Stanford University 3rd University of the world 2016

Stanford University has one of the largest campuses in the US and is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. It was established in 1885 and opened six years later as a co-educational and non-denominational private institution.

Its location, less than an hour’s drive south of San Francisco next to Palo Alto, is in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, and the university is known for its entrepreneurial spirit.  This entrepreneurialism has its roots in the aftermath of the Second World War, when the provost encouraged innovation, resulting in a self-sufficient industry that would become Silicon Valley.

By 1970, the university had a linear accelerator and hosted part of the early network that would become the technical foundation of the internet.  The main campus spans 8,180 acres and is home to almost all the undergraduates who study at the university.

There are 700 major university buildings housing 40 departments within the three academic schools and four professional schools, alongside 18 independent laboratories, centres and institutes.

Stanford counts 21 Nobel laureates within its community, and numerous famous alumni associated with the university from the worlds of business, politics, media, sport and technology. The 31st president of the US, Herbert Hoover, was part of the very first class at Stanford, and received a degree in geology in 1895. Currently, Stanford is also one of the leading producers of US Congress members.

The alumni include 30 living billionaires, 17 astronauts, 18 Turing Award recipients and two Fields Medallists. Google’s co-founders met at Stanford while pursuing doctorate degrees, although neither ultimately completed their theses.

In total, companies founded by Stanford affiliates and alumni generate more than $2.7 trillion annual revenue, which would be the 10th largest economy in the world. These companies include Nike, Netflix, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Instagram, Snapchat, PayPal and Yahoo.

The first American woman to go into space, Sally Ride, received an undergraduate degree in physics from Stanford in 1973. Just 10 years later, she made her ascent into space.

In the five years leading up to 2012, the university embarked on a challenge to raise more than $4 billion. The fundraising exceeded this target and concluded the campaign having raised $6.2 billion, which will be used for more faculty appointments, graduate research fellowships and scholarships, and construction on 38 new or existing campus buildings.

Some of the funds have already been used for large projects, including the world’s largest dedicated stem cell research facility, a new business school campus, a law school expansion, a new Engineering Quad, a campus concert hall and an art museum. Unofficially, the Stanford motto is a German quotation “Die Luft der Freiheit weht”, which translates as “the wind of freedom blows”.

Academics

Stanford follows a quarter system with Autumn quarter usually starting in late September and Spring Quarter ending in early June. The full-time, four-year undergraduate program has an arts and sciences focus with high graduate student coexistence. Stanford is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Full-time undergraduate tuition was $42,690 for 2013–2014. 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 2012–13, the university awarded $126 million in need-based financial aid to 3,485 students, with an average aid package of $40,460.  Eighty percent of students receive some form of financial aid.  Stanford has a no-loan policy.  For undergraduates admitted in 2015, Stanford waives tuition, room, and board for most families with incomes below $65,000, and most families with incomes below $125,000 are not required to pay tuition; those with incomes up to $150,000 may have tuition significantly reduced.  17% of students receive Pell Grants, a common measure of low-income students at a college.

Research centers and institutes

As of 2014 the Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research oversaw more than eighteen independent laboratories, centers, and institutes.[159] Other Stanford-affiliated institutions include the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (originally the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), the Stanford Research Institute (an independent institution which originated at the university), the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace (a major public policy think tank that attracts visiting scholars from around the world), and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (a multidisciplinary design school in cooperation with the Hasso Plattner Institute of University of Potsdam that integrates product design, engineering, and business management education).

Stanford is home to the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute which grew out of and still contains the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, a collaboration with the King Center to publish the King papers held by the King Center.  It also runs the John S. Knight Fellowship for Professional Journalists and the Center for Ocean Solutions, which brings together marine science and policy to address challenges facing the ocean.

Libraries and digital resources

As of 2014 Stanford University Libraries (SUL) held a collection of more than 9.3 million volumes, nearly 300,000 rare or special books, 1.5 million e-books, 2.5 million audiovisual materials, 77,000 serials, nearly 6 million microform holdings, and thousands of other digital resources.

The main library in the SU library system is Green Library, which also contains various meeting and conference rooms, study spaces, and reading rooms. Lathrop Library (previously Meyer Library, demolished in 2015), holds various student-accessible media resources and houses one of the largest East Asia collections with 540,000 volumes.

Arts

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. The Center's collection of works by Rodin is among the largest in the world. The Thomas Welton Stanford Gallery, built in 1917, serves as a teaching resource for the Department of Art & Art History as well as an exhibition venue. There are outdoor art installations throughout the campus, primarily sculptures, but some murals as well. The Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden near Roble Hall features includes wood carvings and "totem poles."

The Stanford music department sponsors many ensembles including five choirs, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Taiko, and the Stanford Wind Ensemble. Extracurricular activities include theater groups such as Ram's Head Theatrical Society, the Stanford Improvisors, the Stanford Shakespeare Society, and the Stanford Savoyards, a group dedicated to performing the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. There are award-winning a cappella music groups including the Mendicants, Counterpoint, the Stanford Fleet Street Singers, Harmonics, Mixed Company, Testimony, Talisman, Everyday People, and Raagapella.

The creative writing program brings young writers to campus via the Stegner Fellowships and other graduate scholarship programs. Knight Journalism Fellows are invited to spend a year at the campus taking seminars and courses of their choice. The Stanford Spoken Word Collective, an extracurricular writing and performance group, also serves as the school's poetry slam team.

Stanford also hosts various publishing courses for professionals. The Stanford Professional Publishing Course, which was offered on campus since the late 1970s, brought together international publishing professionals to discuss changing business models in magazine and book publishing. It ended in 2009, although the tradition has continued at Yale with the Yale Publishing Course that began in 2010. Videos from the Stanford Professional Publishing Courses were available on their website as of 2014.