Stanford University
Encyclopedia
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university
on an 8180 acres (3,310.3 ha) campus located near Palo Alto, California
. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley
on the San Francisco Peninsula
, approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) northwest of San Jose
and 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco
. Stanford is widely considered one of the most prestigious and selective universities in the world.
Leland Stanford
, a Californian railroad tycoon and politician, founded the university in 1891 in honor of his son, Leland Stanford, Jr.
, who died of typhoid two months before his 16th birthday. The university was established as a coeducational and nondenominational institution, but struggled financially after the senior Stanford's 1893 death and after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
. Following World War II
, Provost Frederick Terman
supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would become known as Silicon Valley
. By 1970, Stanford was home to a linear accelerator
, was one of the original four ARPANET
nodes, and had transformed itself into a major research university in computer science
, mathematics
, natural sciences, and social sciences
. More than 50 Stanford faculty, staff, and alumni have won the Nobel Prize
and Stanford has the largest number of Turing award
winners for a single institution. Stanford faculty and alumni have founded many prominent technology companies including Cisco Systems
, Google
, Hewlett-Packard
, LinkedIn
, Netscape Communications, Rambus
, Silicon Graphics
, Sun Microsystems
, Varian Associates
, and Yahoo!
.
The university is organized into seven schools including academic schools of Humanities and Sciences
and Earth Sciences
as well as professional schools of Business, Education
, Engineering
, Law
, and Medicine
. Stanford has a student body of approximately 6,900 undergraduate and 8,400 graduate students. Stanford is a founding member of the Association of American Universities
and in 2010 managed US$1.15 billion in research funding and $13.8 billion in endowment support, with $21.4 billion in consolidated net assets.
Stanford competes in 34 varsity sports and is one of two private universities in the Division I FBS Pacific-12 Conference. Stanford's athletic program has won the NACDA Directors' Cup every year since 1995. In the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing
, Stanford athletes won 25 medals, including eight gold medals, more than any other university in the United States.
, a railroad magnate, United States Senator, and former California Governor
, and his wife, Jane Stanford
. It is named in honor of their only child, Leland Stanford, Jr.
, who died in 1884 just before his 16th birthday. His parents decided to dedicate a university to their only son, and Leland Stanford told his wife, "The children of California shall be our children."
The Stanfords visited Harvard's president, Charles Eliot
, and asked how much it would cost to duplicate Harvard in California
. Eliot replied that he supposed $15 million would be enough. David Starr Jordan
, the president of Indiana University
, was their eventual choice to direct Stanford, after several leaders of the Ivy League turned them down. Locals and members of the university community are known to refer to the school as The Farm, a nod to the fact that the university is located on the former site of Leland Stanford's horse farm.
The motto of Stanford University, selected by President Jordan, is "Die Luft der Freiheit weht." Translated from the German, this quotation from Ulrich von Hutten
means, "The wind of freedom blows." The motto was controversial during World War I, when anything in German was suspect; at that time the university disavowed that this motto was official.
The university's founding Grant of Endowment from the Stanfords came in November 1885. Besides defining the operational structure of the university, it made several specific stipulations:
"The Trustees ... shall have the power and it shall be their duty:
The original "inner quad" buildings (1887–91) were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
, Francis A. Walker
, Charles Allerton Coolidge, and Leland Stanford himself. After six years of planning and building, the university officially opened on October 1, 1891, to 559 students and 15 faculty members, seven of them from Cornell. Tuition was free until the 1930s. Herbert Hoover
and his future wife Lou Hoover were in the first class; the Hoovers maintained close lifetime ties to the school.
al institution. However, Jane Stanford soon put a policy in place limiting female enrollment to 500 students because of the large number of women students enrolling. She did not want the school to become "the Vassar
of the West" because she felt that would not be an appropriate memorial for her son. In 1933 the policy was modified to specify an undergraduate male:female ratio of 3:1. The "Stanford ratio" of 3:1 remained in place until the early 1960s. By the late 1960s the "ratio" was about 2:1 for undergraduates, but much more skewed at the graduate level, except in the humanities. As of 2005, undergraduate enrollment is split nearly evenly between the sexes, but males outnumber females about 2:1 at the graduate level.
, made it extremely difficult to meet expenses. Most of the Board of Trustees advised a temporary closing until finances could be sorted out. However, Jane Stanford insisted that the university remain in operation. Faced with the possibility of financial ruin for the University she took charge of financial, administrative, and development matters at the university 1893-1905; from her experience as a mother and housewife, she ran the institution as a household. For the next several years, she paid salaries out of her personal resources, even pawning her jewelry to keep the university going. When the lawsuit was finally dropped in 1895, a university holiday was declared.
Stanford alumnus George E. Crothers
became a close adviser to Jane Stanford following his graduation from Stanford's law school in 1896. Working with his brother Thomas (also a Stanford graduate and a lawyer), Crothers identified and corrected numerous major legal defects in the terms of the university's founding grant and successfully lobbied
for an amendment to the California state constitution
granting Stanford an exemption from taxation on its educational property—a change which allowed Jane Stanford to donate her stock
holdings to the university.
Edward Alsworth Ross gained fame as a founding father of American sociology; in 1900 Jane Stanford fired him for radicalism and racism, unleashing a major academic freedom case.
Jane Stanford's actions were sometimes eccentric. In 1897, she directed the board of trustees "that the students be taught that everyone born on earth has a soul germ, and that on its development depends much in life here and everything in Life Eternal". She forbade students from sketching nude models in life-drawing class, banned automobiles from campus, and did not allow a hospital to be constructed so that people would not form an impression that Stanford was unhealthy. Between 1899 and 1905, she spent $3 million on a grand construction scheme building lavish memorials to the Stanford family, while university faculty and self-supporting students were living in poverty.
destroyed parts of the Main Quad (including the original iteration of Memorial Church
) as well as the gate that first marked the entrance of the school; rebuilding on a somewhat less grandiose scale began immediately.
(full name: the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace) at Stanford was set up by Herbert C. Hoover, one of Stanford's first graduates. He had been in charge of American relief efforts in Europe after World War I before his election as president of the United States in 1928. Hoover's express purpose was to collect the records of contemporary history as it was happening. Hoover's helpers frequently risked their lives to rescue documentary and rare printed material, especially from countries under Nazi or Communist rule. Their many successes included the papers of Rosa Luxemburg
, the Goebbels diaries, and the records of the Russian secret police in Paris. Research institutes were also set up under Hoover's influence, though inevitably there were to be clashes between the moving force, Hoover, and the host university. In 1960, W. Glenn Campbell was appointed director and substantial budget increases soon led to corresponding increases in acquisitions and related research projects. Despite student unrest in the 1960s, the institution continued to thrive and develop closer relations with Stanford. In particular, the Chinese and Russian collections grew considerably. The Institute increasingly became a conservative think tank, with ties to Washington, especially since 1980. It continues as an integral component of the University.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Frederick Terman
, as dean of engineering and provost, encouraged faculty and graduates to start their own companies. He is credited with nurturing Hewlett-Packard
, Varian Associates
, and other high-tech firms, until what would become Silicon Valley
grew up around the Stanford campus. Terman is often called "the father of Silicon Valley." Terman encouraged William B. Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, to return to his hometown of Palo Alto. In 1956 he established the Shockley Transistor Laboratory.
), the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
, and the US Atomic Energy Commission over the proposed 1970 construction of the Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Ring (SPEAR). It would be the first US electron-positron colliding beam storage ring. Paris (2001) explores the competition and cooperation between the two university laboratories and presents diagrams of the proposed facilities, charts detailing location factors, and the parameters of different project proposals between 1967 and 1970. Several rings were built in Europe during the five years that it took to obtain funding for the project, but the extensive project revisions resulted in a superior design that was quickly constructed and paved the way for Nobel Prizes in 1976 for Burton Richter
and in 1995 for Martin Perl.
During 1955-85, solid state technology research and development at Stanford University followed three waves of industrial innovation made possible by support from private corporations, mainly Bell Telephone Laboratories, Shockley Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, and Xerox PARC. In 1969 the Stanford Research Institute
operated one of the four original nodes that comprised ARPANET
, predecessor to the Internet
.
, in the northwest part of the Santa Clara Valley
(Silicon Valley
) approximately 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco
and approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) northwest of San Jose
. The main campus is adjacent to Palo Alto, bounded by El Camino Real
, Stanford Avenue, Junipero Serra Boulevard, and Sand Hill Road
. The university also operates the several remote locations (see below).
Stanford's main campus is actually its own census-designated place
within unincorporated
Santa Clara County
, although some of the university land (including the Stanford Shopping Center
and the Stanford Research Park
) is within the city limits of Palo Alto. The campus also includes much land in unincorporated San Mateo County
(including the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
and the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
), as well as in the city limits of Menlo Park
(Stanford Hills neighborhood), Woodside
, and Portola Valley
. The United States Postal Service
has assigned Stanford two ZIP codes: 94305 for campus mail and 94309 for P.O. box
mail. It lies within area code 650
.
, Francis Amasa Walker
, and prominent Boston
landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
westward for consultations. Olmsted worked out the general concept for the campus and its buildings, rejecting a hillside site in favor of the more practical flatlands. Charles Allerton Coolidge then developed this concept in the style of his late mentor, Henry Hobson Richardson
, in the Richardsonian Romanesque
style, characterized by rectangular stone buildings linked by arcades of half-circle arches. The original campus was also designed in the Spanish-colonial style common to California known as Mission Revival. The red tile roofs and solid sandstone
masonry are distinctly Californian in appearance and famously complementary to the bright blue skies common to the region, and most of the subsequently erected buildings have maintained consistent exteriors.
Much of this first construction was destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
, but the university retains the Quad, the old Chemistry Building (which is not in use and has been boarded up since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
), and Encina Hall (the residence of Herbert Hoover
, John Steinbeck
, and Anthony Kennedy
during their times at Stanford). After the 1989 earthquake inflicted further damage, the university implemented a billion-dollar capital improvement plan to retrofit and renovate older buildings for new, up-to-date uses.
, the Cantor Center for Visual Arts
and art gallery
, the Stanford Mausoleum
and the Angel of Grief
, Hoover Tower
, the Rodin
sculpture garden, the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden
, the Arizona Cactus Garden
, the Stanford University Arboretum
, Green Library
and the Dish
. Frank Lloyd Wright
's 1937 Hanna-Honeycomb House
and the 1919 Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House
are both listed on the National Historic Register.
, the houses can be bought and sold but the land under the houses is rented on a 99-year lease. Houses in the "Ghetto" appreciate and depreciate, but not as rapidly as overall Silicon Valley
values. However, it remains an expensive area in which to own property, and the average price of single-family homes on campus is actually higher than in Palo Alto. Stanford itself enjoys the rapid capital gains of Silicon Valley landowners, although by the terms of its founding the university cannot sell the land.
On the founding grant but away from the main campus:
Off the founding grant:
Locations in development:
The university also has its own golf course and a seasonal lake (Lake Lagunita
, actually an irrigation reservoir), both home to the vulnerable California Tiger Salamander
. Lake Lagunita
is often dry now, but the university has no plans to artificially fill it.
The Department of Sustainability and Energy Management (SEM) leads initiatives in campus infrastructure and programs in the areas of energy and climate, water, transportation, green buildings, and sustainable information technology, as well as various special initiatives. The Office of Sustainability connects campus organizations and entities and works collaboratively with them to steer sustainability initiatives to fulfill President Hennessy’s vision that sustainability will, "become a core value in everything we do." The office works on long-range sustainability analysis and planning, evaluations and reporting, communication and outreach, academic integration, conservation behavior and training, and sustainability governance strategy.
For the third consecutive year, Stanford received designation of an Overall Campus Sustainability Leader from the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card. Stanford earned straight “A” grades in the following topic areas: administration, climate change & energy, food & recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. The 2009–2010 Year in Review provides an overview of the most recent sustainability efforts on campus.
The Sustainable Stanford program continues to improve sustainable practices on campus:
The award-winning transportation program includes the free 41-bus, 15-route Marguerite system running on biodiesel with two diesel-electric hybrid buses; the 7,500-member Commute Club; free transit on Caltrain, VTA, Dumbarton Express and AC Transit’s Line U; Zipcar car sharing; commute planning; charter services; and a bicycle program.
Ridership on Marguerite buses climbed to 1,416,508 in 2009. Shuttle ridership at the Caltrain commuter rail stations increased an estimated 30 percent between 2004 and 2009. In 2010, 52 percent of employees used alternative transportation to commute, compared with 24 percent in Santa Clara County
owned and governed by a privately appointed 35-member Board of Trustees. Trustees serve five-year terms (not more than two consecutive terms) and meet five times annually. The Stanford trustees also oversee the Stanford Research Park
, the Stanford Shopping Center
, the Cantor Center for Visual Arts
, Stanford University Medical Center
, and many associated medical facilities (including the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
).
The Board appoints a President to serve as the chief executive officer of the university and prescribe the duties of professors and course of study, manage financial and business affairs, and appoint nine vice presidents. John L. Hennessy
was appointed the 10th President of the University in October 2000. The Provost is the chief academic and budget officer, to whom the deans of each of the seven schools report. John Etchemendy
was named the 12th Provost in September 2000.
The university is organized into seven schools: School of Humanities and Sciences
, School of Engineering
, School of Earth Sciences
, School of Education
, Graduate School of Business
, Stanford Law School
and the Stanford University School of Medicine
. The powers and authority of the faculty are vested in the Academic Council, which is made up of tenure and non-tenure line faculty, research faculty, senior fellows in some policy centers and institutes, the president of the university, and some other academic administrators, but most matters are handled by the Faculty Senate, made up of 55 elected representatives of the faculty.
The Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) is the student government for Stanford University and all registered students are members. Its elected leadership consists of the Undergraduate Senate elected by the undergraduate students, the Graduate Student Council elected by the graduate students, and the President and Vice President elected as a ticket
by the entire student body.
. Full-time undergraduate tuition was $38,700 for 2010-2011.
(originally the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) and the Stanford Research Institute, a now independent institution which originated at the university, in addition to the Stanford Humanities Center.
Stanford also houses the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
, a major public policy
think tank
that attracts visiting scholars from around the world, and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, which is dedicated to the more specific study of international relations
. Unable to locate a copy in any of its libraries, the Soviet Union was obliged to ask the Hoover Institution for a microfilm copy of its original edition of the first issue of Pravda
(dated March 5, 1917).
Stanford is home to the John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalist
and the Center for Ocean Solutions, which brings together marine science and policy to develop solutions to challenges facing the ocean. It also houses the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
(the "d.school"), a multidisciplinary design school that integrates product design, engineering, and business management education.
, which also contains various meeting and conference rooms, study spaces, and reading rooms. Meyer Library, a 24-hour library slated for demolition in 2012, holds various student-accessible media resources and has housed one of the largest East Asia
collections, whose 540,000 volumes are being transported to an interim location while a new library is rebuilt. Other significant collections include the Lane Medical Library, Terman Engineering Library, Jackson Business Library, Falconer Biology Library, Cubberley Education Library, Branner Earth Sciences Library
, Swain Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Library, Jonsson Government Documents collection, Crown Law Library, Center for Ocean Solutions Research Library, Stanford Auxiliary Library (SAL), SLAC Library, Hoover library, Miller Marine Biology Library at Hopkins Marine Station, Music Library, and the university's special collections. There are 20 libraries in all. Several academic departments and some residences also have their own libraries.
Digital libraries and text services include digital image collections
, the Humanities Digital Information Services group, and the Media Microtext Center. HighWire Press
, the university ePublishing platform, produces and hosts some 1,400 journals and receives over 600 billion requests every month. The Stanford University Press also produces over 175 books each year.
The vast computing resources include some 150,000 computers on the Stanford University Network (SUNet, one of the first to connect to the internet), including clusters of printer-enabled computers in every undergraduate residence (the first residential computing program), as well as high-performance computer clusters for general use throughout the campus.
Stanford is a founding and charter member of CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, the nonprofit organization that provides extremely high-performance Internet-based networking to California's K-20 research and education community.
Stanford enrolled 6,887 undergraduate and 8,779 graduate students in the 2010-2011 year. Women comprised 48% of undergraduates and 37% of professional and graduate students. The freshman retention rate for 2010 was 98%, the four-year graduation rate is 78.4%, and the six-year rate is 95%. The relatively low four-year graduation rate is a function of the university's coterminal degree (or "coterm") program, which allows students to earn a Master's degree as an extension of their undergraduate program.
Stanford awarded 1,671 undergraduate degrees, 2,068 Master's degrees, 708 doctoral degrees, and 270 professional degrees in 2010. The most popular Bachelor's degrees were in the social sciences, interdisciplinary studies, and engineering.
For the class of 2014, Stanford received 32,022 applications and accepted 2300 or 7.2%, the lowest in the university's history and among the lowest in the country. For the class of 2015, Stanford received 5,929 single-choice early action applications and accepted 754 of them, for an early admission rate of 12.7%. This application season Stanford received more than 34,200 total applications from both the regular and early rounds.
The cost of attendance in 2010-2011 is $54,947. Stanford's admission process is need-blind for US citizens and permanent residents; while it is not need-blind for international students, 64% are on need-based aid, with an average aid package of $31,411. In 2010, the university awarded $117 million in financial aid to 3,530 students, with an average aid package of $40,593. total external and internal aid (including jobs and optional loans) amounted to $172.3 million to undergraduate students. 80% of students are on some form of financial aid. Stanford's no-loan policy waives tuition, room, and board for families with incomes below $60,000, and families with incomes below $100,000 are not required to pay tuition (those with incomes up to $150,000 will have tuition significantly reduced). 17% of students receive Pell Grants, a common measure of low-income students at a college. 15% of the undergraduates are first-generation students.
The U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) ranks it fifth among large universities for its undergraduate program in 2011. In the 2011 U.S. News graduate school rankings, Stanford also placed in the top 5 for every discipline in which it was ranked, except bioengineering, where it placed ; specifically, Stanford was ranked in Business, in Education, in Engineering, in Medicine, in Law, in Biological Sciences, in Chemistry, in Computer Science, in Earth Sciences, in Mathematics, in Physics, in Statistics, in Economics, in English, in History, in Political Science, in Psychology, and in Sociology.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities
(ARWU) ranked Stanford in the world in 2011. ARWU ranked Stanford in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences, in Life and Agriculture Sciences, in Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, and in Social Sciences worldwide. In its subject rankings, ARWU placed Stanford in mathematics, in physics, in chemistry, in computer science, and in economics and business.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings
ranked Stanford best research university in the world in 2011. In 2010, the Times also ranked Stanford in engineering and technology, in life sciences, 5th in physical sciences, in arts & humanities, in social sciences, and in clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences; no other university places in the top 5 across all broad disciplines studied.
The 2011 QS World University Rankings
placed Stanford in arts & humanities, in engineering & technology, in social sciences, in natural sciences, in life sciences, and overall.
Stanford places fourth among national universities by The Washington Monthly
, second among "global universities" by Newsweek
, and tied for 1st with MIT and Columbia University
in the first tier among national universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance
. In the MINE ParisTech rankings in 2008 measuring the number of Chief Executive Officers among the Fortune Global 500, Stanford is ranked third in the world. According to Forbes
, Stanford has produced the second highest number of billionaires of all universities.
Among professional schools, the Stanford Graduate School of Business
is ranked , Stanford Law School
is ranked , the Stanford School of Education is ranked , and Stanford Medical School is ranked , according to U.S. News and World Report. Forbes
ranked the business school at the top in its 2009 "Best Business Schools" list. In the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report
Stanford placed in North America.
From a 2010 poll done by The Princeton Review
, Stanford is the most commonly named "dream college," both for students and for parents, a title it has held in previous years. According to the 2011 Times Higher Education World Reputation ranking (based on a survey of 13,388 academics over 131 countries, the largest evaluation of academic reputation to date), Stanford is 4th in the world. A 2003 Gallup
poll, which asked about the best colleges in the U.S., found that Stanford is the second-most prestigious university (behind Harvard) in the eyes of the general American public and roughly equal in prestige to Harvard among college-education people.
Stanford University is home to the Cantor Center for Visual Arts
museum with 24 galleries, sculpture gardens, terraces, and a courtyard first established in 1891 by Jane and Leland Stanford as a memorial to their only child. Notably, the Center possesses the largest collection of Rodin works outside of Paris, France. There are also a large number of outdoor art installations throughout the campus, primarily sculptures, but some murals as well. The Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden near Roble Hall features handmade wood carvings and "totem poles."
Stanford has a thriving artistic and musical community. Extracurricular activities include theater groups such as Ram's Head Theatrical Society and the Stanford Shakespeare Society, award-winning a cappella
music groups such as the Mendicants
, Counterpoint, the Stanford Fleet Street Singers, Harmonics
, Mixed Company, Testimony, Talisman, Everyday People, Raagapella, and a group dedicated to performing the works of Gilbert and Sullivan
, the Stanford Savoyards. Beyond these, the music department sponsors many ensembles including five choirs, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Taiko, and the Stanford Wind Ensemble.
Stanford's dance community is one of the most vibrant in the country, with an active dance division in the Drama Department and over 30 different dance-related student groups, including the Stanford Band
's Dollie dance troupe.
Perhaps most distinctive of all is its social
and vintage dance
community, cultivated by dance historian Richard Powers
and enjoyed by hundreds of students and thousands of alumni. Stanford hosts monthly informal dances (called Jammix) and large quarterly dance events, including Ragtime Ball (fall), the Stanford Viennese Ball (winter), and Big Dance (spring). Stanford also boasts a student-run swing performance troupe called Swingtime
and several alumni performance groups, including Decadance and the Academy of Danse Libre.
The creative writing
program brings young writers to campus via the Stegner Fellowship
s and other graduate scholarship programs. This Boy's Life
author Tobias Wolff
teaches writing to undergraduates and graduate students. Knight Journalism Fellows are invited to spend a year at the campus taking seminars and courses of their choice. There is also an extracurricular writing and performance group called the Stanford Spoken Word Collective, which also serves as the school's poetry slam team.
Stanford also hosts various publishing courses for professionals. Stanford Professional Publishing Course, which has been offered on campus since the late 1970s, brings together international publishing professionals to discuss changing business models in magazine and book publishing.
, managed by the Stanford Management Company, was valued at $17.2 billion in 2008 and had achieved an annualized rate of return of 15.1% since 1998. In the economic downturn of January 2009, however, the endowment has dropped 20 to 30 percent. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Stanford's endowment has lost approximately $4 billion to $5 billion, or 20 to 30 percent of its value" since 2008. As a result, all campus units cut their budgets by about 15 percent in 2009.
Stanford has been the top fundraising university in the United States for several years, sometimes doubling the fundraising amounts of its top competitors. It raised $911 million in 2006, $832 million in 2007, $785 million in 2008, $640 million in 2009, and $599 million in 2010.
In 2006, President Hennessy launched the Stanford Challenge, a $4.3 billion fundraising campaign focusing on three components: multidisciplinary research initiatives, initiatives to improve education, and core support. In 2009, Stanford surpassed that goal two years ahead of time, despite the economic downturn, making it the most successful collegiate fundraising effort in history; however, Stanford has continued with the campaign for its final two years in order to meet all its initial goals fully.
s were installed as "temporary" housing from 1969 to 1991, but it is now the site of modern dorms Castano, Kimball, and Lantana. Most student residences are located just outside the campus core, within ten minutes (on foot or bike) of most classrooms and libraries. Some are for freshmen only; others give priority to sophomores, others to both freshmen and sophomores; some are for upperclass students only, and some are open to all four classes. Most residences are co-ed; seven are all-male fraternities
, three are all-female sororities, and there is also one all-female non-sorority house, Roth House. In most residences, men and women live on the same floor, but a few dorms are configured for men and women to live on separate floors (single-gender floors), including all Wilbur dorms except for Arroyo and Okada. Beginning in 2009–10, the University's housing plan anticipates that all freshmen desiring to live in all-freshman dorms will be accommodated. In the 2009–10 year, almost two-thirds of freshmen will be housed in Stern and Wilbur Halls. The one-third who requested four-class housing will be located in other dormitories throughout campus, including Florence Moore (FloMo). In April 2008, Stanford unveiled a new pilot plan to test out gender-neutral housing in five campus residences, allowing males and females to live in the same room. This was after concerted student pressure, as well as the institution of similar policies at peer institutions such as Wesleyan
, Oberlin
, Clark
, Dartmouth
, Brown
, and UPenn
.
Several residences are considered theme houses. The Academic, Language and Culture Houses include EAST (East Asian Studies Theme), Hammarskjöld (International Theme), Haus Mitteleuropa (Central European Theme), La Casa Italiana (Italian Language and Culture), La Maison Française (French Language and Culture House), Slavianskii Dom (Slavic/East European Theme House), Storey (Human Biology Theme House), and Yost (Spanish Language and Culture).Cross-Cultural Theme Houses include Casa Zapata (Chicano/Latino Theme in Stern Hall), Muwekma-tah-ruk (American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Theme), Okada (Asian-American Theme in Wilbur Hall), and Ujamaa (Black/African-American Theme in Lagunita Court). Focus Houses include Freshman-Sophomore College (Freshman Focus), Branner Hall (Community Service), Kimball (Arts & Performing Arts), Crothers (Global Citizenship), and Toyon (Sophomore Priority).
Another famous style of housing at Stanford is the co-ops
. These houses feature cooperative living, where residents and eating associates each contribute work to keep the house running, such as cooking meals or cleaning shared spaces. The co-ops on campus are Chi Theta Chi, Columbae, Enchanted Broccoli Forest (EBF), Hammarskjöld (which is also the International Theme House), Kairos, Terra, and Synergy.
At any time, around 50 percent of the graduate population lives on campus. Now that construction has concluded on the new Munger graduate residence, this percentage has probably increased. First-year graduate students are guaranteed housing.
Former campus traditions include the Big Game bonfire on Lake Lagunita
(a seasonal lake usually dry in the fall), which is now inactive because of the presence of endangered salamanders in the lake bed.
banned all Stanford sororities due to extreme competition. However, following Title IX
, the Board of Trustees lifted the 33-year ban on sororities in 1977. Stanford is now home to 29 Greek organizations, including 13 sororities and 16 fraternities, representing 13% of undergraduates. In contrast to many universities, nine of the ten housed Greek organizations live in University-owned houses, the exception being Sigma Chi
, which owns its own house (but not the land) on The Row. Six chapters are members of the African American Fraternal and Sororal Association, 11 chapters are members of the Interfraternity Council, 6 chapters belong to the Intersorority Council, and 6 chapters belong to the Multicultural Greek Council.
Groups include (but are not limited to):
Division I-A and is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. Stanford has constantly won the NACDA Directors' Cup, The University of North Carolina won the award for best Division I collegiate athletics program in its inaugural year. Since then, Stanford University has won it seventeen straight years, winning seventeen out of the eighteen years it has been offered. It also participates in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
for indoor track
(men and women), fencing (men and women), water polo
(men and women), women's gymnastics
, women's lacrosse
, men's gymnastics
, and men's volleyball
. The women's field hockey
team is part of the NorPac Conference. Stanford's traditional sports rival is the University of California, Berkeley
, its neighbor to the north in the East Bay.
Stanford offers 34 varsity sports (18 female, 15 male, one coed), 19 club sports and 37 intramural sports—about 800 students participate in intercollegiate sports. The university offers about 300 athletic scholarships.
The winner of the annual "Big Game
" between the Cal and Stanford football teams gains custody of the Stanford Axe
. The first "Big Game", played at Haight Street Park in San Francisco on March 19, 1892, established football on the west coast. Stanford won 14 to 10 in front of 8 thousand spectators. Stanford's football team played in the first Rose Bowl in 1902. However, the violence of the sport at the time, coupled with the post-game rioting of drunken spectators, led San Francisco to bar further "Big Games" in the city in 1905. In 1906, David Starr Jordan banned football from Stanford. The 1906–1914 "Big Game" contests featured rugby instead of football. Stanford football was resumed in 1919. Stanford won back-to-back Rose Bowls in 1971 and 1972. Stanford has played in 12 Rose Bowls, most recently in 2000. Stanford's Jim Plunkett
won the Heisman Trophy
in 1970.
Club sports, while not officially a part of Stanford athletics, are numerous at Stanford. Sports include archery
, badminton
, cheerleading
, cricket
, cycling
, equestrian
, hurling
, ice hockey
, judo
, kayaking
, men's lacrosse
, polo
, racquetball
, rugby union
, squash
, skiing
, taekwondo
, tennis
, triathlon
and Ultimate
. The men's Ultimate team won national championships in 1984 and 2002, the women's Ultimate team in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007, the women's rugby team in 1999, 2005, 2006 and 2008. The cycling team won the 2007 Division I USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships.
Until 1930, Stanford did not have a "mascot" name for its athletic teams. In that year, the athletic department adopted the name "Indians." In 1972, "Indians" was dropped after a complaint of racial insensitivity was lodged by Native American students.
The Stanford sports teams are now officially referred to as the Stanford Cardinal
, referring to the deep red color, not the cardinal bird
. Cardinal, and later cardinal and white has been the university's official color since the 19th century. The Band's mascot, "The Tree"
, has become associated with the school in general. Part of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB)
, the tree symbol derives from the El Palo Alto
redwood tree on the Stanford and City of Palo Alto seals.
Stanford hosts an annual U.S. Open Series tennis tournament, the Bank of the West Classic
, at Taube Stadium. Cobb Track, Angell Field, and Avery Stadium Pool are considered world-class athletic facilities. Stanford Stadium
hosted Super Bowl XIX
on January 20, 1985, in which the San Francisco 49ers
defeated the Miami Dolphins
by a score of 38–16 and several group stage matches in the 1994 FIFA World Cup
.
Stanford has won the award for the top ranked collegiate athletic program—the NACDA Director's Cup
, formerly known as the Sears Cup—every year for the past seventeen years. Stanford has had at least one NCAA team champion every year since the 1976-77 school year.
NCAA achievements: Stanford has earned 101 National Collegiate Athletic Association
national team titles since its establishment, second most behind the University of California, Los Angeles
, and 467 individual National championships, the most by any university. The 101st championship was won by the 2010-2011 Stanford Women's Water Polo team.
Olympic achievements: According to the Stanford Daily, "Stanford has been represented in every summer Olympiad since 1908." As of 2004, Stanford athletes had won 182 Olympic medals at the summer games; "In fact, in every Olympiad since 1912, Stanford athletes have won at least one and as many as 17 gold medals." Stanford athletes won 24 medals at the 2008 Summer Games—8 gold, 12 silver and 4 bronze.
(William Hewlett
and David Packard
), Cisco Systems
(Sandra Lerner
and Leonard Bosack
), NVIDIA
(Jen-Hsun Huang
), SGI
, VMware
, MIPS Technologies
, Yahoo!
(Chih-Yuan Yang and David Filo
), Google
(Sergey Brin
and Lawrence Page), Wipro Technologies (Azim Premji
), Nike
(Phil Knight
), Gap
( Doris F. Fisher), Logitech
, and Sun Microsystems
(Vinod Khosla
). The Sun in Sun Microsystems originally stood for "Stanford University Network."
Stanford's current community of scholars includes:
Stanford has been affiliated with over 50 Nobel laureates, as well as 19 recipients (mostly as faculty) of the Turing Award
, the so-called "Nobel Prize in computer science," comprising nearly half of the awards given in its 44-year history. The university is also affiliated with 4 Gödel Prize
and 4 Knuth Prize
recipients, for their work in the foundations of computer science.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
, former U.S. President Herbert Hoover
, former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher
, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
and former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo
are alumni.
NBA guard Landry Fields
, NFL quarterbacks Jim Plunkett
, Trent Edwards
and John Elway
, NFL receivers Gordon Banks
and Ed McCaffrey
, NFL Fullback Jon Ritchie
, runner Ryan Hall
, MLB starting pitcher Mike Mussina
, MLB left-fielder Carlos Quentin
, MLB infielder Jed Lowrie
, Grand Slam winning tennis players John McEnroe
(did not graduate) (singles and doubles) and (doubles) Bob
and Mike Bryan
, professional golfer Tiger Woods
(did not graduate), New Zealand Football and Blackburn Rovers Defender Ryan Nelsen
, Olympic swimmers Jenny Thompson
, Summer Sanders
and Pablo Morales
, Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas
, Olympic water polo players Tony Azevedo
and Brenda Villa
, Olympic softball player Jessica Mendoza
, Olympic volleyball player Kerri Walsh
, Heisman finalist Toby Gerhart
, and actress Reese Witherspoon
(did not graduate) are alumni.
Actresses Jennifer Connelly
and Sigourney Weaver
(her alumna status was featured in the 2009 film Avatar), actor Ben Savage
, and political commentator Rachel Maddow
are prominent graduates. Current Yale University
President Rick Levin earned his A.B.
from Stanford while current California Institute of Technology
President Jean-Lou Chameau
earned his Ph.D.
from Stanford.
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
on an 8180 acres (3,310.3 ha) campus located near Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley
Santa Clara Valley
The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San José, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration...
on the San Francisco Peninsula
San Francisco Peninsula
The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is in Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain...
, approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) northwest of San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
and 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. Stanford is widely considered one of the most prestigious and selective universities in the world.
Leland Stanford
Leland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...
, a Californian railroad tycoon and politician, founded the university in 1891 in honor of his son, Leland Stanford, Jr.
Leland Stanford, Jr.
Leland Stanford Jr. , Leland DeWitt Stanford until age nine, was the only child of Governor Leland Stanford of California and his wife Jane Stanford née Lathrop, and is the namesake of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States.Leland Jr...
, who died of typhoid two months before his 16th birthday. The university was established as a coeducational and nondenominational institution, but struggled financially after the senior Stanford's 1893 death and after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
. Following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Provost Frederick Terman
Frederick Terman
Frederick Emmons Terman was an American academic. He is widely credited with being the father of Silicon Valley.-Education:...
supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would become known as Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
. By 1970, Stanford was home to a linear accelerator
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S...
, was one of the original four ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
nodes, and had transformed itself into a major research university in computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, natural sciences, and social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
. More than 50 Stanford faculty, staff, and alumni have won the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
and Stanford has the largest number of Turing award
Turing Award
The Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
winners for a single institution. Stanford faculty and alumni have founded many prominent technology companies including Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
, Netscape Communications, Rambus
Rambus
Rambus Incorporated , founded in 1990, is a technology licensing company. The company became well known for its intellectual property based litigation following the introduction of DDR-SDRAM memory.- History :...
, Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
, Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, Varian Associates
Varian Associates
Varian Associates was one of the first high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the klystron, the first tube which could generate electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies, and other...
, and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
.
The university is organized into seven schools including academic schools of Humanities and Sciences
Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences
The Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences is the heart of the undergraduate program and grants the majority of Stanford University's degrees. The School has 28 departments and 20 interdisciplinary degree-granting programs...
and Earth Sciences
Stanford University School of Earth Sciences
The School of Earth Sciences is one of three schools at Stanford awarding both graduate and undergraduate degrees. Stanford's first faculty member was a professor of geology as such the School of Earth Sciences is considered the oldest academic foundation of Stanford University...
as well as professional schools of Business, Education
Stanford University School of Education
The Stanford University School of Education , is one of the seven schools of Stanford University. It is the second-oldest school of education in the United States, after NYU...
, Engineering
Stanford University School of Engineering
Stanford University School of Engineering is one of the schools of Stanford University. The school has had eight deans; the current is James D. Plummer.-Previous Deans:# Theodore J. Hoover 1925-1936# Samuel B. Morris 1936-1944...
, Law
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
, and Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine is a leading medical school located at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California. Originally based in San Francisco, California as Cooper Medical College, it is the oldest continuously running medical school in the western United States...
. Stanford has a student body of approximately 6,900 undergraduate and 8,400 graduate students. Stanford is a founding member of the Association of American Universities
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...
and in 2010 managed US$1.15 billion in research funding and $13.8 billion in endowment support, with $21.4 billion in consolidated net assets.
Stanford competes in 34 varsity sports and is one of two private universities in the Division I FBS Pacific-12 Conference. Stanford's athletic program has won the NACDA Directors' Cup every year since 1995. In the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Stanford athletes won 25 medals, including eight gold medals, more than any other university in the United States.
Origins
Stanford was founded by Leland StanfordLeland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...
, a railroad magnate, United States Senator, and former California Governor
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
, and his wife, Jane Stanford
Jane Stanford
Jane Stanford was the co-founder of Stanford University with her husband, Leland Stanford, whom she wed in 1850. She was the daughter of a shopkeeper and lived on Washington Avenue in Albany, New York, before her marriage...
. It is named in honor of their only child, Leland Stanford, Jr.
Leland Stanford, Jr.
Leland Stanford Jr. , Leland DeWitt Stanford until age nine, was the only child of Governor Leland Stanford of California and his wife Jane Stanford née Lathrop, and is the namesake of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States.Leland Jr...
, who died in 1884 just before his 16th birthday. His parents decided to dedicate a university to their only son, and Leland Stanford told his wife, "The children of California shall be our children."
Charles William Eliot
Charles William Eliot was an American academic who was selected as Harvard's president in 1869. He transformed the provincial college into the preeminent American research university...
, and asked how much it would cost to duplicate Harvard in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Eliot replied that he supposed $15 million would be enough. David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.-Early life and education:...
, the president of Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, was their eventual choice to direct Stanford, after several leaders of the Ivy League turned them down. Locals and members of the university community are known to refer to the school as The Farm, a nod to the fact that the university is located on the former site of Leland Stanford's horse farm.
The motto of Stanford University, selected by President Jordan, is "Die Luft der Freiheit weht." Translated from the German, this quotation from Ulrich von Hutten
Ulrich von Hutten
Ulrich von Hutten was a German scholar, poet and reformer. He was an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church and a bridge between the humanists and the Lutheran Reformation...
means, "The wind of freedom blows." The motto was controversial during World War I, when anything in German was suspect; at that time the university disavowed that this motto was official.
The university's founding Grant of Endowment from the Stanfords came in November 1885. Besides defining the operational structure of the university, it made several specific stipulations:
"The Trustees ... shall have the power and it shall be their duty:
- To establish and maintain at such University an educational system, which will, if followed, fit the graduate for some useful pursuit, and to this end to cause the pupils, as easily as may be, to declare the particular calling, which, in life, they may desire to pursue; ...
- To prohibit sectarian instruction, but to have taught in the University the immortality of the soul, the existence of an all-wise and benevolent Creator, and that obedience to His laws is the highest duty of man.
- To have taught in the University the right and advantages of association and co-operation.
- To afford equal facilities and give equal advantages in the University to both sexes.
- To maintain on the Palo Alto estate a farm for instruction in agriculture in all its branches."
The original "inner quad" buildings (1887–91) were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
, Francis A. Walker
Francis A. Walker
Francis Austin Walker was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, farmer and insurance salesman and soldier in northern Alberta....
, Charles Allerton Coolidge, and Leland Stanford himself. After six years of planning and building, the university officially opened on October 1, 1891, to 559 students and 15 faculty members, seven of them from Cornell. Tuition was free until the 1930s. Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
and his future wife Lou Hoover were in the first class; the Hoovers maintained close lifetime ties to the school.
Coeducation
The school was established as a coeducationCoeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al institution. However, Jane Stanford soon put a policy in place limiting female enrollment to 500 students because of the large number of women students enrolling. She did not want the school to become "the Vassar
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
of the West" because she felt that would not be an appropriate memorial for her son. In 1933 the policy was modified to specify an undergraduate male:female ratio of 3:1. The "Stanford ratio" of 3:1 remained in place until the early 1960s. By the late 1960s the "ratio" was about 2:1 for undergraduates, but much more skewed at the graduate level, except in the humanities. As of 2005, undergraduate enrollment is split nearly evenly between the sexes, but males outnumber females about 2:1 at the graduate level.
Early finances
When Senator Stanford died in 1893, the continued existence of the university was in jeopardy. A $15 million government lawsuit against Senator Stanford's estate, combined with the Panic of 1893Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
, made it extremely difficult to meet expenses. Most of the Board of Trustees advised a temporary closing until finances could be sorted out. However, Jane Stanford insisted that the university remain in operation. Faced with the possibility of financial ruin for the University she took charge of financial, administrative, and development matters at the university 1893-1905; from her experience as a mother and housewife, she ran the institution as a household. For the next several years, she paid salaries out of her personal resources, even pawning her jewelry to keep the university going. When the lawsuit was finally dropped in 1895, a university holiday was declared.
Stanford alumnus George E. Crothers
George E. Crothers
George Edward Crothers was one of the first students at Stanford University and was instrumental in putting the university on a solid legal and financial footing following the deaths of its founders, Leland and Jane Stanford. He served as a member of Stanford's board of trustees and as a...
became a close adviser to Jane Stanford following his graduation from Stanford's law school in 1896. Working with his brother Thomas (also a Stanford graduate and a lawyer), Crothers identified and corrected numerous major legal defects in the terms of the university's founding grant and successfully lobbied
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
for an amendment to the California state constitution
California Constitution
The document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of California. The original constitution, adopted in November 1849 in advance of California attaining U.S. statehood in 1850, was superseded by the current constitution, which...
granting Stanford an exemption from taxation on its educational property—a change which allowed Jane Stanford to donate her stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
holdings to the university.
Edward Alsworth Ross gained fame as a founding father of American sociology; in 1900 Jane Stanford fired him for radicalism and racism, unleashing a major academic freedom case.
Jane Stanford's actions were sometimes eccentric. In 1897, she directed the board of trustees "that the students be taught that everyone born on earth has a soul germ, and that on its development depends much in life here and everything in Life Eternal". She forbade students from sketching nude models in life-drawing class, banned automobiles from campus, and did not allow a hospital to be constructed so that people would not form an impression that Stanford was unhealthy. Between 1899 and 1905, she spent $3 million on a grand construction scheme building lavish memorials to the Stanford family, while university faculty and self-supporting students were living in poverty.
20th century
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
destroyed parts of the Main Quad (including the original iteration of Memorial Church
Stanford Memorial Church
Stanford Memorial Church is located at the center of the Stanford University campus in Stanford, California, United States. It was built during the American Renaissance by Jane Stanford as a memorial to her husband Leland. Designed by architect Charles A...
) as well as the gate that first marked the entrance of the school; rebuilding on a somewhat less grandiose scale began immediately.
Football
From 1906 to 1919, in response to the crisis caused by numerous injuries, intercollegiate football was in jeopardy. While some colleges dropped football entirely, a few, such as the University of California and Stanford University, replaced it with English rugby. From 1906 to 1914, the two schools played rugby as their major sport, but they soon found that the objectionable practices they saw in football were introduced into rugby. Finally, when the football rules were changed, a move developed to return to football, reviving intercollegiate sports and enabling students and alumni to identify with football, an American sport.Hoover Institution
The Hoover InstitutionHoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
(full name: the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace) at Stanford was set up by Herbert C. Hoover, one of Stanford's first graduates. He had been in charge of American relief efforts in Europe after World War I before his election as president of the United States in 1928. Hoover's express purpose was to collect the records of contemporary history as it was happening. Hoover's helpers frequently risked their lives to rescue documentary and rare printed material, especially from countries under Nazi or Communist rule. Their many successes included the papers of Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
, the Goebbels diaries, and the records of the Russian secret police in Paris. Research institutes were also set up under Hoover's influence, though inevitably there were to be clashes between the moving force, Hoover, and the host university. In 1960, W. Glenn Campbell was appointed director and substantial budget increases soon led to corresponding increases in acquisitions and related research projects. Despite student unrest in the 1960s, the institution continued to thrive and develop closer relations with Stanford. In particular, the Chinese and Russian collections grew considerably. The Institute increasingly became a conservative think tank, with ties to Washington, especially since 1980. It continues as an integral component of the University.
Biology
The biological sciences department evolved rapidly from 1946 to 1972 as its research focus changed, due to the Cold War and other historically significant conditions external to academia. Stanford science went through three phases of experimental direction during that time. In the early 1950s the department remained fixed in the classical independent and self-directed research mode, shunning interdisciplinary collaboration and excessive government funding. Between the 1950s and mid-1960s biological research shifted focus to the molecular level. Then, from the late 1960s onward, Stanford's goal became applying research and findings toward humanistic ends. Each phase was preempted by larger social issues, such as the escalation of the Cold War, the launch of Sputnik, and public concern over medical abuses.High tech
A powerful sense of regional solidarity accompanied the rise of Silicon Valley. From the 1890s, the university's leaders saw its mission as service to the West and shaped the school accordingly. At the same time, the perceived exploitation of the West at the hands of eastern interests fueled booster-like attempts to build self-sufficient indigenous local industry. Thus, regionalism helped align Stanford's interests with those of the area's high-tech firms for the first fifty years of Silicon Valley's development. The distinctive regional ethos of the West during the first half of the 20th century is an ingredient of Silicon Valley's already prepared environment, an ingredient that would-be replicators ignore at their peril.During the 1940s and 1950s, Frederick Terman
Frederick Terman
Frederick Emmons Terman was an American academic. He is widely credited with being the father of Silicon Valley.-Education:...
, as dean of engineering and provost, encouraged faculty and graduates to start their own companies. He is credited with nurturing Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, Varian Associates
Varian Associates
Varian Associates was one of the first high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the klystron, the first tube which could generate electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies, and other...
, and other high-tech firms, until what would become Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
grew up around the Stanford campus. Terman is often called "the father of Silicon Valley." Terman encouraged William B. Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, to return to his hometown of Palo Alto. In 1956 he established the Shockley Transistor Laboratory.
Physics
In 1962-70 negotiations took place between the Cambridge Electron Accelerator Laboratory (shared by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
), the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S...
, and the US Atomic Energy Commission over the proposed 1970 construction of the Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Ring (SPEAR). It would be the first US electron-positron colliding beam storage ring. Paris (2001) explores the competition and cooperation between the two university laboratories and presents diagrams of the proposed facilities, charts detailing location factors, and the parameters of different project proposals between 1967 and 1970. Several rings were built in Europe during the five years that it took to obtain funding for the project, but the extensive project revisions resulted in a superior design that was quickly constructed and paved the way for Nobel Prizes in 1976 for Burton Richter
Burton Richter
Burton Richter is a Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory team led by Samuel Ting. This discovery was part of the so-called November Revolution of particle...
and in 1995 for Martin Perl.
During 1955-85, solid state technology research and development at Stanford University followed three waves of industrial innovation made possible by support from private corporations, mainly Bell Telephone Laboratories, Shockley Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, and Xerox PARC. In 1969 the Stanford Research Institute
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...
operated one of the four original nodes that comprised ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
, predecessor to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Campus
Stanford University is located on an 8180 acres (3,310.3 ha) campus on the San Francisco PeninsulaSan Francisco Peninsula
The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is in Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain...
, in the northwest part of the Santa Clara Valley
Santa Clara Valley
The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San José, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration...
(Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
) approximately 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) northwest of San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. The main campus is adjacent to Palo Alto, bounded by El Camino Real
El Camino Real (California)
El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...
, Stanford Avenue, Junipero Serra Boulevard, and Sand Hill Road
Sand Hill Road
Sand Hill Road is a road in Menlo Park, California, notable for its concentration of venture capital companies. Its significance as a symbol of private equity in the United States may be compared to that of Wall Street in the stock market...
. The university also operates the several remote locations (see below).
Stanford's main campus is actually its own census-designated place
Stanford, California
Stanford is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and is the home of Stanford University. The population was 13,809 at the 2010 census....
within unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
, although some of the university land (including the Stanford Shopping Center
Stanford Shopping Center
Stanford Shopping Center is an upscale open air shopping mall located on El Camino Real at Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, California. It is on the campus of Stanford University although the university only owns the land and not the actual buildings or stores...
and the Stanford Research Park
Stanford Research Park
Stanford Research Park is a technology park located in Palo Alto, California on land owned by Stanford University. Built in 1951, as Stanford Industrial Park, it claims to be the world's first technology-focused office park...
) is within the city limits of Palo Alto. The campus also includes much land in unincorporated San Mateo County
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...
(including the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S...
and the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
The Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is a 1,200 acre is a nature preserve and biological field station owned by Stanford University, located at south of Sand Hill Road and west of Interstate 280 in Portola Valley, California. It is used by students, researchers, and docents to conduct biology...
), as well as in the city limits of Menlo Park
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
(Stanford Hills neighborhood), Woodside
Woodside, California
Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It uses a council-manager system of government. The U.S. Census estimated the population of the town to be 5,287 in 2010....
, and Portola Valley
Portola Valley, California
Portola Valley is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 4,353 at the 2010 census. It was named for Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola, who led the first party of Europeans to explore the San Francisco Peninsula, in 1769.Portola Valley is one of the...
. The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
has assigned Stanford two ZIP codes: 94305 for campus mail and 94309 for P.O. box
Post Office box
A post-office box or Post Office box is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office station....
mail. It lies within area code 650
Area code 650
North American area code 650 is a California telephone area code which includes most of San Mateo County and the extreme northwestern portion of Santa Clara County including Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos....
.
History of campus development
In the summer of 1886, when the campus was first being planned, Stanford brought the president of Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, Francis Amasa Walker
Francis Amasa Walker
Francis Amasa Walker was an American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator, and military officer in the Union Army. Walker was born into a prominent Boston family, the son of the economist and politician Amasa Walker, and he graduated from Amherst College at the age...
, and prominent Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
westward for consultations. Olmsted worked out the general concept for the campus and its buildings, rejecting a hillside site in favor of the more practical flatlands. Charles Allerton Coolidge then developed this concept in the style of his late mentor, Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
, in the Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
style, characterized by rectangular stone buildings linked by arcades of half-circle arches. The original campus was also designed in the Spanish-colonial style common to California known as Mission Revival. The red tile roofs and solid sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
masonry are distinctly Californian in appearance and famously complementary to the bright blue skies common to the region, and most of the subsequently erected buildings have maintained consistent exteriors.
Much of this first construction was destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
, but the university retains the Quad, the old Chemistry Building (which is not in use and has been boarded up since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Loma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...
), and Encina Hall (the residence of Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
, and Anthony Kennedy
Anthony Kennedy
Anthony McLeod Kennedy is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, having been appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Since the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor, Kennedy has often been the swing vote on many of the Court's politically charged 5–4 decisions...
during their times at Stanford). After the 1989 earthquake inflicted further damage, the university implemented a billion-dollar capital improvement plan to retrofit and renovate older buildings for new, up-to-date uses.
Landmarks
Contemporary campus landmarks include the Main Quad and Memorial ChurchStanford Memorial Church
Stanford Memorial Church is located at the center of the Stanford University campus in Stanford, California, United States. It was built during the American Renaissance by Jane Stanford as a memorial to her husband Leland. Designed by architect Charles A...
, the Cantor Center for Visual Arts
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, formerly the Stanford University Museum of Art, and commonly known as the Cantor Arts Center, is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. The museum, which opened in 1894, consists of over...
and art gallery
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, formerly the Stanford University Museum of Art, and commonly known as the Cantor Arts Center, is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. The museum, which opened in 1894, consists of over...
, the Stanford Mausoleum
Stanford Mausoleum
The Stanford Mausoleum, located in the northwest of the Stanford University campus in the Stanford University Arboretum, holds the remains of the university's namesake Leland Stanford, Jr...
and the Angel of Grief
Angel of Grief
Angel of Grief is an 1894 sculpture by William Wetmore Story which serves as the grave stone of the artist and his wife at the Protestant Cemetery, Rome....
, Hoover Tower
Hoover Tower
Hoover Tower is a structure on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. The tower is part of the Hoover Institution, a research center founded by then-future U.S. president Herbert Hoover. Hoover Tower, inspired by the cathedral tower at Salamanca, was finished in 1941, the year...
, the Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
sculpture garden, the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden
Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden
Stanford University has a variety of sculpture gardens scattered around the campus including the Papua New Guinea sculpture garden. This garden has wooden sculptures carved by natives of Papua New Guinea while they were in California.-Tours:...
, the Arizona Cactus Garden
Arizona Cactus Garden
The Arizona Cactus Garden , also known as the Stanford Cactus Garden, is a botanical garden specializing in cactus and succulents. It is located on the campus of Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA, and open to the public daily without charge.-History:The garden...
, the Stanford University Arboretum
Stanford University Arboretum
The Stanford University Arboretum is an arboretum located on the grounds of Stanford University in Stanford, California. It is open to the public daily without charge....
, Green Library
Green Library
The Cecil H. Green Library is the main library on the Stanford University campus and part of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources . It is named for Cecil H. Green....
and the Dish
The Dish (landmark)
The Dish is a radio telescope in the Stanford foothills. The dish was built in 1966 by the Stanford Research Institute. The cost to construct the telescope was $4.5 million, and was funded by the United States Air Force, with the original purpose of studying the chemical composition of the...
. Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
's 1937 Hanna-Honeycomb House
Hanna-Honeycomb House
The Hanna-Honeycomb House, also known as simply the Hanna House, located on the Stanford University campus in Stanford, California, USA, was Frank Lloyd Wright's first work in the San Francisco region and his first work with non-rectangular structures...
and the 1919 Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House
Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House
The Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House, located on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA, is the former house of Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States, and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, who designed it...
are both listed on the National Historic Register.
Faculty residences
One of the benefits of being a Stanford faculty member is the "Faculty Ghetto", where faculty members can live within walking or biking distance of campus. The Faculty Ghetto is composed of land owned entirely by Stanford. Similar to a condominiumCondominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
, the houses can be bought and sold but the land under the houses is rented on a 99-year lease. Houses in the "Ghetto" appreciate and depreciate, but not as rapidly as overall Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
values. However, it remains an expensive area in which to own property, and the average price of single-family homes on campus is actually higher than in Palo Alto. Stanford itself enjoys the rapid capital gains of Silicon Valley landowners, although by the terms of its founding the university cannot sell the land.
Non-main campus
Stanford currently operates or intends to operate in various locations outside of its main campus.On the founding grant but away from the main campus:
- Jasper Ridge Biological PreserveJasper Ridge Biological PreserveThe Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is a 1,200 acre is a nature preserve and biological field station owned by Stanford University, located at south of Sand Hill Road and west of Interstate 280 in Portola Valley, California. It is used by students, researchers, and docents to conduct biology...
is a 1200 acres (485.6 ha) nature reserve owned by the university and used by wildlife biologists for research, located south of the main campus. - SLAC National Accelerator LaboratorySLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryThe SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S...
is a facility located south of main campus and originally owned by Stanford but now operated by the university for the Department of Energy. It contains the longest linear particle acceleratorLinear particle acceleratorA linear particle accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that greatly increases the velocity of charged subatomic particles or ions by subjecting the charged particles to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear beamline; this method of particle acceleration was invented...
in the world, 2 miles (3.2 km) on 426 acres (172.4 ha) of land.
Off the founding grant:
- Hopkins Marine StationHopkins Marine StationHopkins Marine Station is the marine laboratory of Stanford University. It is located ninety miles south of the university's main campus, in Pacific Grove, California on the Monterey Peninsula, adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is home to nine research laboratories and a fluctuating...
, located in Pacific Grove, CaliforniaPacific Grove, CaliforniaPacific Grove is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, USA, with a population of 15,041 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,522 as of the 2000 census...
, is a marine biologyMarine biologyMarine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
research center owned by the university since 1892. - Study abroad locations: unlike typical study abroadStudent exchange programA student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...
programs, Stanford itself operates in locations around the globe; thus, each location, which ranges from BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
to Cape TownCape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, has Stanford faculty-in-residence and staff in addition to students, creating a "mini Stanford."
Locations in development:
- Redwood City: in 2005, the university purchased a small, 35 acres (14.2 ha) campus in Midpoint Technology Park intended for staff offices, although it remains undeveloped.
- China: the university is currently building a small campus for researchers and students in collaboration with Peking UniversityPeking UniversityPeking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
. - New York: the university has submitted a "formal expression of interest" in response to the city of New York's call for proposals to build an engineering campus as a partnership between the city and a "world-class institution." If selected, Stanford would build a satellite campus on Roosevelt IslandRoosevelt IslandRoosevelt Island, known as Welfare Island from 1921 to 1973, and before that Blackwell's Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City. It lies between the island of Manhattan to its west and the borough of Queens to its east...
for engineering, with a focus on information technology, and would also draw on Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, the Graduate School of Business and the Technology Ventures Program.
The university also has its own golf course and a seasonal lake (Lake Lagunita
Lake Lagunita
Lake Lagunita is an artificial dry lake in Stanford University, California, located on the western side of the Stanford campus near the Lagunita residences.-Source:...
, actually an irrigation reservoir), both home to the vulnerable California Tiger Salamander
California Tiger Salamander
The California tiger salamander is a vulnerable amphibian native to Northern California. Previously considered to be a Tiger Salamander subspecies, the California tiger salamander was recently designated a separate species again...
. Lake Lagunita
Lake Lagunita
Lake Lagunita is an artificial dry lake in Stanford University, California, located on the western side of the Stanford campus near the Lagunita residences.-Source:...
is often dry now, but the university has no plans to artificially fill it.
Sustainability
Sustainable Stanford is a university-wide effort to reduce environmental impact, preserve resources and show sustainability in action. Administrators, faculty, staff, and students throughout the university are working to research and implement sustainability. Central to this effort is the Environment Initiative on the Environment and Sustainability, a campaign launched to support interdisciplinary research and teaching in all seven of Stanford’s schools and key institutes. Through the initiative, the Stanford community is working to ensure future generations can live well on the planet.The Department of Sustainability and Energy Management (SEM) leads initiatives in campus infrastructure and programs in the areas of energy and climate, water, transportation, green buildings, and sustainable information technology, as well as various special initiatives. The Office of Sustainability connects campus organizations and entities and works collaboratively with them to steer sustainability initiatives to fulfill President Hennessy’s vision that sustainability will, "become a core value in everything we do." The office works on long-range sustainability analysis and planning, evaluations and reporting, communication and outreach, academic integration, conservation behavior and training, and sustainability governance strategy.
For the third consecutive year, Stanford received designation of an Overall Campus Sustainability Leader from the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card. Stanford earned straight “A” grades in the following topic areas: administration, climate change & energy, food & recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. The 2009–2010 Year in Review provides an overview of the most recent sustainability efforts on campus.
The Sustainable Stanford program continues to improve sustainable practices on campus:
- In 2009, Stanford announced a Climate and Energy Plan that exceeds California's AB 32 Global Warming Solutions Act.
- Since 1993, energy retrofits of older buildings have resulted in an estimated savings of more than 240 million kilowatt‐hours of electricity—about 15 months of the university’s current use.
- More than a million square feet of new construction has come online with high energy and water efficiency.
- Achieved a 21% reduction in domestic water use on campus in 2010 compared with 2000, despite more than 1 million additional GSF added to the building portfolio.
- The recycling program diverts 65 percent of waste from landfills.
- About 40 percent of produce purchased is organic and/or regionally grown, and Stanford helps support about 30 small farms that grow organic produce.
- Designated a Gold-Level “Bicycle Friendly Community,” Stanford boasts 13,000 bikes on campus daily and 11.7 miles (18.8 km) of bike lanes.
- Employee drive-alone rate has been reduced from 72 percent in 2002 to 48 percent in 2010—compared to the national rate of 77 percent—and transit ridership has increased from 8 to 26 percent.
The award-winning transportation program includes the free 41-bus, 15-route Marguerite system running on biodiesel with two diesel-electric hybrid buses; the 7,500-member Commute Club; free transit on Caltrain, VTA, Dumbarton Express and AC Transit’s Line U; Zipcar car sharing; commute planning; charter services; and a bicycle program.
Ridership on Marguerite buses climbed to 1,416,508 in 2009. Shuttle ridership at the Caltrain commuter rail stations increased an estimated 30 percent between 2004 and 2009. In 2010, 52 percent of employees used alternative transportation to commute, compared with 24 percent in Santa Clara County
Administration and organization
Stanford University is a tax-exempt corporate trustCorporate trust
In the most basic sense of the term, A corporate trust is a trust created by a corporation.However, the term in the United States is most often used to describe the business activities of many financial services companies and banks that involve acting in a fiduciary capacity for investors in a...
owned and governed by a privately appointed 35-member Board of Trustees. Trustees serve five-year terms (not more than two consecutive terms) and meet five times annually. The Stanford trustees also oversee the Stanford Research Park
Stanford Research Park
Stanford Research Park is a technology park located in Palo Alto, California on land owned by Stanford University. Built in 1951, as Stanford Industrial Park, it claims to be the world's first technology-focused office park...
, the Stanford Shopping Center
Stanford Shopping Center
Stanford Shopping Center is an upscale open air shopping mall located on El Camino Real at Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, California. It is on the campus of Stanford University although the university only owns the land and not the actual buildings or stores...
, the Cantor Center for Visual Arts
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, formerly the Stanford University Museum of Art, and commonly known as the Cantor Arts Center, is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. The museum, which opened in 1894, consists of over...
, Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford University Medical Center represents the Stanford Hospital and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and is located at 300 Pasteur Drive in Stanford, California. Stanford Hospital provides both general acute care services and tertiary medical care for patients locally, nationally and...
, and many associated medical facilities (including the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is a children's hospital located on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California. It is staffed by over 650 physicians and 4,750 staff and volunteers...
).
The Board appoints a President to serve as the chief executive officer of the university and prescribe the duties of professors and course of study, manage financial and business affairs, and appoint nine vice presidents. John L. Hennessy
John L. Hennessy
John LeRoy Hennessy is an American computer scientist and academician. Hennessy is one of the founders of MIPS Computer Systems Inc. and is the 10th President of Stanford University.-Background:...
was appointed the 10th President of the University in October 2000. The Provost is the chief academic and budget officer, to whom the deans of each of the seven schools report. John Etchemendy
John Etchemendy
John W. Etchemendy and of Basque descent is Stanford University's twelfth and current Provost. He succeeded John L. Hennessy to the post on September 1, 2000....
was named the 12th Provost in September 2000.
The university is organized into seven schools: School of Humanities and Sciences
Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences
The Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences is the heart of the undergraduate program and grants the majority of Stanford University's degrees. The School has 28 departments and 20 interdisciplinary degree-granting programs...
, School of Engineering
Stanford University School of Engineering
Stanford University School of Engineering is one of the schools of Stanford University. The school has had eight deans; the current is James D. Plummer.-Previous Deans:# Theodore J. Hoover 1925-1936# Samuel B. Morris 1936-1944...
, School of Earth Sciences
Stanford University School of Earth Sciences
The School of Earth Sciences is one of three schools at Stanford awarding both graduate and undergraduate degrees. Stanford's first faculty member was a professor of geology as such the School of Earth Sciences is considered the oldest academic foundation of Stanford University...
, School of Education
Stanford University School of Education
The Stanford University School of Education , is one of the seven schools of Stanford University. It is the second-oldest school of education in the United States, after NYU...
, Graduate School of Business
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
, Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
and the Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine is a leading medical school located at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, California. Originally based in San Francisco, California as Cooper Medical College, it is the oldest continuously running medical school in the western United States...
. The powers and authority of the faculty are vested in the Academic Council, which is made up of tenure and non-tenure line faculty, research faculty, senior fellows in some policy centers and institutes, the president of the university, and some other academic administrators, but most matters are handled by the Faculty Senate, made up of 55 elected representatives of the faculty.
The Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) is the student government for Stanford University and all registered students are members. Its elected leadership consists of the Undergraduate Senate elected by the undergraduate students, the Graduate Student Council elected by the graduate students, and the President and Vice President elected as a ticket
Ticket (election)
A ticket refers to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in the U.S., the candidates for President and Vice President run on the same "ticket", because they are elected together on a single ballot question rather than separately.A ticket can also...
by the entire student body.
Academics
Stanford University is a large, highly residential research university with a majority of enrollments coming from graduate and professional students. The full-time, four-year undergraduate program is classified as "more selective, lower transfer-in" and has an arts and sciences focus with high graduate student coexistence. Stanford University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and CollegesWestern Association of Schools and Colleges
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges is one of six official academic bodies responsible for the accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in the United States and foreign institutions of American origin. The Western Association of...
. Full-time undergraduate tuition was $38,700 for 2010-2011.
Research centers and institutes
Other Stanford-affiliated institutions include the SLAC National Accelerator LaboratorySLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S...
(originally the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) and the Stanford Research Institute, a now independent institution which originated at the university, in addition to the Stanford Humanities Center.
Stanford also houses the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
, a major public policy
Policy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...
think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
that attracts visiting scholars from around the world, and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, which is dedicated to the more specific study of international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
. Unable to locate a copy in any of its libraries, the Soviet Union was obliged to ask the Hoover Institution for a microfilm copy of its original edition of the first issue of Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
(dated March 5, 1917).
Stanford is home to the John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalist
John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists
The John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists is a paid fellowship for journalists at Stanford University. The program started in 1966, and is named after the American newspaper publisher and editor John S. Knight...
and the Center for Ocean Solutions, which brings together marine science and policy to develop solutions to challenges facing the ocean. It also houses the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design is a design school based in Stanford University....
(the "d.school"), a multidisciplinary design school that integrates product design, engineering, and business management education.
Libraries and digital resources
The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) hold a collection of nearly 9 million volumes, 260,000 rare or special books, 1.5 million e-books, 1.5 million audiovisual materials, 75,000 serials, 6 million microform holdings, and thousands of other digital resources, making it one of the largest and most diverse academic library systems in the world. The main library in the SU library system is Green LibraryGreen Library
The Cecil H. Green Library is the main library on the Stanford University campus and part of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources . It is named for Cecil H. Green....
, which also contains various meeting and conference rooms, study spaces, and reading rooms. Meyer Library, a 24-hour library slated for demolition in 2012, holds various student-accessible media resources and has housed one of the largest East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
collections, whose 540,000 volumes are being transported to an interim location while a new library is rebuilt. Other significant collections include the Lane Medical Library, Terman Engineering Library, Jackson Business Library, Falconer Biology Library, Cubberley Education Library, Branner Earth Sciences Library
Branner Earth Sciences Library
The Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections is the main library supporting the Stanford University School of Earth Sciences on the Stanford University campus and part of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources...
, Swain Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Library, Jonsson Government Documents collection, Crown Law Library, Center for Ocean Solutions Research Library, Stanford Auxiliary Library (SAL), SLAC Library, Hoover library, Miller Marine Biology Library at Hopkins Marine Station, Music Library, and the university's special collections. There are 20 libraries in all. Several academic departments and some residences also have their own libraries.
Digital libraries and text services include digital image collections
Stanford University Libraries Digital Image Collections
The Stanford University Libraries maintains an online collection of digital images called Image Gallery . The site provides access to over 50,000 digital images scanned from collections owned by the Stanford Libraries...
, the Humanities Digital Information Services group, and the Media Microtext Center. HighWire Press
HighWire Press
HighWire Press is a division of the Stanford University Libraries that produces the online versions of high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly content...
, the university ePublishing platform, produces and hosts some 1,400 journals and receives over 600 billion requests every month. The Stanford University Press also produces over 175 books each year.
The vast computing resources include some 150,000 computers on the Stanford University Network (SUNet, one of the first to connect to the internet), including clusters of printer-enabled computers in every undergraduate residence (the first residential computing program), as well as high-performance computer clusters for general use throughout the campus.
Stanford is a founding and charter member of CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, the nonprofit organization that provides extremely high-performance Internet-based networking to California's K-20 research and education community.
Student body
| Undergraduate | Graduate | California | U.S. Census | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| African American African American African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States... |
10% | 3% | 6.2% | 12.1% |
| Asian American Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,... |
23% | 13% | 12.3% | 4.3% |
| White American White American White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa... |
36% | 35% | 59.8% | 65.8% |
| Hispanic American | 13% | 5% | 35.9% | 14.5% |
| Native American Native Americans in the United States Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as... |
2.8% | <1% | 0.7% | 0.9% |
| International student International student According to Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development , international students are those who travel to a country different from their own for the purpose of tertiary study. Despite that, the definition of international students varies in each country in accordance to their own national... |
7% | 33% | N/A | N/A |
Stanford awarded 1,671 undergraduate degrees, 2,068 Master's degrees, 708 doctoral degrees, and 270 professional degrees in 2010. The most popular Bachelor's degrees were in the social sciences, interdisciplinary studies, and engineering.
For the class of 2014, Stanford received 32,022 applications and accepted 2300 or 7.2%, the lowest in the university's history and among the lowest in the country. For the class of 2015, Stanford received 5,929 single-choice early action applications and accepted 754 of them, for an early admission rate of 12.7%. This application season Stanford received more than 34,200 total applications from both the regular and early rounds.
The cost of attendance in 2010-2011 is $54,947. Stanford's admission process is need-blind for US citizens and permanent residents; while it is not need-blind for international students, 64% are on need-based aid, with an average aid package of $31,411. In 2010, the university awarded $117 million in financial aid to 3,530 students, with an average aid package of $40,593. total external and internal aid (including jobs and optional loans) amounted to $172.3 million to undergraduate students. 80% of students are on some form of financial aid. Stanford's no-loan policy waives tuition, room, and board for families with incomes below $60,000, and families with incomes below $100,000 are not required to pay tuition (those with incomes up to $150,000 will have tuition significantly reduced). 17% of students receive Pell Grants, a common measure of low-income students at a college. 15% of the undergraduates are first-generation students.
Rankings
Stanford is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world, both for undergraduate teaching and graduate-level research.The U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) ranks it fifth among large universities for its undergraduate program in 2011. In the 2011 U.S. News graduate school rankings, Stanford also placed in the top 5 for every discipline in which it was ranked, except bioengineering, where it placed ; specifically, Stanford was ranked in Business, in Education, in Engineering, in Medicine, in Law, in Biological Sciences, in Chemistry, in Computer Science, in Earth Sciences, in Mathematics, in Physics, in Statistics, in Economics, in English, in History, in Political Science, in Psychology, and in Sociology.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The Academic Ranking of World Universities , commonly known as the Shanghai ranking, is a publication that was founded and compiled by the Shanghai Jiaotong University to rank universities globally. The rankings have been conducted since 2003 and updated annually...
(ARWU) ranked Stanford in the world in 2011. ARWU ranked Stanford in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, in Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences, in Life and Agriculture Sciences, in Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, and in Social Sciences worldwide. In its subject rankings, ARWU placed Stanford in mathematics, in physics, in chemistry, in computer science, and in economics and business.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is an international ranking of universities published by the British magazine Times Higher Education in partnership with Thomson Reuters, which provided citation database information...
ranked Stanford best research university in the world in 2011. In 2010, the Times also ranked Stanford in engineering and technology, in life sciences, 5th in physical sciences, in arts & humanities, in social sciences, and in clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences; no other university places in the top 5 across all broad disciplines studied.
The 2011 QS World University Rankings
QS World University Rankings
The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004....
placed Stanford in arts & humanities, in engineering & technology, in social sciences, in natural sciences, in life sciences, and overall.
Stanford places fourth among national universities by The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C.The magazine's founder is Charles Peters, who started the magazine in 1969 and continues to write the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue. Paul Glastris, former...
, second among "global universities" by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, and tied for 1st with MIT and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in the first tier among national universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance
Center for Measuring University Performance
The Center for Measuring University Performance is a research center at Arizona State University. The Center is best known for an annual report it produces, The Top American Research Universities, that ranks American universities on nine different measures: Total Research, Federal Research,...
. In the MINE ParisTech rankings in 2008 measuring the number of Chief Executive Officers among the Fortune Global 500, Stanford is ranked third in the world. According to Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, Stanford has produced the second highest number of billionaires of all universities.
Among professional schools, the Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
is ranked , Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
is ranked , the Stanford School of Education is ranked , and Stanford Medical School is ranked , according to U.S. News and World Report. Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
ranked the business school at the top in its 2009 "Best Business Schools" list. In the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report
QS Global 200 Business Schools Report
The QS Global 200 Business Schools Report identifies the most popular business schools in each region of the world. It aims to serve employers seeking MBAs at a regional level. It originated in the early 1990s under the partnership Quacquarelli Symonds. The TopMBA Career Guide was made in 1990, and...
Stanford placed in North America.
From a 2010 poll done by The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
, Stanford is the most commonly named "dream college," both for students and for parents, a title it has held in previous years. According to the 2011 Times Higher Education World Reputation ranking (based on a survey of 13,388 academics over 131 countries, the largest evaluation of academic reputation to date), Stanford is 4th in the world. A 2003 Gallup
Gallup
Gallup can refer to:*Gallup, New Mexico*Gallup, South Dakota *George Gallup, American pollster*Elizabeth Wells Gallup, American educator and scholar...
poll, which asked about the best colleges in the U.S., found that Stanford is the second-most prestigious university (behind Harvard) in the eyes of the general American public and roughly equal in prestige to Harvard among college-education people.
Arts
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, formerly the Stanford University Museum of Art, and commonly known as the Cantor Arts Center, is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. The museum, which opened in 1894, consists of over...
museum with 24 galleries, sculpture gardens, terraces, and a courtyard first established in 1891 by Jane and Leland Stanford as a memorial to their only child. Notably, the Center possesses the largest collection of Rodin works outside of Paris, France. There are also a large number of outdoor art installations throughout the campus, primarily sculptures, but some murals as well. The Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden near Roble Hall features handmade wood carvings and "totem poles."
Stanford has a thriving artistic and musical community. Extracurricular activities include theater groups such as Ram's Head Theatrical Society and the Stanford Shakespeare Society, award-winning a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
music groups such as the Mendicants
Stanford Mendicants
The Stanford Mendicants is an all-male a cappella group at Stanford University. The group is Stanford University's oldest a cappella group. Since its founding, the group's size has varied from 6 to 18 members...
, Counterpoint, the Stanford Fleet Street Singers, Harmonics
Stanford Harmonics
The Stanford Harmonics are a coeducational a cappella group from Stanford University in the United States, known for their rock repertoire and award-winning recordings. They have garnered international recognition for their performances, and have been featured on BOCA, Sing, and Voices Only a...
, Mixed Company, Testimony, Talisman, Everyday People, Raagapella, and a group dedicated to performing the works of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
, the Stanford Savoyards. Beyond these, the music department sponsors many ensembles including five choirs, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Taiko, and the Stanford Wind Ensemble.
Stanford's dance community is one of the most vibrant in the country, with an active dance division in the Drama Department and over 30 different dance-related student groups, including the Stanford Band
Stanford Band
The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band is the student marching band of Stanford University. Billing itself as "The World's Largest Rock and Roll Band", the Stanford Band performs at sporting events, student activities, and other functions...
's Dollie dance troupe.
Perhaps most distinctive of all is its social
Social dance
Social dance is a major category or classification of danceforms or dance styles, where sociability and socializing are the primary focuses of the dancing...
and vintage dance
Vintage dance
Vintage dance is the authentic recreation of historical dance styles. The term is also used specifically to denote re-creation of the dances of the English Regency , American Civil War , Victorian, and Ragtime eras....
community, cultivated by dance historian Richard Powers
Richard Powers (dance historian)
Richard Powers is an expert in American social dance, noted for his choreographies for dozens of stage productions and films, and his workshops in Paris, Rome, Prague, London, Venice, Geneva, St. Petersburg and Tokyo as well as across the U.S. and Canada...
and enjoyed by hundreds of students and thousands of alumni. Stanford hosts monthly informal dances (called Jammix) and large quarterly dance events, including Ragtime Ball (fall), the Stanford Viennese Ball (winter), and Big Dance (spring). Stanford also boasts a student-run swing performance troupe called Swingtime
Swingtime Dance Troupe
Swingtime Dance Troup is a student-run swing performance troupe based at Stanford University in California.It was founded the fall of 2002 by four students – Megan Kale, Darick Tong, Maria Reese, and Andy Huang – in the wake of the dissolution of the Vintage Dance Ensemble. It is Stanford...
and several alumni performance groups, including Decadance and the Academy of Danse Libre.
The creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
program brings young writers to campus via the Stegner Fellowship
Stegner Fellowship
The Stegner Fellowship program is a two-year creative writing fellowship at Stanford University. The award is named after American Wallace Stegner , an historian, novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and Stanford faculty member who founded the university's creative writing program. Ten...
s and other graduate scholarship programs. This Boy's Life
This Boy's Life
This Boy's Life is a memoir by Tobias Wolff first published in 1989. It describes the author's adolescence as he wanders the continental United States with his itinerant mother. The first leg of their journey takes them from Florida to Utah, where Mom, fleeing an abusive partner, hopes to get rich...
author Tobias Wolff
Tobias Wolff
Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is an American author. He is known for his memoirs, particularly This Boy's Life , and his short stories. He has also written two novels.-Biography:Wolff was born in 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama...
teaches writing to undergraduates and graduate students. Knight Journalism Fellows are invited to spend a year at the campus taking seminars and courses of their choice. There is also an extracurricular writing and performance group called the Stanford Spoken Word Collective, which also serves as the school's poetry slam team.
Stanford also hosts various publishing courses for professionals. Stanford Professional Publishing Course, which has been offered on campus since the late 1970s, brings together international publishing professionals to discuss changing business models in magazine and book publishing.
Endowment and fundraising
The university's endowmentFinancial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
, managed by the Stanford Management Company, was valued at $17.2 billion in 2008 and had achieved an annualized rate of return of 15.1% since 1998. In the economic downturn of January 2009, however, the endowment has dropped 20 to 30 percent. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Stanford's endowment has lost approximately $4 billion to $5 billion, or 20 to 30 percent of its value" since 2008. As a result, all campus units cut their budgets by about 15 percent in 2009.
Stanford has been the top fundraising university in the United States for several years, sometimes doubling the fundraising amounts of its top competitors. It raised $911 million in 2006, $832 million in 2007, $785 million in 2008, $640 million in 2009, and $599 million in 2010.
In 2006, President Hennessy launched the Stanford Challenge, a $4.3 billion fundraising campaign focusing on three components: multidisciplinary research initiatives, initiatives to improve education, and core support. In 2009, Stanford surpassed that goal two years ahead of time, despite the economic downturn, making it the most successful collegiate fundraising effort in history; however, Stanford has continued with the campaign for its final two years in order to meet all its initial goals fully.
Student life
Dormitories and student housing
Eighty-nine percent of undergraduate students live in on-campus university housing, partially because first-year students are required to live on campus, and because students are guaranteed housing for all four years of their undergraduate careers. According to the Stanford Housing Assignments Office, undergraduates live in 80 different houses, including dormitories, co-ops, row houses, fraternities and sororities. At Manzanita Park, 118 mobile homeMobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
s were installed as "temporary" housing from 1969 to 1991, but it is now the site of modern dorms Castano, Kimball, and Lantana. Most student residences are located just outside the campus core, within ten minutes (on foot or bike) of most classrooms and libraries. Some are for freshmen only; others give priority to sophomores, others to both freshmen and sophomores; some are for upperclass students only, and some are open to all four classes. Most residences are co-ed; seven are all-male fraternities
Fraternity
A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...
, three are all-female sororities, and there is also one all-female non-sorority house, Roth House. In most residences, men and women live on the same floor, but a few dorms are configured for men and women to live on separate floors (single-gender floors), including all Wilbur dorms except for Arroyo and Okada. Beginning in 2009–10, the University's housing plan anticipates that all freshmen desiring to live in all-freshman dorms will be accommodated. In the 2009–10 year, almost two-thirds of freshmen will be housed in Stern and Wilbur Halls. The one-third who requested four-class housing will be located in other dormitories throughout campus, including Florence Moore (FloMo). In April 2008, Stanford unveiled a new pilot plan to test out gender-neutral housing in five campus residences, allowing males and females to live in the same room. This was after concerted student pressure, as well as the institution of similar policies at peer institutions such as Wesleyan
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
, Oberlin
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Clark
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
, Dartmouth
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Brown
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, and UPenn
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
Several residences are considered theme houses. The Academic, Language and Culture Houses include EAST (East Asian Studies Theme), Hammarskjöld (International Theme), Haus Mitteleuropa (Central European Theme), La Casa Italiana (Italian Language and Culture), La Maison Française (French Language and Culture House), Slavianskii Dom (Slavic/East European Theme House), Storey (Human Biology Theme House), and Yost (Spanish Language and Culture).Cross-Cultural Theme Houses include Casa Zapata (Chicano/Latino Theme in Stern Hall), Muwekma-tah-ruk (American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Theme), Okada (Asian-American Theme in Wilbur Hall), and Ujamaa (Black/African-American Theme in Lagunita Court). Focus Houses include Freshman-Sophomore College (Freshman Focus), Branner Hall (Community Service), Kimball (Arts & Performing Arts), Crothers (Global Citizenship), and Toyon (Sophomore Priority).
Another famous style of housing at Stanford is the co-ops
Housing cooperative
A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a corporation—that owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. ...
. These houses feature cooperative living, where residents and eating associates each contribute work to keep the house running, such as cooking meals or cleaning shared spaces. The co-ops on campus are Chi Theta Chi, Columbae, Enchanted Broccoli Forest (EBF), Hammarskjöld (which is also the International Theme House), Kairos, Terra, and Synergy.
At any time, around 50 percent of the graduate population lives on campus. Now that construction has concluded on the new Munger graduate residence, this percentage has probably increased. First-year graduate students are guaranteed housing.
Traditions
- Full Moon on the Quad: A student gathering in the Main Quad of the university. Traditionally, seniors exchange kisses with freshmen, although students of all four classes (as well as the occasional graduate student or stranger) have been known to participate.
- Sunday Flicks: A weekly Sunday night film screening in Memorial AuditoriumStanford Memorial AuditoriumMemorial Auditorium , dedicated in 1937, commemorates those students and faculty from Stanford who died in World War I. Designed by Bakewell and Brown, construction of the auditorium was funded primarily through student contributions...
. Usually, students are very loud and crazy during the screenings, and can be seen flying paper airplanes or simply throwing wads of newspaper at each other. Flicks ran into significant financial trouble in 2006 and after an ASSU bail-out became free for all students. - Steam-tunnelling: The act of exploring the steam tunnelsUtility tunnelA utility tunnel is a space for wires, conduits, pipes, and other conveyances used in the delivery of utilities with enough room for a human to enter. Modern pipes and cables need less attention and space than older varieties, so the construction of utility tunnels declined in the late 20th century...
under the Stanford campus. - Fountain-hopping: The act of running from one fountain on campus to another, or simply leaping/swimming around in any of Stanford's many fountains (such as the so-called Claw fountain in White Plaza).
- Big GameBig Game (football)The Big Game is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. It is typically played in late November or early December...
events: The events in the week leading up to the Big GameBig Game (football)The Big Game is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. It is typically played in late November or early December...
vs. UC Berkeley, including Gaieties (a musical written, composed, produced, and performed by the students of Ram's Head Theatrical Society), The Bearial (in which the Stanford BandStanford BandThe Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band is the student marching band of Stanford University. Billing itself as "The World's Largest Rock and Roll Band", the Stanford Band performs at sporting events, student activities, and other functions...
performs a funeral-like procession and pierces a stuffed-animal bear on the tip of the Stanford Claw fountain), and an hourly train whistle that counts down the hours until Big Game, orchestrated by the Stanford Axe Committee. - Primal scream: Performed by stressed students at midnight during Dead WeekDead weekDead week is a slang term for the week before schools' final examinations in the United States of America. The week is known thus because of its notorious stress; the propensity for college and university students to save exam study until the last possible week; and because term papers are often due...
(the week prior to finals). - Midnight BreakfastMidnight breakfastMidnight breakfast is a generic term for a communal meal served at some American colleges and universities. Menu items that are generally considered breakfast foods are served in the school's dining hall late at night as a study break before or during final exams, or as a traditional...
: During Winter quarter dead week, Stanford faculty serves breakfast to students in several locations on campus (you might see a vice-provost refilling orange juice, etc.) - Viennese Ball: a formal ballBall (dance)A ball is a formal dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare", meaning 'to dance'; the term also derived into "bailar", which is the Spanish and Portuguese word for dance . In Catalan it is the same word, 'ball', for the dance event.Attendees wear evening attire, which is...
with waltzes that was started in the 1970s by students returning from the now-closed Stanford in ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
overseas program. - The Stanford PowwowPowWowPowWow is a wireless sensor network mote developed by the Cairn team of IRISA/INRIA. The platform is currently based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard radio transceiver and on an MSP430 microprocessor...
: Organized by the Stanford American Indian Organization since 1971 and held every Mother's DayMother's DayMother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May...
weekend. - Mausoleum Party: An annual HalloweenHalloweenHallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
Party at the Stanford MausoleumStanford MausoleumThe Stanford Mausoleum, located in the northwest of the Stanford University campus in the Stanford University Arboretum, holds the remains of the university's namesake Leland Stanford, Jr...
, which contains the corpses of Leland Stanford, Jr.Leland Stanford, Jr.Leland Stanford Jr. , Leland DeWitt Stanford until age nine, was the only child of Governor Leland Stanford of California and his wife Jane Stanford née Lathrop, and is the namesake of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States.Leland Jr...
and his parents. A 20-year tradition, the Mausoleum party was on hiatus from 2002 to 2005 due to a lack of funding from the alumni, but was revived in 2006. In 2008, it was hosted in Old Union rather than at the actual Mausoleum, because rain prohibited generators from being rented. In 2009, after fundraising efforts by the Junior Class Presidents and the ASSU Executive, the event was able to return to the Mausoleum despite facing budget cuts earlier in the year. - Stanford Charity Fashion Show: A large student-run diversity fashion show showcasing student, local, and international designers that was started in 1991 by the Asian American Students' Association.
- Senior Pub Night: On most Thursdays during the school year, seniors gather at a bar in Palo Alto or San Francisco. The location rotates week to week, and chartered buses are organized to take the seniors safely between the bar and campus.
- Uncommon Man/Uncommon Woman: Stanford does not award honorary degrees, but in 1953 the University created the degree of Uncommon Man/Uncommon Woman for individuals who give rare and extraordinary service to the University. The University's highest honor, the degree is not given at prescribed intervals, but only when appropriate to recognize extraordinary service. Recipients include Herbert HooverHerbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, Lucile Packard, and John GardnerJohn W. GardnerJohn William Gardner, was Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson. During World War II he served in the United States Marine Corps as a captain. In 1955 he became president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and, concurrently, the Carnegie Foundation for...
. - Birthday Showers: Students get thrown in the shower by their friends at midnight on their birthdays.
- A Capella groups perform in student residences during New Student Orientation and throughout the year. Some of the most notable original songs include those by humor-focused Fleet Street Singers, such as "Everyone Pees in the Shower" and "Pray to the God of Partial Credit."
- The GameThe Game (treasure hunt)The Game is a non-stop 24–48 hour treasure hunt, puzzlehunt or road rally that has run in the San Francisco Bay and Seattle areas since 1973. Its teams use vans rigged with power and Internet access and drive hundreds of miles from puzzle site to puzzle site, overcoming often outrageous physical...
: Is a treasure hunt put on by dorm staff usually in the spring and summer quarters. - Secret Snowflake: Students are given three dares by anonymous residents within their dorm. These students have to perform these dares (one a night for three nights) in front of the whole dorm. These dare can range from tame activities (e.g. singing "Like a VirginLike a Virgin (song)"Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second album of the same name. It was released on November 6, 1984 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration...
" in a wedding dress) to extreme (e.g. nudity, stunts). This week of dares is carried out near the end of fall quarter before Christmas Break. - Valentine's Day Serenade: In the freshmen dorms, all of the guys in the dorm wake up all of the girls very early in the morning on Valentine's Day. Each girl is given a single rose and is then brought to the dorm lounge where all of the guys serenade the girls with a love song.
- Assassins: Participating students are assigned a target to "kill" with a water gun. A "kill" is only valid if no other person witnesses the "kill" and the target is "killed" outside of his/her dorm room and bathroom. Over a period of weeks, targets are eliminated until only one assassin victoriously remains.
Former campus traditions include the Big Game bonfire on Lake Lagunita
Lake Lagunita
Lake Lagunita is an artificial dry lake in Stanford University, California, located on the western side of the Stanford campus near the Lagunita residences.-Source:...
(a seasonal lake usually dry in the fall), which is now inactive because of the presence of endangered salamanders in the lake bed.
Greek life
Fraternities and sororities have been active on the Stanford campus since 1891, when the University first opened. In 1944, University President Donald TresidderDonald Tresidder
Donald Bertrand Tresidder was the fourth president of Stanford University.Son of Dr. John Treloar Tresidder , Tresidder was born in Tipton, Indiana. At the age of 20 he took a trip with his sister to Southern California. However, the railroad tracks were washed out and they went to Yosemite Valley...
banned all Stanford sororities due to extreme competition. However, following Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
, the Board of Trustees lifted the 33-year ban on sororities in 1977. Stanford is now home to 29 Greek organizations, including 13 sororities and 16 fraternities, representing 13% of undergraduates. In contrast to many universities, nine of the ten housed Greek organizations live in University-owned houses, the exception being Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
, which owns its own house (but not the land) on The Row. Six chapters are members of the African American Fraternal and Sororal Association, 11 chapters are members of the Interfraternity Council, 6 chapters belong to the Intersorority Council, and 6 chapters belong to the Multicultural Greek Council.
- Stanford is home to three unhoused historically NPHC (National Pan-Hellenic CouncilNational Pan-Hellenic CouncilThe National Pan-Hellenic Council is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. The nine NPHC organizations are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Divine Nine"...
or "Divine Nine") three sororities (Alpha Kappa AlphaAlpha Kappa AlphaAlpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...
, Delta Sigma ThetaDelta Sigma ThetaDelta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
, and Sigma Gamma RhoSigma Gamma RhoSigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was founded on the campus of Butler University on November 12, 1922, by seven school teachers in Indianapolis, Indiana...
) and three unhoused NPHC fraternities (Alpha Phi AlphaAlpha Phi AlphaAlpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...
, Kappa Alpha PsiKappa Alpha PsiKappa Alpha Psi is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin...
, and Phi Beta SigmaPhi Beta SigmaPhi Beta Sigma is a predominantly African-American fraternity which was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The founders A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I...
). These fraternities and sororities operate under the AAFSA (African American Fraternal Sororal Association) at Stanford.
- Seven historically NPC (National Panhellenic ConferenceNational Panhellenic ConferenceThe National Panhellenic Conference , founded in 1902, is an umbrella organization for 26 national women's sororities.Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek-letter society of college women and alumnae...
) sororities, four of which are unhoused (Alpha PhiAlpha PhiAlpha Phi International Women's Fraternity was founded at Syracuse University on September 18, 1872. Alpha Phi currently has 152 active chapters and over 200,000 initiated members. Its celebrated Founders' Day is October 10. It was the third Greek-letter organization founded for women. In Alpha...
, Alpha Epsilon PhiAlpha Epsilon PhiAlpha Epsilon Phi is a sorority and member of the National Panhellenic Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1909 at Barnard College in New York City by seven Jewish women; Helen Phillips Lipman, Ida Beck Carlin, Rose Gerstein Smolin, Augustina "Tina" Hess Solomon, Lee Reiss Liebert, Rose...
, Chi OmegaChi OmegaChi Omega is a women's fraternity and the largest member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Chi Omega has 174 active collegiate chapters and over 230 alumnae chapters. Chi Omega's national headquarters is located in Memphis, Tennessee....
, and Kappa Kappa GammaKappa Kappa GammaKappa Kappa Gamma is a collegiate women's fraternity, founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois, USA. Although the groundwork of the organization was developed as early as 1869, the 1876 Convention voted that October 13, 1870 should be recognized at the official Founders Day, because no...
) and three of which are housed (Delta Delta DeltaDelta Delta DeltaDelta Delta Delta , also known as Tri Delta, is an international sorority founded on November 27, 1888, the eve of Thanksgiving Day. With over 200,000 initiates, Tri Delta is one of the world's largest NPC sororities.-History:...
, Kappa Alpha ThetaKappa Alpha ThetaKappa Alpha Theta , also known as Theta, is an international fraternity for women founded on January 27, 1870 at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury...
, and Pi Beta PhiPi Beta PhiPi Beta Phi is an international fraternity for women founded as I.C. Sorosis on April 28, 1867, at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. Its headquarters are located in Town and Country, Missouri, and there are 134 active chapters and over 330 alumnae organizations across the United States and...
) call Stanford home. These sororities operate under the Stanford Inter-sorority Council (ISC).
- Eleven historically NIC (National Interfraternity Conference) fraternities are also represented at Stanford, including four unhoused fraternities (Alpha Epsilon PiAlpha Epsilon PiAlpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...
, Delta Kappa EpsilonDelta Kappa EpsilonDelta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
, Delta Tau DeltaDelta Tau DeltaDelta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...
, and Sigma Phi EpsilonSigma Phi EpsilonSigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
), and seven housed fraternities (Kappa Alpha OrderKappa Alpha OrderKappa Alpha Order is a social fraternity and fraternal order. Kappa Alpha Order has 124 active chapters, 3 provisional chapters, and 2 commissions...
, Kappa SigmaKappa SigmaKappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...
, Phi Kappa PsiPhi Kappa PsiPhi Kappa Psi is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. There are over a hundred chapters and colonies at accredited four year colleges and universities throughout the United States. More than 112,000 men have been...
, Sigma Alpha EpsilonSigma Alpha EpsilonSigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
, Sigma ChiSigma ChiSigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
, Sigma NuSigma NuSigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
, and Theta Delta ChiTheta Delta ChiTheta Delta Chi is a social fraternity that was founded in 1847 at Union College. While nicknames differ from institution to institution, the most common nicknames for the fraternity are Theta Delt, Thete, TDX, and TDC. Theta Delta Chi brothers refer to their local organization as Charges rather...
). These fraternities operate under the Stanford Inter-fraternity Council (IFC).
- There are also four unhoused MGC (Multicultural Greek Council) sororities on campus (Alpha Kappa Delta PhiAlpha Kappa Delta Phialpha Kappa Delta Phi is an Asian American interest sorority founded at the University of California, Berkeley.-History:...
, Lambda Theta NuLambda Theta NuLambda Theta Nu' is a Latina-based Greek letter intercollegiate sorority founded on March 11, 1986 at California State University, Chico.- Purpose :...
, Sigma Psi ZetaSigma Psi ZetaSigma Psi Zeta , a Multicultural, Asian-Interest sorority, was founded on March 23, 1994 at the University at Albany and incorporated in New York on March 15, 1996 by the 10 Founding Mothers. The sorority's colors are red and gold and its flower is a yellow rose with baby's breath.Sigma Psi Zeta is...
, and Sigma Theta PsiSigma Theta PsiSigma Theta Psi is a multicultural, academic, and social sorority. The sorority was founded at San Jose State University in 1991. Sigma Theta Psi is known for their work with breast cancer awareness throughout sisters' local campuses and communities...
), as well as two unhoused MGC fraternities (Gamma Zeta AlphaGamma Zeta AlphaGamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was founded on December 3, 1987 at California State University, Chico in Chico, California. It is a Latino Interest Fraternity that emphasizes Latino culture and the success of Latino males in higher education. Although Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc...
and Lambda Phi EpsilonLambda Phi EpsilonLambda Phi Epsilon is an internationally-recognized fraternity in the United States and Canada. With a total of 53 chapters, it is the largest Asian-interest fraternity in North America...
). Lambda Phi Epsilon is recognized by the National Interfraternity Conference (NIC).
Student groups
Stanford offers its students the opportunity to engage in over 650 groups. Groups are often, though not always, partially funded by the University via allocations directed by the student government organization, the ASSU. These funds include "special fees", which are decided by a Spring Quarter vote by the student body. Groups span from Athletic/Recreational, Careers/Pre-professional, Community Service, Ethnic/Cultural, Fraternities/Sororities, Health/Counseling, Media/Publications, Music/Dance/Creative Arts, Political/Social Awareness to Religious/Philosophical.Groups include (but are not limited to):
- The Stanford Daily is an independent organization located on campus, and is the daily newspaper serving Stanford University. It has been published since the University was founded in 1892.
- The Stanford Axe Committee is the official guardian of the Stanford Axe and the rest of the time assists the Stanford BandStanford BandThe Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band is the student marching band of Stanford University. Billing itself as "The World's Largest Rock and Roll Band", the Stanford Band performs at sporting events, student activities, and other functions...
as a supplementary spirit group. - The Stanford Pre-Business Association is the largest business-focused undergraduate organization. It plays an instrumental role in establishing an active link between the industry, alumni, and student communities.
- The Stanford solar car projectStanford solar car projectThe Stanford Solar Car Project is a student group at Stanford University that designs, builds, tests, and races solar powered vehicles. The SSCP, a student-run, donation-funded organization, has been building and racing solar-powered vehicles since 1986. The team's most recent car, Xenith , was...
, where students build a solar-powered car every 2 years and race it in either the North American Solar Challenge or the World Solar ChallengeWorld Solar ChallengeThe World Solar Challenge is a solar-powered car race which covers through the Australian Outback, from Darwin to Adelaide.The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations although some are fielded by high schools...
. - Stanford Astronomical Society organizes viewings of meteor showers, lunar eclipses, and other astronomical events.
- The Stanford Kite Flying Society (founded 2008), a group of undergraduates dedicated to flying kites. Society "meetings" are usually on Wilbur Field when it is windy out.
- The Pilipino American Student Union (PASU), a culture-oriented community service and social activism group. Also integral to PASU is a traditional performing arts arm called Kayumanggi.
- Stanford Finance is a pre-professional organization aimed at mentoring students who want to enter a career in finance, through mentors and internships.
- Leland Quarterly is Stanford's literary magazine. It publishes the creative writing, essays, and art of Stanford students on a "Stanford quarterly" basis (autumn, winter, and spring) and also runs features of arts and literary figures and events on campus.
- BASESBusiness Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial StudentsThe Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students is a student group at Stanford University focusing on business and entrepreneurial activities...
, the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students is one of the largest professional organizations in Silicon Valley, with over 5,000 members. Its goal is to support the next generation of entrepreneurs. - The Stanford Fleet Street Singers is an all-male AcappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
group specializing in comedic original compositions, jazzJazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and Stanford fight songs. Because Fleet Street maintains Stanford songs as a regular part of its performing repertoire, Stanford University used the group as ambassadors during the University's centennial celebration and commissioned an album, entitled Up Toward Mountains Higher (1999), of Stanford songs which were sent to alumni around the world. - The Stanford Martial Arts Program (SMAP) is an umbrella organization for 11 different martial arts groups on campus: Aikido, Capoeira, Eskrima, Judo, Jujitsu, Kenpo Karate, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, JKA Shotokan, Taekwondo, and Wushu.
- The Stanford Women In Business (SWIB) is an on-campus business organization consisting of over a board of 40 and 100 active members. Each year, SWIB organizes over 25 events and workshops, hosts a winter and spring conference, and provides mentorship and spring quarter internships.
- The Claw Magazine, named after the fountain in White Plaza, is an undergraduate publication that features humor, artwork, investigative reporting, and fiction.
Athletics
Stanford participates in the NCAA'sNational Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I-A and is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. Stanford has constantly won the NACDA Directors' Cup, The University of North Carolina won the award for best Division I collegiate athletics program in its inaugural year. Since then, Stanford University has won it seventeen straight years, winning seventeen out of the eighteen years it has been offered. It also participates in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is a college athletic conference whose member teams are located in the western United States. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level.-History:...
for indoor track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
(men and women), fencing (men and women), water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
(men and women), women's gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, women's lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, men's gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, and men's volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
. The women's field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
team is part of the NorPac Conference. Stanford's traditional sports rival is the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, its neighbor to the north in the East Bay.
Stanford offers 34 varsity sports (18 female, 15 male, one coed), 19 club sports and 37 intramural sports—about 800 students participate in intercollegiate sports. The university offers about 300 athletic scholarships.
Big Game (football)
The Big Game is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. It is typically played in late November or early December...
" between the Cal and Stanford football teams gains custody of the Stanford Axe
The Stanford Axe
The Stanford Axe is a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Big Game, a college football match-up between the University of California Golden Bears and the Stanford University Cardinal. The trophy consists of an axe-head mounted on a large wooden plaque, along with the scores of past Big Games...
. The first "Big Game", played at Haight Street Park in San Francisco on March 19, 1892, established football on the west coast. Stanford won 14 to 10 in front of 8 thousand spectators. Stanford's football team played in the first Rose Bowl in 1902. However, the violence of the sport at the time, coupled with the post-game rioting of drunken spectators, led San Francisco to bar further "Big Games" in the city in 1905. In 1906, David Starr Jordan banned football from Stanford. The 1906–1914 "Big Game" contests featured rugby instead of football. Stanford football was resumed in 1919. Stanford won back-to-back Rose Bowls in 1971 and 1972. Stanford has played in 12 Rose Bowls, most recently in 2000. Stanford's Jim Plunkett
Jim Plunkett
James William "Jim" Plunkett is a former American football quarterback who played college football for Stanford University, where he won the Heisman Trophy, and professionally for three National Football League teams: the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. ...
won the Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
in 1970.
Club sports, while not officially a part of Stanford athletics, are numerous at Stanford. Sports include archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
, badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
, cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
, hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
, kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...
, men's lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
, racquetball
Racquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
, skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
, taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, triathlon
Triathlon
A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
and Ultimate
Ultimate (sport)
Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
. The men's Ultimate team won national championships in 1984 and 2002, the women's Ultimate team in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007, the women's rugby team in 1999, 2005, 2006 and 2008. The cycling team won the 2007 Division I USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships.
Until 1930, Stanford did not have a "mascot" name for its athletic teams. In that year, the athletic department adopted the name "Indians." In 1972, "Indians" was dropped after a complaint of racial insensitivity was lodged by Native American students.
Cardinal (color)
Cardinal is a vivid red, which gets its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals...
, referring to the deep red color, not the cardinal bird
Cardinal (bird)
The Cardinals or Cardinalidae are a family of passerine birds found in North and South America. The South American cardinals in the genus Paroaria are placed in another family, the Thraupidae ....
. Cardinal, and later cardinal and white has been the university's official color since the 19th century. The Band's mascot, "The Tree"
Stanford Tree
The Stanford Tree is the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band's mascot and the unofficial mascot of Stanford University. Stanford's team name is "The Cardinal," referring to the vivid red color , and the University has never been able to come up with an official mascot...
, has become associated with the school in general. Part of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB)
Stanford Band
The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band is the student marching band of Stanford University. Billing itself as "The World's Largest Rock and Roll Band", the Stanford Band performs at sporting events, student activities, and other functions...
, the tree symbol derives from the El Palo Alto
El Palo Alto
El Palo Alto is a coast redwood tree located in El Palo Alto Park on the banks of San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto, California, United States...
redwood tree on the Stanford and City of Palo Alto seals.
Stanford hosts an annual U.S. Open Series tennis tournament, the Bank of the West Classic
Bank of the West Classic
The Bank of the West Classic is a week-long tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States. The 2011 event will be held on July 25th to July 31st. Started in 1971, the tournament is the oldest women's-only tournament in the world...
, at Taube Stadium. Cobb Track, Angell Field, and Avery Stadium Pool are considered world-class athletic facilities. Stanford Stadium
Stanford Stadium
Stanford Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium on the Stanford University campus, the home of Stanford Cardinal college football team. It originally opened in 1921 as a football and track stadium, an earthen horseshoe with wooden bleacher seating and flooring upon a steel frame...
hosted Super Bowl XIX
Super Bowl XIX
Super Bowl XIX was an American football game played on January 20, 1985 at Stanford Stadium, on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1984 regular season...
on January 20, 1985, in which the San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
defeated the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
by a score of 38–16 and several group stage matches in the 1994 FIFA World Cup
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...
.
Stanford has won the award for the top ranked collegiate athletic program—the NACDA Director's Cup
NACDA Director's Cup
The NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and universities with the most success in collegiate athletics...
, formerly known as the Sears Cup—every year for the past seventeen years. Stanford has had at least one NCAA team champion every year since the 1976-77 school year.
NCAA achievements: Stanford has earned 101 National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
national team titles since its establishment, second most behind the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, and 467 individual National championships, the most by any university. The 101st championship was won by the 2010-2011 Stanford Women's Water Polo team.
Olympic achievements: According to the Stanford Daily, "Stanford has been represented in every summer Olympiad since 1908." As of 2004, Stanford athletes had won 182 Olympic medals at the summer games; "In fact, in every Olympiad since 1912, Stanford athletes have won at least one and as many as 17 gold medals." Stanford athletes won 24 medals at the 2008 Summer Games—8 gold, 12 silver and 4 bronze.
Notable alumni, faculty, and staff
Stanford alumni have started many companies including Hewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
(William Hewlett
William Reddington Hewlett
William Redington Hewlett was an engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company . He was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan where is father taught at the Univerisy of Michigan Medical School...
and David Packard
David Packard
David Packard was a co-founder of Hewlett-Packard , serving as president , CEO , and Chairman of the Board . He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969–1971 during the Nixon administration...
), Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
(Sandra Lerner
Sandra Lerner
Sandy Lerner was a co-founder of Cisco Systems . After leaving Cisco, she was a founder of Urban Decay cosmetics, and an advocate of animal welfare....
and Leonard Bosack
Leonard Bosack
Leonard Bosack along with his wife Sandy Lerner, is a co-founder of Cisco Systems, an American-based multinational corporation that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking and communications technology and services...
), NVIDIA
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
(Jen-Hsun Huang
Jen-Hsun Huang
Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang is a Taiwanese American entrepreneur and businessman. A native of Taiwan, he grew up in Oregon, graduating from Oregon State University before moving to California where he graduated from Stanford University. He co-founded the graphics-processor company Nvidia and serves...
), SGI
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
, VMware
VMware
VMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....
, MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was...
, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
(Chih-Yuan Yang and David Filo
David Filo
David Filo is an American businessman and the co-founder of Yahoo! with Jerry Yang.Until the company decided to switch to PHP, his Filo Server Program, written in the C programming language, was the server-side scripting software used to dynamically serve variable web pages, called Filo Server...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
(Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
and Lawrence Page), Wipro Technologies (Azim Premji
Azim Premji
Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as one of the Indian leader in the software industry...
), Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
(Phil Knight
Phil Knight
Philip Hampson "Phil" Knight is an American business magnate. He is the co-founder and Chairman of Nike, Inc. He resigned as the company's chief executive officer in 2004, while retaining the position of chairman of the board...
), Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
( Doris F. Fisher), Logitech
Logitech
Logitech International S.A. is a global provider of personal peripherals for computers and other digital platforms headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland. The company develops and markets products like peripheral devices for PCs, including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers...
, and Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
(Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla is an Indian-born American venture capitalist and an influential personality in Silicon Valley....
). The Sun in Sun Microsystems originally stood for "Stanford University Network."
Stanford's current community of scholars includes:
- 16 Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureates; - 137 members of the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
; - 95 members of National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
; - 62 members of Institute of MedicineInstitute of MedicineThe Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
; - 258 members of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
; - 19 recipients of the National Medal of ScienceNational Medal of ScienceThe National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
; - 2 recipients of the National Medal of TechnologyNational Medal of TechnologyThe National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology...
; - 30 members of the National Academy of Education;
- 43 members of American Philosophical SocietyAmerican Philosophical SocietyThe American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
; - 56 fellows of the American Physics Society (since 1995);
- 4 Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winners; - 24 MacArthur Fellows;
- 7 Wolf Foundation Prize winners;
- 6 Koret FoundationKoret FoundationThe Koret Foundation, along with the Koret Fund, is a private foundation based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was organized in 1978 by Joseph and Stephanie Koret, along with Tad Taube, their family friend and Chief Executive Officer of their women's sportswear company, Korett of...
Prize winners; - 2 ACLAssociation for Computational LinguisticsThe Association for Computational Linguistics is the international scientific and professional society for people working on problems involving natural language and computation. An annual meeting is held each summer in locations where significant computational linguistics research is carried out...
Lifetime Achievement Award winners; - 14 AAAI fellows;
- 3 Presidential Medal of FreedomPresidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
winners.
Stanford has been affiliated with over 50 Nobel laureates, as well as 19 recipients (mostly as faculty) of the Turing Award
Turing Award
The Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
, the so-called "Nobel Prize in computer science," comprising nearly half of the awards given in its 44-year history. The university is also affiliated with 4 Gödel Prize
Gödel Prize
The Gödel Prize is a prize for outstanding papers in theoretical computer science, named after Kurt Gödel and awarded jointly by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science and the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory .The...
and 4 Knuth Prize
Knuth Prize
The Donald E. Knuth Prize is a prize for outstanding contributions to the foundations of computer science, named after Donald E. Knuth.-History:...
recipients, for their work in the foundations of computer science.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
Yukio Hatoyama
is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan between 16 September 2009 and 2 June 2010, and was the first ever Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan....
, former U.S. President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher
Warren Christopher
Warren Minor Christopher was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician. During Bill Clinton's first term as President, Christopher served as the 63rd Secretary of State. He also served as Deputy Attorney General in the Lyndon Johnson administration, and as Deputy Secretary of State in the Jimmy...
, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
and former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique is a politician who was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in April 2001, defeating former President Alan García...
are alumni.
NBA guard Landry Fields
Landry Fields
Landry Fields is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the NBA.-Personal information and high school career:...
, NFL quarterbacks Jim Plunkett
Jim Plunkett
James William "Jim" Plunkett is a former American football quarterback who played college football for Stanford University, where he won the Heisman Trophy, and professionally for three National Football League teams: the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. ...
, Trent Edwards
Trent Edwards
Trent Edwards is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft...
and John Elway
John Elway
John Albert Elway, Jr. is a former American football quarterback and currently is the executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He played college football at Stanford and his entire professional career with the Denver Broncos...
, NFL receivers Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks (American football)
Gordon Gerard Banks is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League. He played for the New Orleans Saints from 1980–1981, the Dallas Cowboys from 1985–1988, and for the Oakland Invaders of the short-lived United States Football League...
and Ed McCaffrey
Ed McCaffrey
Edward Thomas McCaffrey is a former American football wide receiver who played for the New York Giants , San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos of the National Football League...
, NFL Fullback Jon Ritchie
Jon Ritchie
Jon David Ritchie is a former professional American football fullback in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders.-Early years:Ritchie attended Cumberland Valley High School from 1989 to 1993...
, runner Ryan Hall
Ryan Hall (runner)
Ryan Hall is an American long distance runner. He won the marathon at the 2008 United States Olympic Trials and placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing. He holds the U.S. record in the half marathon . With his half marathon record time, he became the first U.S...
, MLB starting pitcher Mike Mussina
Mike Mussina
Michael Cole Mussina , nicknamed Moose, is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played for the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees ....
, MLB left-fielder Carlos Quentin
Carlos Quentin
Carlos Josè Quentin is an American outfielder who plays for the Chicago White Sox. In 2008 and in 2011, Quentin was selected as an All-Star.-Early career:...
, MLB infielder Jed Lowrie
Jed Lowrie
Jed Carlson Lowrie is an American professional baseball infielder with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball.-Baseball career:Lowrie was born on April 17, 1984 and later attended North Salem High School....
, Grand Slam winning tennis players John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
(did not graduate) (singles and doubles) and (doubles) Bob
Bob Bryan
Robert Charles "Bob" Bryan is an American male professional tennis player. With his twin brother Mike, he has spent over 200 weeks as a World No. 1 doubles player. He has won eighteen Grand Slam titles, 11 in men's doubles and seven in mixed doubles. He turned professional in 1998...
and Mike Bryan
Mike Bryan
Michael Carl "Mike" Bryan is an American professional tennis player. He stands tall, weighs 192 lbs and plays right-handed. He turned professional in 1998. With his twin brother Bob, he has been World No...
, professional golfer Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
(did not graduate), New Zealand Football and Blackburn Rovers Defender Ryan Nelsen
Ryan Nelsen
Ryan William Nelsen, ONZM is a New Zealand footballer who plays as a defender, and is captain of Premier League club Blackburn Rovers. Nelsen captains the New Zealand national team, the All Whites. He joined Blackburn back in 2005 on a free transfer from D.C. United...
, Olympic swimmers Jenny Thompson
Jenny Thompson
Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competitive swimmer, and one of the most decorated Olympians in history, winning twelve medals, including eight gold medals , in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.Thompson, a Massachusetts native who calls Dover, New Hampshire her...
, Summer Sanders
Summer Sanders
Summer Elisabeth Sanders is a sports commentator and reporter, TV show host, actress and retired Olympic gold medalist in swimming.- School and swimming :...
and Pablo Morales
Pablo Morales
Pablo Morales is an American former swimmer. He attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, in San Jose, California under the supervision of Larry Rogers...
, Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas
Debi Thomas
Debra Janine "Debi" Thomas M.D. is an American figure skater and physician. She is the 1986 World champion and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist, having taken part in the Battle of the Carmens at those games.-Personal life:...
, Olympic water polo players Tony Azevedo
Tony Azevedo
Anthony Lawrence Azevedo is an American water polo player and a graduate of Stanford University. Nicknamed "The Savior" at one point, he is considered to be one of the best American water polo players in recent memory...
and Brenda Villa
Brenda Villa
Brenda Villa is an American world-class water polo player for the US National and Olympic teams....
, Olympic softball player Jessica Mendoza
Jessica Mendoza
Jessica Mendoza , is an American softball player of Mexican descent, who played for the United States women's national softball team from 2004-2010 and a four-time first team All-American at Stanford University from 1999-2002. Mendoza wears number two and plays outfield...
, Olympic volleyball player Kerri Walsh
Kerri Walsh
Kerri Lee Walsh-Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player.Walsh-Jennings and teammate Misty May-Treanor were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics...
, Heisman finalist Toby Gerhart
Toby Gerhart
Toby Gerhart is a professional football player, a running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was a consensus All-American running back at Stanford and was selected in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, the 51st overall pick. In 2009 Gerhart won the Doak Walker...
, and actress Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
(did not graduate) are alumni.
Actresses Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Lynn Connelly is an American film actress, who began her career as a child model. She appeared in magazine, newspaper and television advertising, before making her motion picture debut in the 1984 crime film Once Upon a Time in America...
and Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
(her alumna status was featured in the 2009 film Avatar), actor Ben Savage
Ben Savage
Bennett Joseph "Ben" Savage is an American film and TV actor and child star of late 1980s and 1990s. Savage is best known for his role as lead character Cory Matthews on the TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000....
, and political commentator Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow
Rachel Anne Maddow is an American television host and political commentator. Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio...
are prominent graduates. Current Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
President Rick Levin earned his A.B.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Stanford while current California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
President Jean-Lou Chameau
Jean-Lou Chameau
Jean-Lou Chameau is a civil engineer and the current president of the California Institute of Technology. Previously he served as a provost of the Georgia Institute of Technology....
earned his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from Stanford.
Further reading
- Ronald N. BracewellRonald N. BracewellRonald Newbold Bracewell AO was the Lewis M. Terman Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus of the at Stanford University.- Education :...
, Trees of Stanford and Environs (Stanford Historical Society, 2005) - Ken Fenyo, The Stanford Daily 100 Years of Headlines (2003-10-01) ISBN 0-9743654-0-8
- Jean Fetter, Questions and Admissions: Reflections on 100,000 Admissions Decisions at Stanford (1997-07-01) ISBN 0-8047-3158-6
- Ricard Joncas, David Neumann, and Paul V. Turner. Stanford University. The Campus Guide. Princeton Architectural PressPrinceton Architectural PressPrinceton Architectural Press is a leading publisher of architecture and design books, with over 500 titles on its backlist. It was founded in 1981 by Kevin Lippert in Princeton, NJ and moved to New York City in 1985. Since 1996, Princeton Architectural Press has been distributed in the...
, 2006. Available online. - Stuart W. Leslie, The Cold War and American Science: The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex at MIT and Stanford, Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
1994 - Rebecca S. Lowen, R. S. Lowen, Creating the Cold War University: The Transformation of Stanford, University of California PressUniversity of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
1997