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Northwestern University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian research university, located in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, U.S.. Northwestern's main campus is a 240-acre (970,000 m²) parcel in Evanston, along the shore of Lake Michigan. Several of Northwestern's professional schools are located in Chicago, on a 25-acre (101,000 m²) campus near the Magnificent Mile. As of 2005, Northwestern's endowment and other trust funds total approximately $4.92 billion. Northwestern University enrolls approximately 15,000 full-time students (including approximately 8,000 undergraduates) and employs nearly 7,100 faculty and staff members. Northwestern's student newspaper is The Daily Northwestern, its student radio station is WNUR and its student television news network is NNN. It is a member of the Big Ten Conference for college athletics. The official school color is purple. The school is commonly referred to as simply Northwestern, and although some refer to the university as "NW" or "NWU", NU is the correct abbreviation.
History Founded in 1851 by Methodists from Chicago (including John Evans, after whom Evanston is named), Northwestern opened in 1855 with two faculty members and ten students. The University's name, Northwestern, came from its founders' desire to serve citizens of the states that occupied the area of the former Northwest Territory: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The phrase on Northwestern's seal is Quaecumque sunt vera -- in Latin, "Whatsoever things are true" from Philippians 4:8. Also on Northwestern's seal, a Greek phrase inscribed on the pages of an open book: ho logos pleres charitos kai aletheias, which translates as "The Word... full of grace and truth." This phrase comes from the Gospel of John (1:14): "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we behold His glory, and the glory was of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Both the Latin and Greek phrases express the values of the University's founders, and recall Northwestern's Methodist heritage. Northwestern's founding charter granted the school a permanent exemption from paying property taxes. For this reason, Northwestern has often endured a difficult relationship with Evanston's government. Tensions have arisen regarding building codes, law enforcement, and politics. Recently, factions of Evanston's government have attempted to divide Northwestern's campus into several different wards, so as to reduce students' voting potency. During the 1930s, Northwestern nearly merged with its academic rival, the University of Chicago. In 1933, Northwestern president Scott and Chicago president Hutchins concluded that in order to secure the future of both universities, it was in the best interest of both to merge as the Universities of Chicago, with Northwestern's Evanston campus serving undergraduates, Northwestern's Chicago campus serving professionals, and Chicago's Hyde Park campus serving postgraduates. What Scott and Hutchins initially envisioned as the preeminent university in the world was eventually extinguished by Northwestern's boards of trustees, a result that Hutchins called "one of the lost opportunities of American education." * In 1948, prominent anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits founded the Program of African Studies at Northwestern, the first center of its kind at an American academic institution. On January 11, 2003, in a speech at Northwestern School of Law's Lincoln Hall, Governor of Illinois George Ryan announced that he would commute the sentences of more than 150 death row inmates. Ryan said, "it is fitting that we are gathered here today at Northwestern University with the students, teachers, lawyers and investigators who first shed light on the sorrowful conditions of Illinois’ death penalty system." * In the late 1990s, Northwestern student journalists uncovered information that exonerated Illinois death row inmate Anthony Porter two days before his scheduled execution. Student body Building 060527.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The Montgomery Ward Building at the Feinberg School of Medicine--America's first academic skyscraper. http://www.northwestern.edu/about/history/timeline1949 Northwestern's admissions are among the "most selective" in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. Among national undergraduate programs, the publication ranked Northwestern 14th overall in selectivity. As of the 2005-06 academic year, there are 7,947 undergraduates and 5,460 graduate students enrolled full-time. 909 students were enrolled part-time in the School of Continuing Studies. In early April, it was confirmed that for the undergraduate class of 2010, there were 18,419 total applicants, up 18% from the year before. 5,200 students were admitted (about 28%). In the class of 2009, 6.4% are black, 17.4% are Asian, 6.5% are Hispanic and 1.8% are multiracial. The class is 52.1% female and 47.9% male. The mean high school rank was the 94th percentile and the combined SAT score 1402 (out of 1600), marking the highest SAT average of any class in Northwestern history and making Northwestern the most selective Big Ten university, and the most selective university in the American Midwest. Of those enrolled in the class of 2009, 126 graduated as valedictorian of their high school class. According to numbers posted by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, 36% of Northwestern students were affiliated with a fraternity or a sorority in Spring 2005. This is the highest percentage of students involved in Greek life among Big Ten universities. Campus Life Student theater enjoys a highly visible presence on campus. Two annual productions are especially notable: the Waa-Mu show, and the Dolphin Show. Waa-Mu is an original musical, written and produced almost entirely by students. The Dolphin Show is the nation's largest student produced musical. Children's theater is represented on campus by Griffin’s Tale and the recently formed Purple Crayon Players. In addition, Northwestern boasts the largest student-theatre community in the nation. Students produce over sixty independent productions each year. Many Northwestern alumni have used these productions as stepping stones to successful television and film careers. Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre was founded by alum David Schwimmer and began in the Great Room in Jones residential college. The improv and sketch comedy group Mee-Ow lists Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Dermot Mulroney, Ana Gasteyer, and Seth Meyers among its alumni. Northwestern's Evanston campus runs North-South along a stretch of Sheridan Road. The North side of campus is home to the campus' fraternity quads, the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, and the Technological Institute and all of its adjoining science-related buildings. The South side of campus is home to the University's music buildings, art buildings, and sorority quads. This division in building location, along with the fact that the South end of campus is closer to the downtown center of Evanston, creates a difference in the culture of students typically found on either end of the campus. Athletics
Rankings According to US News & World Report, as of 2007, Northwestern's undergraduate program ranks 14th among all American "National University" programs. Northwestern's Medill School consistently ranks among America's top three journalism, media, and integrated marketing communications (IMC) schools ** *; Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management consistently ranks among America's top five business schools; Northwestern's School of Law consistently ranks among America's top fourteen law schools; Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine consistently ranks among America's top twenty medical schools; Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy consistently ranks among America's top ten education schools; Northwestern's Materials science program in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science ranks among America's top three; Northwestern's art history program consistently ranks among America's top ten; Northwestern's program in African history consistently ranks among America's top two; Northwestern's School of Music consistently ranks first among America's non-conservatory-based music programs. Other esteemed programs include Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS), Learning Sciences, Engineering, Theatre, Communications, Psychology, Radio/Television/Film, and Integrated Science (ISP). The Princeton Review ranks Northwestern among the Top 20 schools with the "Best College Newspaper," the "Best College Theater," and where "Town-Gown Relations are Strained." In 2003, this publication ranked Northwestern first for "Best Overall Academic Experience for Undergraduates." The Times Higher Education Supplement's ranks Northwestern 19th in the United States and 49th among world universities; the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks Northwestern 23rd in the United States, and 31st among world universities. Newsweek Magazine ranks Northwestern the 23rd most global American university, and 35th most global university overall. Traditions Northwestern University student traditions include: Undergraduate programs Graduate and professional programs Notable alumni Main article: List of Northwestern alumni Notable faculty Trivia In May 1978, the first Unabomber attack occurred at Northwestern University. The following year, the second Unabomber attack also occurred at Northwestern. In the fall of 1999, Oprah Winfrey taught a class entitled "Dynamics of Leadership" at the Kellogg School of Management. Men's Fitness magazine named Northwestern the fifth-fittest college in America in 2005. The Chicago Transit Authority's elevated train running through Evanston is called the Purple Line, taking its name from Northwestern's school color. Although the majority of the campus sits two to four city blocks from the Purple Line, the Foster station is within walking distance of the southern end of the campus, while the Noyes station is close to the northern end of the campus. The Central station is close to Ryan Field, Northwestern's football stadium. Northwestern's professional schools and hospital in downtown Chicago are about four blocks east of the Chicago stop on the CTA Red Line. See also Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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