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• Harvard University is the oldest college in the United States. It is considered one of the best institutions of higher learning in the world.

  On June 3, 2009, the university announced that it will be creating a professorship for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies (LGBT), which was provided an endowment by the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus.FoxNews: Harvard to Endow Chair in Gay, Lesbian Studies (June 3, 2009)

• Fast Facts

  1. Member of the Ivy League
  2. Established: 1636
  3. Location: Cambridge, MA
  4. President: Drew Gilpin Faust
  5. Faculty: Approximately 2,500
  6. Nickname: Crimson
  7. Motto: Veritas - Latin for "Truth"
  8. Mascot: John Harvard

• Early history

  Harvard University was initially named New College, and located in Newtown (now Cambridge), Massachusetts. It was founded in 1636, largely to educate ministers; construction for the school did not begin until 1638. In 1639, it was renamed after John Harvard, who upon his death at the age of 31 in 1638 bequeathed his entire library (400 books) and half his estate (779 pounds) to the school. A catastrophic fire in 1764 destroyed nearly every book the university had, including most of the books donated by John Harvard. The only surviving books were those that had been checked out from the library. Legend has it that only one book donated by John Harvard, "The Christian Warfare Against the Devil World and Flesh", survived.

• Expansion

  Despite its age and reputation for producing exceptional scholars, the university remained relatively small until 1869, when new university president Charles W. Eliot decided to expand it into a world-class institution on the level of the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. Enrollment tripled, faculty numbers more than quintupled, and the university founded a sister school, Radcliffe College, to educate women.

• Modernization

  In the early 20th century, President A. Lawrence Lowell changed the structure of education at Harvard to require both a field of concentration and a grounding in a diverse range of subjects. He also created a system of dormitories called "Houses" in which all undergraduates except freshmen would live. Each house took on its own character based on the interests of its residents. Though some modifications of his efforts took place over the next century (for example, Radcliffe students attending Harvard University classes beginning in 1943 and Radcliffe's eventual absorption into Harvard University, and President Derek Bok's establishment of the Core Curriculum), the Harvard University of the 21st century still largely bears the imprint of Lowell's legacy.

• Prestigious alumni

  Harvard University has produced seven United States presidents, and over 40 Nobel laureates.

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