scholar in residence at the American Dental Education Association and a professor and d ...

became the first female dean of any American dental school when she was appointed as the dean of Howard University's school of dentistry. In 1989, Howard gained national attention when students rose up in protest against the appointment of then-Republican National Committee Chairman Lee Atwater as a new member of the university's board of trustees. Student activists disrupted Howard's 122nd-anniversary celebrations, and eventually occupied the university's administration building. Within days, both Atwater and Howard's President,

James E. Cheek James Edward Cheek (December 4, 1932 – January 8, 2010) was president emeritus of Howard University. He was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Howard University President (1968–1989) In 1989, Cheek appointed Republican National Committee ...

, resigned.

21st century

In April 2007, the head of the faculty senate called for the ouster of Howard University President

H. Patrick Swygert Haywood Patrick Swygert (born March 17, 1943) was the president of Howard University in Washington, DC from 1995 until 2008. Career He is a graduate of South Philadelphia High School and has been inducted into the SPHS Alumni Cultural Hall of Fa ...

, saying the school was in a state of crisis, and it was time to end "an intolerable condition of incompetence and dysfunction at the highest level." This came on the heels of several criticisms of Howard University and its management. The following month, Swygert announced he would retire in June 2008. The university announced in May 2008 that

Sidney Ribeau Sidney Ribeau is an American academic administrator who served as the president of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Prior to accepting the position at Howard, Ribeau was the president of Bowling Green State University for 13 years. Educati ...

of Bowling Green State University would succeed Swygert as president. Ribeau appointed a Presidential Commission on Academic Renewal to conduct a year-long self-evaluation that resulted in reducing or closing 20 out of 171 academic programs. For example, they proposed closing the undergraduate philosophy major and African studies major. The Interdisciplinary Research Building

Six years later, in 2013, university insiders again alleged the university was in crisis. In April, the vice chairwoman of the university's board of trustees wrote a letter to her colleagues harshly criticizing the university's president and calling for a vote of no confidence; her letter was subsequently obtained by the media where it drew national headline. Two months later, the university's Council of Deans alleged "fiscal mismanagement is doing irreparable harm," blaming the university's senior vice president for administration, chief financial officer and treasurer and asking for his dismissal. In October, the faculty voted no confidence in the university's board of trustees executive committee, two weeks after university president Sidney A. Ribeau announced he would retire at the end of the year. On October 1, the Board of Trustees named

Wayne A. I. Frederick Wayne Alix Ian Frederick (born June 17, 1971) is a Trinidadian-American scholar, surgeon, and university administrator. He is currently serving as president of Howard University in Washington D.C. since July 21, 2014. He also serves as the dist ...

Interim President. In July 2014 Howard's Board of Trustees named Frederick as the school's 17th president. Freedmanscolumn025

In May 2016, President Barack Obama delivered a commencement address at Howard University encouraging the graduates to become advocates for racial change and to prepare for future challenges. In 2018, nearly 1,000 students held a

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

demanding injunction over the administration's use of funding, after a Medium post revealed that six university employees had been fired for "double dipping" financial aid and tuition remission. The university had discovered the fraud the previous year, but had not publicly disclosed the loss; 131 individuals were involved in some form, with the top 50 recipients accounting for 90% of the total, and the five most reimbursed individuals receiving $689,375 in refunds. After the student protest ended, faculty voted "no confidence" in the university president, chief operating officer, provost, and board of trustees. The nine-day protest ended with university officials promising to meet most of their demands. It also led to an investigation by the Department of Education, which placed the university on "heightened cash monitoring", an increased form of scrutiny relating to the disbursement of student financial aid. This monitoring status was rescinded in December of the following year. In July 2020, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $40 million (~$ in ) to Howard. Her single donation is the largest in Howard's history. In May 2021, the university announced that the newly re-established college of fine arts, led by Dean Phylicia Rashad, would be named the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts for the actor and distinguished alum who from his days as a student in the late 1990s through his death from cancer in 2020 led protests against the 1997 absorption of the College of Fine Arts into the College of Arts & Sciences. In October 2021, a group of students protested the mold, mice, and substandard conditions in campus residential buildings in the

Blackburn Takeover The Blackburn Takeover was a student protest at Howard University in Washington, D.C. that started on October 12, 2021 and ended on November 15, 2021, to protest poor housing conditions. Leaders in this protest include Aniyah Vines, Deja Redding, ...

, demanding an improvement in the living situation and representation on the board of trustees. In 2023, Howard University issued a $300 million tax-exempt bond to tackle the housing woes, as part of a $785 million investment to renovate and construct academic centers. In March 2022, Howard University announced that it will spend $785 million over the next four years to construct new STEM complex, academic buildings to house the Chadwick Boseman School of Fine Arts, and the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, as well as renovate other buildings on campus. In 2023, Howard University was selected by the Department of the Air Force to lead a research center on tactical autonomy technology for military systems.

Campus

Howard University Washington DC - Founders Library

The campus, often referred to as "The Mecca", is in northwest Washington, D. C. Major improvements, additions and changes occurred at the school in the aftermath of World War I. New buildings were built under the direction of architect

Albert Cassell Albert Irvin Cassell (1895–1969) was a prominent mid-twentieth-century African-American architect in Washington, D.C., whose work shaped many academic communities in the United States. He designed buildings for Howard University in Washington D ...

. Howard University has several historic landmarks on campus, such as Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall, and the Founders Library. The Howard University Gallery of Art was established by Howard's board of trustees in 1928. The gallery's permanent collection has grown to over 4,000 works of art and continues to serve as an academic resource for the Howard community. Howard University has eight residence halls for students: Drew Hall (male freshmen), College Hall North (female freshmen), The Harriet Tubman Quadrangle - "Quad" (female freshmen), Cook Hall (male freshmen), Bethune Annex (co-ed, continuing students), Plaza Towers West (co-ed, continuing students), College Hall South (co-ed, continuing students), The Axis (co-ed, continuing students), Mazza Grandmarc (co-ed, continuing students), WISH-Woodley Park (co-ed, continuing students) and Plaza Towers East (co-ed, continuing students). Howard University Hospital, opened in 1975 on the eastern end of campus, was built on the site of Griffith Stadium, in use from the 1890s to 1965 as home of the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

incarnations of the MLB Senators, as well as the NFL's Washington Redskins, several college football teams (including Georgetown, GWU and Maryland) and part-time home of the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League. Howard University is home to the commercial radio station

WHUR-FM WHUR-FM (96.3 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary radio station that is licensed to Washington D.C., and serving the Metro D.C. area. It is owned and operated by Howard University, making it one of the few commercial radio stations in the Unite ...

96.3, also known as Howard University Radio. A student-run station, WHBC, operates on an

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

sub-channel of WHUR-FM. HUR Voices can be heard on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Howard is also home to the public television station

WHUT-TV WHUT-TV, virtual channel 32 ( UHF digital channel 33), is the secondary Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to the American capital city of Washington, D.C. The station is owned by Howard University, a historical ...

, located on campus next to WHUR-FM.

Organization

The university is led by a board of trustees that includes a faculty trustee from the undergraduate colleges, a faculty trustee from the graduate and professional colleges serving three-year terms, two student trustees, each serving one-year terms, and three alumni-elected trustees, each serving three-year terms.

Academics

Schools and colleges

* College of Engineering and Architecture * College of Nursing & Allied Health Sciences * College of Pharmacy * College of Arts and Sciences * Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts * Howard University College of Dentistry * Howard University School of Business * Cathy Hughes School of Communications * Howard University College of Medicine *

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the oldes ...

* Middle School of Mathematics and Science * School of Divinity * School of Education * School of Social Work

Faculty

Howard faculty include member of Congress from Maryland Roscoe Bartlett, blood banking pioneer Charles Drew, Emmy-winning actor Al Freeman Jr., suffragist

Elizabeth Piper Ensley Elizabeth Piper Ensley (January 19, 1847 – February 23, 1919), was an educator and an African-American suffragist. Born in Massachusetts, Ensley was a teacher on the eastern coast of the country. She moved to Colorado where she achieved prominen ...

, civil rights lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston, media entrepreneur Cathy Hughes, marine biologist

Ernest Everett Just Ernest Everett Just (August 14, 1883 – October 27, 1941) was a pioneering African-American biologist, academic and science writer. Just's primary legacy is his recognition of the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organis ...

, professor of surgery

LaSalle D. Leffall Jr. LaSalle Doheny Leffall Jr. (May 22, 1930 – May 25, 2019) was an American surgeon, oncologist, and medical educator. Recognized as very committed to those he served and his profession, he served as the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at How ...

, sociology professor Anaheed Al-Hardan, journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates, political consultant Ron Walters, political activist Stacey Abrams, novelist and diplomat

E. R. Braithwaite Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (June 27, 1912 – December 12, 2016), publishing as E. R. Braithwaite, was a Guyanese-born British-American novelist, writer, teacher and diplomat best known for his stories of social conditions and racia ...

, filmmaker

Haile Gerima Haile Gerima (born March 4, 1946) is an Ethiopian filmmaker who lives and works in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. His films have receive ...

, and psychiatrist Frances Cress Welsing.

Honors programs

Howard offers four selective

honors programs Honors colleges and honors programs are special accommodation constituent programs at public and private universities – and also public two-year institutions of higher learning – that include, among other things, supplemental or alternative ...

for its most high-achieving undergraduate students: the College of Arts & Sciences Honors Program, the School of Education Honors Program, the Executive Leadership Honors Program in the School of Business, and the Annenberg Honors Program in the School of Communications.

Martha and Bruce Karsh STEM Scholars Program

In 2017, Howard established the Bison

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

Scholars Program to increase the number of underrepresented minorities with high-level research careers in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics. Bison STEM Scholars are given full scholarships and committed to earning a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

or a combined

MD–PhD The Doctorate of Medicine and of Philosophy (MD–PhD) is a dual doctoral degree for physician–scientists, combining the professional training of the Doctor of Medicine degree with the research expertise of the Doctor of Philosophy degree; the ...

in a STEM discipline. The highly competitive program annually accepts approximately 30 undergraduate students for each new cohort. As of 2020, the Bison STEM Scholars Program was renamed the Martha and Bruce Karsh Stem Scholars Program (KSSP) following the $10 million (~$ in ) donation from the family's foundation.

Google's Tech Exchange

The Lower Quadrangle behind Founders Library; also known as

In 2017,

Google Inc. Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. I ...

announced it established a pilot residency program named "Howard University West" on its campus in Mountain View, California, to help increase underrepresented minorities in the tech industry. In 2018, the program expanded from a three-month summer program to a full academic year program and the name changed to "Tech Exchange" to be inclusive of 15 other

minority-serving institution In the higher education system of the United States, minority-serving institution (abbreviated MSI) is a descriptive term for universities and colleges that enroll a significant percentage of students from minority groups. Definition The term M ...

s added to the program such as Florida A&M,

Prairie View A&M Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learning ...

, and Fisk. Howard students in the program learn from senior Google engineers, practice the latest coding techniques, and experience tech culture in Mountain View for course credits towards their degrees.

Disney Storyteller Fund

In July 2022, the Walt Disney Company announced it established the Disney Storytellers Fund at the Cathy Hughes School of Communications and the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts to support creative student projects. The fund provides undergraduate students with stipends up to $60,000 and mentorship intended to help cultivate a new generation of Black storytellers. In October 2022, the fund expanded to other

HBCU Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

campuses.

Research

Interdisciplinary Research Building

Howard's most prominent research building is the Interdisciplinary Research Building (IRB). Opened in 2016, the multi-story, 81,670 square foot, state-of-the-art research facility was completed for $70 million (~$ in ). The IRB was designed to promote more collaborative and innovative research on campus.

Moorland-Spingarn Research Center

"The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) is recognized as one of the world's largest and most comprehensive repositories for the documentation of the history and culture of people of African descent in Africa, the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

, and other parts of the world. The

MSRC The MidSouth Rail Corporation is a railroad line operated by Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) as a result of the January 1, 1994, acquisition; KCS began operating over MidSouth's line on January 11, 1994. The line ran from Shreveport, Louisia ...

collects, preserves, and makes available for research a wide range of resources chronicling black experiences."

NASA University Research Center (BCCSO)

The Beltsville Center for Climate System Observation (BCCSO) is a NASA University Research Center at the Beltsville, Maryland campus of Howard University. BCCSO consists of a multidisciplinary group of Howard faculty in partnership with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Division, other academic institutions, and government. This group is led by three Principal Investigators, Everette Joseph, also the director of BCCSO, Demetrius Venable and Belay Demoz. BCCSO trains science and academic leaders to understand atmospheric processes through atmospheric observing systems and analytical methods.

Publications

Howard University is home to '' The Hilltop'', the university's student newspaper. Founded in 1924 by

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

, ''The Hilltop'' enjoys a long legacy at the university. Howard University is the publisher of '' The Journal of Negro Education'', which began publication in 1932. The Howard University Bison Yearbook is created, edited and published during the school year to provide students a year-in-review. Howard University also publishes the ''Capstone'', the official e-newsletter for the university; and the ''Howard Magazine'', the official magazine for the university, which is published three times a year.

Howard University Libraries

In Dec 2, 1907 Andrew Carnegie granted $50,000 to establish the first library which was located in what today is the Carnegie Building, it operated in the building until 1937.

Howard University Libraries Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

(HUL) is the library system of Howard University and is composed by eight branches and centers: * The

Founders Library The Founders Library in Washington, D.C. is the main library at Howard University. The building, named The Founders Library in honor of the 17 men who founded Howard University, serves as the iconic symbol of the university. Designed by archite ...

, the main library, founded in January 1939. * The School of Business Library * The School of Divinity Library * The School of Social Work Library * The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center * The Channing Pollock Theatre Collection * The Patent and Trademark Resource Center * The Undergraduate Library (UGL). * Afro-American Studies Center

Student life

Athletics

Most of Howard's 21 NCAA Division I varsity teams compete in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).

Students

The U.S. students come from the following regions: New England 2%, Mid-West 8%, South 22%, Mid-Atlantic 55%, and West 12%. Nearly 4% of the student body are international students. Howard University is 86% African-American/Black. Howard is one of the five largest HBCUs in the nation with around 10,000 students. The student-to-faculty ratio is 7:1. BurrGymnasium2

Howard is a selective institution. The incoming freshman class of fall 2021 had 29,391 applicants and 10,362 (35%) were accepted into Howard. There are over 200 student organizations and special interest groups established on campus. Howard produced four

s between 1986 and 2017. Between 1998 and 2009, Howard University produced a

Marshall Scholar The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...

, two Truman Scholars, twenty-two

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

s and ten Pickering Fellows. In 2020, 82% of first-year students received need-based financial aid.

Greek letter organizations

Howard University has many academic and social Greek letter organizations on campus. Howard is the founding site of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) and five of the nine NPHC organizations. Also, Howard is one of four HBCUs with a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa which is the oldest academic honor society in the U.S.

Howard Homecoming

Howard Homecoming week is the most prominent and richest cultural tradition of the institution. Over 100,000 of alumni, students, celebrity guests, and visitors are in attendance to patronize the many events and attractions affiliated with the festive week on and near campus. While the specific calendar of events changes from year to year, the traditional homecoming events include the Homecoming Football Game and Tailgate, Pep Rally, Coronation Ball, Greek Step-Show (Howard NPHC Greeks), and Fashion Show. After a two-year hiatus, the Yardfest returned in 2016 as one of the cherished traditions. Howard's first official homecoming was held in 1924 and it takes place every fall semester with a new theme developed by the homecoming committee.

Springfest

Springfest is an annual tradition created by the Undergraduate Student Association (UGSA) to celebrate the arrival of spring. Springfest is similar to homecoming week in the fall but on a smaller scale and with more emphasis on the student body. Springfest events traditionally include the Fashion Show, Talent Show, Vendor Fair, Poetry Showcase, Beauty Conference, Charity Basketball Game, and a major community service event. The schedule of events changes slightly each year.

Bison Ball

The Bison Ball and Excellence Awards is an annual

black tie Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...

gala hosted by the Howard University Student Association (HUSA). A select number of students, faculty, organizations, and administrators from the Howard community are honored for their exceptional accomplishments. This event takes place near the end of every spring semester.

Resfest

Resfest week is a Howard tradition that involves freshmen living in residence halls on campus competing in several organized competitions (field day, academic debate, dance, stroll, step-show, etc.) for campus bragging rights. This event takes place on campus near the end of every spring semester.

Notable alumni

Distinguished alumni of Howard University include the current () Vice President of the United States, several United States diplomats and United States governors, a

United States Ambassador to the United Nations The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations ...

, foreign royals, seven foreign heads of state, 11 members of United States Congress, a Supreme Court Justice, directors and executives of

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

companies, Academy Award– and

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

–winning actors, Grammy Award—winning songwriters and producers, two US Army generals, a US Air Force general and Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, and Nobel laureates including Nobel Prize for Literature winner Toni Morrison. Additional alumni include civil rights activists and pioneers in the Civil Rights Movement, a United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, a United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a United States Secretary of Agriculture, a United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, a United States Secretary of the Army, a United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce, 12 Mayors of American cities, and three State Attorneys General. Howard University has also produced many firsts, including

Roger Arliner Young Roger Arliner Young (1899 – November 9, 1964) was an American scientist of zoology, biology, and marine biology. She was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate, doctorate degree in zoology. Early years Born in Clifton Fo ...

who became the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in zoology,

Benjamin O. Davis Sr. Benjamin Oliver Davis Sr. (May 28, 1880 – November 26, 1970) was a United States Army general. In 1940, he became the first African-American to rise to the rank of brigadier general. He was the father of Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis Jr ...

the first African-American US Army general,

Frederic E. Davison Major General Frederic Ellis Davison (28 September 1917 – 24 January 1999) was a United States Army officer and the first African American to reach the rank of major general and become a division commander. After serving in World War II, he se ...

the first African-American US Army Major General and the first to command a US Army Infantry Division, Johnson O. Akinleye, 12th Chancellor of North Carolina Central University, Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice, and Edward W. Brooke III who became the first African-American elected to the US Senate, among others. Howard University also counts four

Rhodes Scholarship 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' ...

winners, 22 Pickering Fellows, 11 Truman Scholars, over 70 Fulbright Scholars, a Schwarzman Scholar, a Goldwater Scholar, and two

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 ...

winners and numerous other Pulitzer Prize nominees among its alumni. To date Howard University has granted over 120,000 degrees and produces the most black doctorate recipients of any university. File:Kamala Harris Vice Presidential Portrait (cropped).jpg, Kamala Harris, 49th Vice President of the United States File:Thurgood-marshall-2.jpg, Thurgood Marshall, United States Supreme Court Justice File:Mike Espy (cropped).jpg, Mike Espy, 25th United States Secretary of Agriculture File:Andrew Young, bw head-and-shoulders photo, June 6, 1977.jpg, Andrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to the UN. and

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from Georgia File:Edward brooke senator.jpg, Edward Brooke, United States Senator File:David dinkins (cropped).jpg, David Dinkins, 106th

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

File:Elijah Cummings23.jpg, Elijah Cummings, United States Representative File:Ras J. Baraka.jpg,

Ras Baraka Ras Jua Baraka (born April 9, 1970) is an American educator, author, and politician who is the 40th and current Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He was previously a member of the Municipal Council of Newark and the principal of the city's Central H ...

, mayor of Newark, New Jersey File:Toni Morrison 2008-2.jpg, Toni Morrison,

– and Nobel Prize–winning novelist File:Hurston-Zora-Neale-LOC.jpg,

, author and anthropologist File:Paul Laurence Dunbar portrait.jpg, Paul Laurence Dunbar, novelist and poet File:Ta-Nehisi Coates.jpg, Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer and journalist File:Chadwick Boseman by Gage Skidmore.jpg, Chadwick Boseman, actor File:Phylicia Rashad 1998a (cropped).jpg, Phylicia Rashad, actress File:Anthony Anderson 2010.jpg, Anthony Anderson, actor File:Roxie Roker 1976.JPG, Roxie Roker, actress File:Taraji P. Henson 2010.jpg,

Taraji P. Henson Taraji Penda Henson ( ; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in '' Baby Boy'' (2001). Sh ...

, actress File:Nick Cannon by David Shankbone.jpg, Nick Cannon, comedian, rapper and television host File:Gregory Meeks, official portrait, 115th congress.jpg,

Gregory Meeks Gregory Weldon Meeks (born September 25, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who has been a U.S. representative from New York since 1998. He is a member of the Democratic Party and has chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs since ...

, United States Representative for New York's 5th congressional district File:Thomas Sowell cropped.jpg, Thomas Sowell, economist, author and social commentator (attended)

References

External links

*
Howard Athletics website
* {{authority control 1867 establishments in Washington, D.C. African-American history of Washington, D.C. American Missionary Association Universities and colleges established in 1867 Historically black universities and colleges in the United States Private universities and colleges in Washington, D.C.