HarvardUniversity (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature,Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units.It is also the first and oldest corporation in the United States.
One of the foremost driving forces for Harvard's pending expansion is its goal of substantially increasing the scope and strength of its science and technology programs. The university plans to construct two 500,000 square foot (50,000 mē) research complexes in Allston, which would be home to several interdisciplinary programs, including the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and an enlarged Engineering department.
HarvardUniversity is made up of 11 principal academic units — ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The ten faculties oversee schools and divisions that offer courses and award academic degrees.Harvard University includes 10 graduate and professional schools, all of which offer programs for students who already hold their first degrees and seek advanced training in their fields through master's or doctoral programs. All 10 graduate and professional schools maintain their own admissions offices and teaching faculties, and they are run independently of HarvardCollege.
Harvard has the second-largest financial endowment of any non-profit organization (behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), standing at $26 billion as of September 2009.
The Harvard Housing Office serves as a central resource for Harvard affiliates who are either looking for Harvard University Housing or private housing or have an apartment to rent, sublet, or share.
The Harvard University Library System is centered in Widener Library in Harvard Yard.
According to the American Library Association, this makes it the largest academic library in the United States, and the second largest library in the country (after the Library of Congress).
Harvard describes its library as the "largest academic library in the world"
Cabot Science Library, Lamont Library, and Widener Library are three of the most most most popular libraries for undergraduates.
The largest collection of East-Asian language material outside of East Asia is held in the Harvard-Yenching Library.
Harvard operates several arts, cultural, and scientific museums :
The Harvard Art Museums, including :
-The Fogg Museum of Art,
-The Busch-ReisingerMuseum
-The ArthurM.SacklerMuseum
PeabodyMuseum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The SemiticMuseum.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History complex, including:
- The Harvard University Herbaria, which contains the famous Blaschka Glass Flowers exhibit
- The Museum of Comparative Zoology
- The Harvard Mineralogical Museum
Harvard is strongly committed to making educational opportunity accessible to all. All financial aid is awarded on the basis of financial need, and Harvard meets 100 percent of each family s demonstrated need.
About 70 percent of Harvard undergraduates receive financial aid.
Harvard meets the full need of every student, including international students, for all four years.
All aid is need-based, and admissions decisions are made without regard to whether an applicant has applied for financial assistance.
Each student s demonstrated financial need is fully met with a combination of jobs and scholarship assistance. In the 2008-09 academic year University awarded over $130 million in need-based scholarships.
A Harvard athlete won the first first-place medal of the modern Olympic Games.
Harvard has the largest intercollegiate athletic program in the country, with 41 varsity sports (21 men s, and 20 women s). More than 1,300 varsity letters or freshman numerals are issued annually. Varsity Sports :
Courses
