Northwestern University

Northwestern University (NU) is a private research university located in Evanston, Illinois and downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States. Northwestern's main campus is a 240-acre (97 ha) parcel in Evanston, along the shore of Lake Michigan. Selected campuses of Northwestern's professional schools such as the School of Law, the Feinberg School of Medicine, and parts of the Kellogg School of Management are located in the Streeterville neighborhood of downtown Chicago.

www.northwestern.edu

Northwestern was founded in 1851 to serve the people of the Northwest Territory. A 379-acre (153 ha) tract of farmland along Lake Michigan 12 miles (19 km) north of Chicago was chosen as the new Evanston campus. The university is organized into eleven schools and colleges and in 2007, enrolled 8,284 undergraduate and 9,744 graduate and professional students and granted 2,089 bachelor's degrees and 3,543 graduate and professional degrees. Northwestern employs 2,925 full-time faculty members and had $284 million in research expenditures in 2007.

The Northwestern Wildcats compete in 19 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA's Division I Big Ten Conference and one sport in the American Lacrosse Conference.

History

Northwestern University is a private institution founded in 1851 to serve the Northwest Territory, an area that now includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. In 1853 the founders purchased a 379-acre tract of land on the shore of Lake Michigan 12 miles north of Chicago. They established a campus and developed the land near it, naming the surrounding town Evanston in honor of one of the University's founders, John Evans. After completing its first building in 1855, Northwestern began classes that fall with two faculty members and 10 students.

Campuses

Two campuses located on Lake Michigan: a 240-acre campus in Evanston, the first suburb north of Chicago, and a 25-acre campus in Chicago. One campus located in Doha, Qatar.

Organization

Northwestern is owned and governed by a privately-appointed board of trustees. The current board, with 70 members and chaired by Patrick G. Ryan, delegates its power to an elected President to serve as the chief executive officer of the university. Northwestern University is composed of 11 schools and colleges. The faculty for each school consists of the university president, provost, the dean of the school, and the instructional faculty. Faculty are responsible for teaching, research, advising students, and serving on committees. The admission requirements, degree requirements, course of study, disciplinary and degree recommendations are determined by the voting members of each school's faculty.

In 2007, Northwestern's endowment increased by 11.4% to $7.243 billion, making it the 8th-largest endowment of all American universities. In the eleven year period between 1997 and 2007, the endowment grew by an average rate of 13.4%. $187.9 million is gifts and other voluntary support were made to Northwestern in 2006–2007. In 2007, the university sold its royalty interest in the pain relief drug Lyrica (developed at Northwestern by Professor Richard Bruce Silverman) for $700 million, the largest royalty sale in history, and the proceeds placed in the endowment to support financial aid, research, and construction.

Research

Northwestern was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1917 and remains a research university with "very high" research activity. Northwestern manages research and development budgets that totaled $420.0 million in 2006, 34th among all universities and 13th among private universities in the United States. $250.0 million originated from the federal government, $12.2 million from industry, $5.1 million from state and local governments, $44.5 million from other sources, and $108.2 million from Northwestern's own institutional funds, the third most among private universities nationwide.

Northwestern dedicates 839,000 square feet (77,900 m2) to science and engineering research space, predominately in the medical and biological sciences. Northwestern spent $29.8 million on research in non-science and engineering fields like management, education, law, communication, and journalism in 2006, 12th most among all American universities. Northwestern researchers disclosed 184 inventions, filed 158 patents applications, received 32 patents, started 9 companies, and generated $776 million in license income in 2008, although the latter is distorted by the $700 million sale of Lyrica to Pfizer, the largest royalty sale in history.

NU is home to the Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, Materials Research Center, Institute for Policy Research, International Institute for Nanotechnology, Center for Catalysis and Surface Science, Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies, and the Argonne/Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center

Academics

Schools and Colleges (with year of founding)
Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (1851)
School of Communication (1878)
School of Continuing Studies (1933)
School of Education and Social Policy (1926)
Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science (1909)
Graduate School (1910)
Medill School of Journalism (1921)
School of Law (1859)
J. L. Kellogg School of Management (1908)
Feinberg School of Medicine (1859)
Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music (1895)
Northwestern University in Qatar (2008)

Northwestern University was ranked 33rd in the 2008 THES-QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKING