Harvard University 
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Dummipedia, the simplified free online encyclopedia
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| Harvard University | |
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| Seal of Harvard University | |
| Motto | Veritas [1] |
| Motto in English | Truth |
| Established | September 8, 1636 (OS) September 18, 1636 (NS) [1] |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | USD $36.9 billion [1] |
| President | Drew Gilpin Faust |
| Faculty | About 2,401 |
| Staff | 2,497 non-medical 10,674 medical |
| Students | 19,140 |
| Undergraduates | 6,714 |
| Postgraduates | 12,422 |
| Location |  Cambridge, MA, USA
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| Campus | Urban 380 acres (1.5 sq km) |
| Newspaper | The Harvard Crimson |
| Colors | Crimson |
| Mascot | John Harvard 
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| Athletics | 41 Varsity Teams Ivy League NCAA Division I Harvard Crimson 
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| Website: www.harvard.edu | |
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| Touring Harvard University (Video credit: victorgeem) |
Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature,[1] it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, as well as the first and oldest corporation in North America.[1] Made up of 10 schools, Harvard is consistently ranked at or near the top of international college and university rankings,[1] and has the second-largest financial endowment of any non-profit organization (behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), standing at US$28.8 billion as of 2008. Harvard and Yale have been rivals in academics, rowing, and football for most of their history, competing annually in The Game and the Harvard-Yale Regatta. In 1999, Radcliffe College, founded in 1879 as the "Harvard Annex for Women",[1] merged formally with Harvard University, becoming the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
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2. History: Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, "New College" or "the college at New Towne", as it was initially called, was renamed on March 13, 1639 as Harvard College after John Harvard, a young clergyman, bequeathed his library of 400 books and £779 (equivalent to half his estate) to the College upon his death in 1638. The College's original purpose was to train Puritan ministers.[1] The charter creating the corporation of Harvard College was signed by Massachusetts Governor Thomas Dudley in 1650. On June 11, 1685, Increase Mather became the Acting President and in 1686, he was appointed the Rector, and on June 27, 1682 he became the President of Harvard, a position which he held until September 6, 1701. The 1708 election of John Leverett, the first president who was not also a clergyman, marked a turning of the College toward intellectual independence from Puritanism. The earliest known official reference to Harvard as a "university" occurs in the new Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. Harvard became "privatized" after the 1824 defeat of the Federalist Party in Massachusetts allowed the renascent Democratic-Republicans to block state funding of private universities.[1] During his 40-year tenure as Harvard president (1869–1909), Charles William Eliot radically transformed Harvard into the pattern of the modern research university, his reforms including elective courses, small classes, and entrance examinations. The Harvard model influenced American education nationally, at both college and secondary levels. In the decades immediately after World War II, Harvard reformed its admissions policies as it sought students from a more diverse applicant pool. more... at Wikipedia
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