Syracuse University

History

Officially founded in 1832 as the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, New York by the Methodist Conference and later as a college in 1852.

Related Topics:
1832 - Methodist - 1852

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The new institution was soon beset with financial difficulties and had to be abandoned for the booming industrial canal city of Syracuse.

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Syracuse University was chartered in 1870 as a Methodist-Episcopal institution, but loosened its ties in 1920 with a change to its charter, which now defines the institution as "nonsectarian."

Related Topics:
1870 - 1920

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The university offered equal education to women from the beginning. It offered programs in the physical sciences and modern languages, and, in 1873, Syracuse added an architecture program, one of the first in the U.S. and the first program in architecture to be associated with a school of fine arts. In 1874, Syracuse created the nation's first bachelor of fine arts degree and in 1876, the school offered its first post-graduate courses in the College of Arts and Sciences; its first doctoral program was added in 1909. One of the nation's first university schools of journalism (now the Newhouse School of Public Communications) was established at Syracuse in 1934.

Related Topics:
1873 - Architecture - Fine arts - 1874 - 1876 - 1909 - Journalism - 1934

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The school's official color, adopted in 1890, is orange. In 1894, the school's enrollment was fewer than 700 students; by 1922 it was more than 6,000. In 1946, Syracuse earned praise from President Harry S. Truman by admitting 9,464 student under the G.I. Bill, tripling enrollment overnight.

Related Topics:
1890 - 1894 - 1922 - 1946 - Harry S. Truman

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• A quirky, but official, timeline of SU history