Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland.

General information

Johns Hopkins holds many "firsts" in American education: it was the first university in the United States to put an emphasis on research, founded on the German university model. As such, it was the first American university to teach through seminars, instead of solely through lectures. The University was the first in America to offer an undergraduate major (as opposed to a purely liberal arts curriculum) and the first American university to grant doctoral degrees. The Hopkins model set the standard in the United States for most large research universities, particularly The University of Chicago.

Related Topics:
German - The University of Chicago

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The University is named for Johns Hopkins, who left $7,000,000 USD in his 1867 will for the foundation of the University and Johns Hopkins Hospital. At the time, this was the largest philanthropic bequest in United States history, the equivalent of approximately US$86,542,022 in the year 2003 (this personal gift is surpassed only by alumnus Michael Bloomberg's total donation of US$100,000,000 during the 1990s). The University opened February 22, 1876, with the stated goal of "The encouragement of research ... and the advancement of individual scholars, who by their excellence will advance the sciences they pursue, and the society where they dwell." The University's first president was visionary educator Daniel Coit Gilman, and its motto in Latin is Veritas vos liberabit – "The truth shall make you free". The undergraduate student population at Hopkins was all male until 1970, though many graduate programs were integrated earlier.

Related Topics:
Johns Hopkins - USD - 1867 - Johns Hopkins Hospital - United States - Michael Bloomberg - February 22 - 1876 - Daniel Coit Gilman - 1970

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The University was designed from the start to marry scholarship and research, and graduate education has always been of key importance. All students at Johns Hopkins are encouraged to pursue original research at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and nearly 80% of Johns Hopkins undergraduates produce research by the time of graduation. Johns Hopkins receives more federal research grants than any other university in the United States, which is vital considering its smaller endowment size relative to its peer institutions. The University is affiliated with 31 Nobel laureates. It boasts a wide spectrum in terms of its academic strengths, particularly in art history, biological and natural sciences, biomedical engineering, English, history, international studies, medicine, political theory, public health, Romance languages, and writing.

Related Topics:
Nobel laureate - Romance languages

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In 1900, Johns Hopkins was one of only fourteen Ph.D.-granting universities to found the Association of American Universities (AAU), along with Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, and other prominent institutions. The AAU is an organization of elite research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education.

Related Topics:
Association of American Universities - Harvard - Yale - Stanford - Columbia - Cornell

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People often mistakenly assume that Johns Hopkins' forename was "John". His forename is from a family surname. His great-grandmother, Margaret Johns, married Gerard Hopkins, who named their son Johns Hopkins, and whose name was passed on to his grandson.

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In a commencement address to the undergraduate Class of 2001, University President William R. Brody had the following to say about the name:

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:"In 1888, just 12 years after the university was founded, Mark Twain wrote about this university in a letter to a friend. He said:

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::A few months ago I was told that the Johns Hopkins University had given me a degree. I naturally supposed this constituted me a Member of the Faculty, and so I started in to help as I could there. I told them I believed they were perfectly competent to run a college as far as the higher branches of education are concerned, but what they needed was a little help here and there from a practical commercial man. I said the public is sensitive to little things, and they wouldn't have full confidence in a college that didn't know how to spell the name 'John'.

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:More than a century later, we continue to bestow our diplomas only upon individuals of outstanding capabilities and great talent. And we continue to spell Johns with an 's'."

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