University of Florida

The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant major research university located on a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) campus in Gainesville, Florida, in the United States. The university is one of 62 elected members of the Association of American Universities. The University of Florida was founded in 1853, and has been recognized as a "Public Ivy" UF is currently ranked 49th overall among national universities in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

The University of Florida is a flagship university of the State University System of Florida and one of the largest universities in the United States, with 51,413 students as of fall 2008. It is the largest comprehensive university in the state of Florida and has one of the largest budgets in the United States at nearly $4.377 billion per year. UF is home to 17 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. As of the 2007-2008 academic year, UF ranked twelfth among all institutions in the number of new National Merit Scholar students enrolled. Researchers at the University of Florida developed the famous sports drink Gatorade.

The University of Florida offers many graduate programs—including engineering, business, law and medicine—on one contiguous site, and coordinates 123 master's degree programs and 76 doctoral degree programs in 87 schools and departments.

The University of Florida NCAA Division I athletic teams, referred to as the Florida Gators, compete in Southeastern Conference. Alligators named Albert and Alberta are the official mascots. Throughout the school's history, the University of Florida's athletic program has earned 22 total National Championships.

History

The institutional history dates back to 1851, when the Florida Legislature created two seminaries, one west of the Suwannee River, and the other to the east. Century Tower - A tribute to the students and alumni who perished in both World War I and World War II.

In 1853, UF's official date of founding, Gilbert Kingsbury was the first man to take advantage of the legislation passed in 1851 and established the East Florida Seminary (EFS) in Ocala, Florida. The East Florida Seminary was the first state-supported institution of higher learning in Florida. James Henry Roper, an educator from North Carolina and a state senator from Alachua County, built a school, the Gainesville Academy, around the same time.[citation needed] In 1866, after EFS had closed due to the American Civil War, Roper offered his land and school to the state of Florida in exchange for the relocation of East Florida Seminary to Gainesville. His offer was accepted and the current site of the University of Florida was built in its place.Epworth Hall, the main building of East Florida Seminary, still stands in downtown Gainesville, but is not on UF's campus today.

In 1985, Florida became a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a higher-education organization composed of 62 public and private institutions in North America. UF is one of only 17 public, land-grant universities that belongs to the association. In 2009, President Bernie Machen and the Board of Trustees stipulated that they are going to have the University of Florida go thru a major transition. The Board of Trustees supported the reduction of the number of undergraduates and shifting resources to graduate education and research in the future.

The University of Florida has continued to rise in the U.S. News & World Report college and university rankings. In 2001, UF was labeled a Public Ivy and was 2nd in Kiplinger's 2009 "Best Buys of Education" (behind the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). U.S. News currently ranks UF as the 49th overall best university; the state of Florida and UF alumni are actively making a concerted effort to become a Top-10 overall public.

Research

The University of Florida, the state's largest university and one of the biggest research universities in the nation, contributes nearly $6 billion annually to Florida's economy and is responsible for nearly 75,000 jobs. The Milken Institute named UF one of the top-five U.S. institutions in the transfer of biotechnology research to the marketplace (2006). Some 50 biotechnology companies have resulted from faculty research programs. UF consistently ranks among the top-10 universities in licensing. Royalty and licensing income includes the glaucoma drug Trusopt, the sports drink Gatorade, and the Sentricon termite elimination system. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, ranked #1 by the NSF in Research and Development, is part of the Flagship University and the current Vice President is Dr. Larry Arrington. It should also be noted that the UF is currently ranked seventh among all private & public universities for the total number of patents awarded for 2005.

Library

The University of Florida's libraries is the largest most extensive information resource system in the state. In total, the University of Florida has ten libraries, and over 4 million volumes of books and journals (pre-renovations) and 7 million microfilms. Collections cover virtually all disciplines and include a wide array of formats – from books and journals to manuscripts, maps, and recorded music. Increasingly collections are digital and are accessible on the Internet via the library web page or the library catalog.

Academic Reputation

The University of Florida was ranked in 2008 by U.S. News & World Report as 49th overall among "National universities" in the United States. In addition U.S. News in 2009 ranked UF as one of the Top 10 most popular colleges in the United States, this ranking is determined by institutions with the highest yield rates. The 2007 Academic Ranking of World Universities list assessed the University of Florida as 51st among world universities and 38th in the United States based on overall research output and faculty awards. In the "2007 National College Ranking", U.S.News & World Report America's Best Colleges 2009 UF's Overall Ranking Overall #35, Washington Monthly ranked the University of Florida 26th overall. For 2007, Newsweek ranked UF one of the "Top 25 Hottest Schools". According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities in 2009, the University of Florida ranks 22nd best all around.

Another ranking by Research Center for Chinese Science Evaluation of Wuhan University ranks UF 37th in the world. The ranking is based on Essential Science Indicators (ESI), which provides data of journal article publication counts and citation frequencies in over 11,000 journals around the world in 22 research fields.

UF ranked 2nd among all universities in Kiplinger's "100 Best Values in Public Colleges" (2006, 2007 & 2008) and 4th in The Scientist magazine's "Best Places to Work in Academia" (2005); UF was also ranked the best overall in top values amongst all the public flagship universities by USA Today (2006). UF admitted 1,049 International Baccalaureate students for the 2004-2005 academic year - more than any other university in the world. The freshmen retention rate of 94 percent is among the highest in the U.S.
UF's ranked college placement 13th best by "The Princeton Review" in its "2009 Best 368 Colleges Rankings".

Colleges

Agricultural and Life Sciences,

College ofBusiness Administration,

Warrington College ofDesign,

Construction and Planning,

College ofDentistry,

College ofEducation, College of

Engineering, College of

Fine Arts, College of

Health and Human Performance, College of

Journalism and Communications, College of

Law, Levin College of

Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of

Medicine, College of

Nursing, College of

Pharmacy, College of

Public Health and Health Professions, College of

Veterinary Medicine, College of

University of Florida was ranked 165th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The university is home to the nation's oldest graduate school of international relations, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

www.tufts.edu

In 1852, Tufts College was founded by Universalists who had for years worked to open a non-sectarian institution of higher learning. Charles Tufts donated the land for the campus on Walnut Hill, the highest point in Medford, saying that he wanted to set a "light on the hill." The name was changed to "Tufts University" in 1954, although the corporate name remains "the Trustees of Tufts College." After over a century as a small New England liberal arts college, the French-American nutritionist Jean Mayer became president of Tufts in the late 1970s and, through a series of rapid acquisitions, transformed the school into an international research university.

Tufts is organized into 10 schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France. The university emphasizes public service in all of its disciplines and is well-known for internationalism and its study abroad programs.

History

In 1852, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts chartered Tufts College. The original act of incorporation noted the college should promote "virtue and piety and learning in such of the languages and liberal and useful arts as shall be recommended." Charles Tufts was the donor of the land the university now occupies on the Medford-Somerville line. The twenty-acre plot, given to the Universalist church on the condition that it be used for a college, was valued at $20,000 and located on one of the highest hills in the Boston area, Walnut Hill. Having been one of the biggest influences in the establishment of the College, Hosea Ballou II became the first president in 1853.

Tufts received a gift of $136 million, the largest in the university's history, on April 9, 2008 upon the dissolution of a charitable trust set up by 1911 alumnus Frank C. Doble. As an unrestricted gift, the donation was invested entirely in the university's endowment. The investment will help finance the construction of a lab complex integrating biology and engineering, already in the planning stages, which will bear Doble's name.

Previously, the university had received the three largest donations in its history during 2005 and 2006. On 4 November 2005, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam donated $100 million to Tufts to establish the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund. On 12 May 2006, Jonathan Tisch gave $40 million to endow the University College of Citizenship and Public Service, which now bears his name. The veterinary school was named in honor of William S. Cummings after a $50 million donation to the school in 2005. On September 4, 2007, it was announced that Steve Tisch had donated $10 million to support a $35 million athletics and fitness facilities expansion planned to begin in late 2008; in addition, the Jaharis Family Foundation donated $15 million to renovate the Sackler Center for Health Communications and build a new campus center for the Boston campus and medical school.

Campus

Tufts' main campus is located on Walnut Hill in Medford, about 5 miles (8 km) from Boston. While the majority of the campus is in Medford, the Somerville line runs through the campus, placing some parts of the lower campus in Somerville, and leading to the common terms "Uphill" and "Downhill" for the two sections. The offices of the president, the provost, many of the vice presidents, and the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences are located in Ballou Hall, the oldest building on the hill. There are administrative offices in the surrounding neighborhoods and nearby Davis Square. Many points on the hill have noted views of the Boston skyline, particularly the patio on the Tisch Library roof.

Library

The Tufts University Library System contains over 3 million volumes. The main library, Tisch Library, holds about 2.5 million volumes, with other holdings dispersed at subject libraries which include the Hirsh Health Sciences Library on the Medical campus in Boston, the Edwin Ginn Library at the Fletcher School, the Lilly Music Library in the Granoff Music Center, and Webster Library at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine on the Grafton campus.

Academic Reputation

Tufts' undergraduate program is ranked #28 overall on U.S. News & World Report's 2009 rankings of national universities tied with the Wake Forest University, tied for #102 in Shanghai Jiao Tong University's 2007 Academic Ranking of World Universities, and #157 in the Times Higher Education 2008 World University Rankings. Tufts University has also been consistently ranked as #1 for best undergraduate International Relations programs in the country, including the 1996 Gourman Report published by the Princeton Review.

In the Princeton Review's 2006 Best 361 Colleges, Tufts was named #7 in a list of the 20 schools in the country where students are happiest, and #17 in a list of the 20 schools in the country with the best food.

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy was ranked 4th in the Foreign Policy magazine's ranking of top Masters degree programs in International Relations. Only Georgetown University, Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University are ahead of Tufts in this ranking.

Schools

Tufts University comprises eight schools including:

• The School of Arts and Sciences (1898 or 1903)
• The School of Engineering (1898).
• The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (1933), America's oldest graduate school for international relations and foreign affairs.
• The School of Dental Medicine (1899)
• The School of Medicine (1893), whose primary affiliated hospitals are the Tufts Medical Center and the Baystate Medical Center.
• The Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences (1981).
• The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (1981), the only graduate school of nutrition in North America, with the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center.
• The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (1978), the only veterinary school in New England.
• The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service (2000).

Tufts University was ranked 157th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona (also referred to as UA, U of A, or Arizona) is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885 (twenty-seven years before the Arizona Territory achieved statehood), and is considered a Public Ivy. The University of Arizona includes the only medical school in Arizona that grants M.D. degrees. In 2006, total enrollment was 36,805 students. The University of Arizona is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents. The mission of the University of Arizona is, "To discover, educate, serve, and inspire."

www.arizona.edu

History

The University of Arizona was approved by the Arizona Territory's Thieving Thirteenth Legislature in 1885. The city of Tucson had hoped to receive the appropriation for the territory's mental hospital, which carried a $100,000 allocation instead of the $25,000 allotted to the territory's only university (Arizona State University was also chartered in 1885, but at the time it was created as Arizona's normal school, and not a university). Tucson's contingent of legislators was delayed in reaching Prescott due to flooding on the Salt River and by the time they arrived back-room deals allocating the most desirable territorial institutions had already been made. Tucson was largely disappointed at receiving what was viewed as an inferior prize. With no parties willing to step forth and provide land for the new institution, the citizens of Tucson prepared to return the money to the Territorial Legislature until two gamblers and a saloon keeper decided to donate the land necessary to build the school. Classes met for the first time in 1891 with 32 students in Old Main, the first building constructed on campus, and still in use to this day.

Campus

The main campus sits on 380 acres (1.5 km2) in central Tucson, about one mile (1.6 km) northeast of downtown. There are 179 buildings on the main campus. Many of the early buildings, including the Arizona State Museum buildings (one of them the 1927 main library) and Centennial Hall, were designed by Roy Place, a prominent Tucson architect. It was Place's use of red brick that set the tone for the red brick facades that are a basic and ubiquitous part of nearly all UA buildings, even those built in recent decades. Indeed, almost every UA building has red brick as a major component of the design, or at the very least, a stylistic accent to harmonize it with the other buildings on campus.

Research

Among the strongest programs at UA are optical sciences, astronomy, astrophysics, planetary sciences, hydrology, Earth Sciences, hydrogeology, linguistics, philosophy, sociology, architecture and landscape architecture, engineering, and anthropology.

Arizona is classified as a Carnegie Foundation "RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity)" university (formerly "Research 1" university).

The university receives more than $500 million USD annually in research funding, generating around two thirds of the research dollars in the Arizona university system. 26th highest in the U.S. (including public and private institutions). The university has an endowment of $466.7 million USD as of 2006(2006 NACUBO Endowment Study).

UA is awarded more NASA grants for space exploration than any other university nationally.[18] The UA was recently awarded over $325 million USD for its Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) to lead NASA's 2007-08 mission to Mars to explore the Martian Arctic. The LPL's work in the Cassini spacecraft orbit around Saturn is larger than that of any other university globally. The UA laboratory designed and operated the atmospheric radiation investigations and imaging on the probe. The UA operates the HiRISE camera, a part of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The Eller College of Management McGuire Entrepreneurship program is currently the number 1 ranked undergraduate program in the country. This ranking was made by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine. The Council for Aid to Education ranked the UA 12th among public universities and 24th overall in financial support and gifts. Campaign Arizona, an effort to raise over $1 billion USD for the school, exceeded that goal by $200 million a year earlier than projected.

The National Science Foundation ranks UA 16th among public universities, and 26th among all universities nationwide in research funding. UA receives more NASA grants annually than the next nine top NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory-funded universities combined. UA students have been selected as Flinn, Truman, Rhodes, Goldwater, Fulbright, and National Merit scholars. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, UA is among the top 25 producers of Fulbright awards in the U.S.

World Ranking

Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China): 77th (2008).
Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (Cybermetrics Lab, National Research Council of Spain): 18th (2008).

The G-Factor International University Ranking (Peter Hirst): 15th (2006).
Professional Ranking of World Universities (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, France): 35th (2008).

Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities (Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan): 37th (2008).

Global University Ranking by Wuhan University (Wuhan University, China): 43rd (2007).

Library

In 2005, the Association of Research Libraries, in its "Ranked Lists for Institutions for 2005" (the most recent year available), ranked the UA libraries as the 33rd overall university library in North America (out of 113) based on various statistical measures of quality; this is one rank below the library of Duke University, one rank ahead of that of Northwestern University (both these schools are members, along with the UA, of the Association of American Universities). As of 2006, the UA's library system contains nearly five million volumes.

Colleges and Schools

Colleges

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

College of Education

College of Engineering

College of Fine Arts

College of Humanities

College of Law

College of Medicine

College of Nursing

College of Optical Sciences

Outreach College

College of Pharmacy

College of Science

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Eller College of Management

Graduate College

Honors College

Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health

UA South

University College

Schools

Architecture

Art

Dance

Family and Consumer Sciences

Information Resources & Library Science

Landscape Architecture

Media Arts

Music

Public Administration and Policy

Theatre Arts

School of Natural Resources

The University of Arizona was ranked 146th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University, often called A&M or TAMU, is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. It opened on October 4, 1876 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, the first public institution of higher education in the state. In 1963, the Texas Legislature renamed the school to Texas A&M University to reflect the institution's expanded roles and academic offerings. The letters "A&M" no longer have any explicit meaning, but are retained as a link to the university's past. The nickname "Aggie" refers to students, alumni, and sports teams of Texas A&M.

http://www.tamu.edu/

Texas A&M's designation as a land, sea, and space grant institution reflects a broad range of research with ongoing projects funded by agencies such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research. Working with agencies such as the Texas AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M has a direct presence in each of the 254 counties in Texas. The university offers degrees in over 150 courses of study through ten colleges and houses 18 research institutes. Texas A&M has awarded over 320,000 degrees, including 70,000 graduate and professional degrees.

As a Senior Military College, Texas A&M is one of three public universities with a full-time, volunteer Corps of Cadets. It provides more commissioned officers to the United States Armed Forces than any other school outside of the service academies.

History

The Texas Legislature established Texas A&M in 1871 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, then known as Texas A.M.C. The U.S. Congress funded the new land-grant college, the state's first public institution of higher education, through the Morrill Act in 1862. The act auctioned land grants of public lands to establish endowments for colleges where the "leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanical arts... to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life".

A state committee established Texas A&M in Brazos County, which donated 2,416 acres (10 km2) near Bryan, Texas. Classes began on October 4, 1876 with 40 students and 6 faculty members. With mandatory Corps of Cadets participation and military training, enrollment climbed to 258 students before declining to 108 students in 1883, the year the University of Texas opened in Austin, Texas. Though originally envisioned as a part of the University of Texas System, Texas A.M.C. had a separate Board of Directors from the University of Texas.

In 1997, the school was further honored with the establishment of the George Bush Presidential Library on the western edge of the campus. Operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, it is one of twelve American presidential libraries. Former President George Bush remains actively involved with the university, frequently visiting the campus and participating in special events.

With strong support from Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin, the Association of American Universities inducted Texas A&M in May 2001, based on the depth of the university's research and academic programs. In 2006, University President Robert Gates resigned from his position to become the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Endowment

The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) receives revenue from two primary endowments which complement revenues received from both research and tuition. TAMUS holds a minority stake in the Permanent University Fund (PUF), a Texas public endowment fund contributing to eighteen institutions and six agencies in the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems. As of 2006, the PUF ending net asset value stood at $10.3 billion, with $400.7 million, in FY 2007 transferred to the Available University Fund for distribution to both university systems. The Texas A&M System receives a third of the accumulated interest from the PUF, while the University of Texas System receives the other two-thirds, due to a 1931 Texas Legislature decision. Texas A&M also benefits from a private endowment, the Texas A&M Foundation, which totals over $1.17 billion in assets. Combined, the total endowment for the TAMUS stands at $5.6 billion, as of 2006.

Research

Texas A&M has participated in over 500 research projects in over 80 countries and leads the Southwestern United States in annual research expenditures. The university conducts research on every continent and has formal research and exchange agreements with 100 institutions in 40 countries. Texas A&M ranks 13th among U.S. research universities in exchange agreements with institutions abroad and student participation in study abroad programs, and has strong research collaborations with the National Natural Science Foundation of China and many leading universities in China.

Texas A&M owns three international facilities, a multipurpose center in Mexico City, Mexico, the Soltis Research and Education Center near the town of San Isidro, Costa Rica, and the Santa Chiara Study Abroad Center in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. In 2003, over 1,200 Aggie students, primarily undergraduates, studied abroad. Additionally, the university includes two branch campuses: Texas A&M at Qatar located in Education City in Doha, Qatar devoted to engineering disciplines and Texas A&M University at Galveston in Galveston, Texas, devoted to marine research and host to the Texas Maritime Academy.

Texas A&M's Center for International Business Studies is one of 28 supported by the U.S. Department of Education. The university is also one of only two American universities in partnership with CONACyT, Mexico's equivalent of the National Science Foundation, to support research in areas including biotechnology, telecommunications, energy, and urban development. In addition, the university is the home of "Las Americas Digital Research Network", an online architecture network for 26 universities in 12 nations, primarily in Central and South America.

Campus

Texas A&M's College Station campus, one of the largest in America, spans 5,200 acres (21 km2) plus 350 acres (1 km2) for Research Park. The university is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area located within Brazos County in the Brazos Valley (Southeast Central Texas) region, an area often referred to as "Aggieland". According the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2008, the population of Brazos County is estimated at 175,122. Money Magazine, in 2006, named College Station the most educated city in Texas, and the 11th most educated American city, due largely to the size of the university. Aggieland is centrally located within 200 miles (320 km) of three of the 10 largest cities in the United States and 75% of the Texas and Louisiana populations (approximately 13.1 million people). The area's major roadway is State Highway 6, and several smaller state highways and Farm to Market Roads connect the area to larger highways such as Interstate 45.

Academic Reputation

The 2009 U.S. News and World Report ranks Texas A&M 64th, tied with Rutgers University, among "national universities" and 23rd among public universities. The Washington Monthly ranks the school 1st nationally with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility. Newsweek International ranks Texas A&M as the 77th university globally based on "openness and diversity" as well as "distinction in research". Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks the university 50th nationally and 88th internationally based on educational quality, faculty quality, and research output. The Times Higher Education Supplement ranks Texas A&M 60th among the world's top 100 technology universities, 24th among America's top biomedicine universities, and 50th among North America's top 50 universities. The 2008 Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranks the school as the 25th best value public university based on in-state tuition, and the 9th best value public university based on out-of-state tuition. The John Templeton Foundation listed Texas A&M as one of the thirty-five American college programs that "communicate[s] the values of honesty, trust, respect, responsibility, integrity, and fairness in the classroom".

Faculties

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

College of Architecture

George Bush School of Government and Public Service

Mays Business School

College of Education & Human Development

Dwight Look College of Engineering

College of Geosciences

College of Liberal Arts

College of Science

College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Texas A&M University was ranked 137th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Stony Brook University

State University of New York at Stony Brook, commonly known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, (on the North Shore of Long Island, about 55 miles (89 km) east of Manhattan, New York).

http://www.sunysb.edu/

Stony Brook is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system, and has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The University operates two SUNY-wide research centers (the Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the Marine Sciences Research Center). The University also operates Brookhaven National Labs under contract from the U.S. Department of Energy.

History

The university was founded in 1957 as the State University College on Long Island with about 100 students. The first temporary campus was at the William Robertson Coe Planting Fields estate in Oyster Bay. Originally, Stony Brook was a college for preparing secondary school teachers in mathematics and the sciences. Since 1962, the campus has been located in Stony Brook on land donated by philanthropist Ward Melville. The original donation consisted of over 400 acres (1.6 km²), but the campus has since grown to about three times that size. Among the four SUNY University Centers, Stony Brook is the only one that was founded after the SUNY system was established.

The Stony Brook campus was initially concentrated around what was called G-Quad (now Mendelsohn Quad), and almost all offices were located there. Classes took place in the Humanities building, and some classes were still offered at Oyster Bay. However, the 1960s and 1970s witnessed rapid growth under university president John S. Toll. More buildings were erected on campus, and academic programs and enrollment grew.

In the 1990s the school underwent a project to revitalize the campus. Numerous buildings were renovated, including the Student Activities Center, as well as each residential quad. More recently, the school completed construction of a massive Charles B. Wang Asian American Center that was funded, in part, by a $50 million donation from Charles Wang. The university constructed Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium for $22 million in 2002. Recently new apartments have been added for undergraduates. Renovations were recently completed on the original Humanities building, and new apartments continue to be built. Recently, a donation of $60 million was made by retired math professor Dr. James Simons for the construction of the Simons Center for Physics and Geometry.

Due to its long history as a concert venue, the university was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

Although Stony Brook is a state institution, private philanthropy plays an ever-increasing role in the development of the university. Stony Brook's endowment, managed by the Stony Brook Foundation, currently amounts to over $201 million.

Campus

The main campus is located at the geographic midpoint of Long Island, approximately 60 miles (97 km) east of New York City and 60 miles (97 km) west of Montauk. It is split into three portions: West Campus, East Campus, and South Campus.

Academic Reputation

In 2005 "Stony Brook was one of 33 universities in The Center's Top American Research Universities that ranked 26th through 50th nationally in at least one of the measures, and the University scored better in the category than such institutions as the University of Massachusetts, Tufts University, the University of Tennessee, and Indiana University."

In August 2008 U.S. News & World Report ranked SBU tied for 45th in the category of top public national universities and for 96th in the U.S. News rating of “best national universities, the only school in Long Island rate in the top 100. Previously in August 2007 U.S. News & World Report, for the sixth time, ranked SBU among the top 100 national universities in the United States and among the top 50 public national universities. The University was tied for 96th in the U.S. News rating of "best national universities," and tied for 45th in the category of "top public national universities." In January 2007 it was ranked 34th best value among the country’s public institutions for in-state students by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.

According to the United States National Research Council Rankings of U.S. doctoral programs, Stony Brook is ranked 40th in the average of nonzero scores, 22nd in Biological Sciences, 38th in Arts and Humanities, 44th in Physical Sciences and Math, and 39th in Social and Behavioral Sciences.

In 2008, Stony Brook was ranked as the 127th best university in the world, placing it in the top 1%—out of more than 8,300—by the London-based Times Higher Education Supplement.

Stony Brook University is cited eight times as being among the best in the nation in the current rankings of professional schools in US News & World Report’s 2009 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” Stony Brook’s Clinical Psychology program was ranked 9th tying Penn State and Duke University and ahead of such universities as Northwestern and Vanderbilt. In addition, the Nuclear Physics program (categorized as a Physics specialty) ranked 4th, ahead of Yale, Columbia, and the California Institute of Technology. Stony Brook’s program in Geometry (categorized as a Mathematics specialty) was ranked No. 6, ahead of Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, and Yale.

The University’s Physics graduate program ranked 23rd tying with Penn State; the Mathematics program ranked 24th, tying Rutgers, University of California San Diego, and the University of Washington, ahead of Rice, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, Ohio State, Georgia Institute of Technology and Indiana. In addition, the Computer Science graduate program was ranked 31st tying with NYU, Rutgers, and Ohio State; the Biological Science program ranked 48th tying with Brandeis and Rice; and, the Physician Assistant program ranked 11th ahead of Northeastern. In addition, the philosophy department is considered to be among the top programs in the United States for the study of continental philosophy, particularly in the area of phenomenology.

The Wall Street Journal ranked Stony Brook University (SUNY) #8 amongst public universities sending students to elite graduate programs.

The University was also ranked among the top 152 universities in the world by the Institute for Higher Education in Shanghai. It was also ranked among the top 100 universities in North and Latin America, with the Institute grouping it in the category of number 58-77. Joining Stony Brook in that grouping were such institutions as Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and Virginia.

In 2001 it became a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an invitation-only organization of the top 62 research universities in the U.S.

In 2007, the Princeton Review (not associated with Princeton University) #12 for Diverse Student Population, and is listed as one of the "Best Northeastern Colleges" and "America's Best Value College".

The fall 2008 America's Best Colleges ranked by Forbes.com placed Stony Brook at #332.

In 2006-2007 Stony Brook University was ranked the "Fourth Unhappiest School" in the Princeton Review’s “Best 366 Colleges: 2008 Edition.” In 2005, the Princeton Review Journal ranked this school #2 unhappiest school.

Schools and Colleges

The University is divided into numerous schools:
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Business
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
School of Dental Medicine
School of Health Technology and Management
School of Journalism
School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences
School of Medicine
School of Nursing
School of Professional Development
School of Social Welfare

Stony Brook University was ranked 127th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking