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edit The Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University is a private, non-sectarian institution of higher learning. It began operations on February 22, 1876 in Baltimore, Maryland. At that time, it was regarded as the first research-based, graduate-level university in the United States. The university was funded by a $7 million bequest by Johns Hopkins, a Quaker merchant based in Baltimore. That amount represented the largest philanthropic gift ever given in the United States up to that time.

In terms of curriculum, Johns Hopkins University was patterned after the great universities of Europe. The university quickly established itself through its innovative programs. It was hailed as the country's first modern research university, following the German university model, and became the first American learning institution to combine liberal arts, the classics and scientific research. To a higher degree, John Hopkins University virtually revolutionized the practice of higher education as well as fledgling areas of medical training and practice. The university was also a stalwart in the fight for women's equality.

At present, the university has eight academic divisions. Its main graduate and undergraduate programs are available at its Homewood campus in Baltimore. There are also full-time campuses in greater Maryland, Washington DC, Italy and China.

edit General Information

The $7 million which Johns Hopkins left in his 1867 incorporation paper and 1873 for establishing the university (as well as the Johns Hopkins Hospital) still counts as one of the most substantial philanthropic bequests ever. Based on current values, that amount would be equivalent to $93 million in 2006. It is surpassed only by the philanthropic endeavors of Michael Bloombert, whose estimated personal donations (confirmed) have reached more than $200 million over the last 20 years.

The university's motto is "Veritas vos liberabit," which is Latin for "The truth shall make you free."

As of 2006, Johns Hopkins University had a total endowment of $2.4 billion. At the time, it had an undergraduate population of 4,417 and a postgraduate population of 1,608.

The Johns Hopkins University is located on 140 acres of land in Baltimore, Maryland.

edit History

Johns Hopkins University opened its doors on February 22, 1876. It began with modest classrooms in downtown Baltimore, but soon moved to the more spacious Homewood section up north. At the outset, the university defined its goal as "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."

With this goal in mind, Daniel Coit Gilman, the university's first president, unveiled an academic curriculum that was unprecedented and considered even audacious. He went contrary to the established belief at that time that teaching and research were mutually exclusive. Instead, he merged the two. Johns Hopkins University became the first university in the US to educate its students through seminars, instead of relying wholly on lectures. He encouraged his teachers to undertake original research in the library and laboratory.

To pursue his vision, Gilman tapped a number of internationally recognized academic heavyweights, including chemist Ira Remsen, biologist Henry Newell Martin, economist Richard T. Ely, classicist Charles D. Morris and Greek scholar Basil Gildersleeve. Remsen became the university's second president in 1901.

As the first research-based hospital in America, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, which opened in 1899, also attracted its fair share of international academic luminaries in medicine. Among its world-renowned faculty members were William Osler, Howard Kelly, William Halsted and William Welch. Each of them became a giant in the field of academic medicine. The pioneering hospital was designed by surgeon John Shaw Billings, who was also the preeminent expert on hospital construction. It became the first hospital in the country to provide central heating and also boasted of state-of-the-art laboratories and well-equipped rooms. Among its other innovations, the hospital also pioneered in the transfer of research from "bench-to-bedside," wherein physicians were able to apply their research findings directly to their patients.

Since the hospital's founder was a practicing Quaker, its charter reflected his philosophies and mandated medical attention for Baltimore's "sick and indigent."

During the late 19th century, when medical education was still in its infancy and there were very few known medical cures, the Johns Hopkins Hospital made great strides towards the establishment of much-needed modern medical school. However, the volatility of the 1880s stock market gobbled up the remaining endowment meant for the school. This prompted Gilman to make a national plea in 1889 seeking for additional financial assistance. Four years later, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, daughter of Hopkins trustee John Work Garrett who was president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, came to the hospital's rescue.

edit Johns Hopkins and the Women's Movement

Daniel Coit Gilman, the university's first president, used to say that one of its tasks was "to develop character and to make men." This not stop it from being at the forefront of the feminist movement. In 1890, Mary Elizabeth Garnett mobilized women from all over America behind the Women's Medical School Fund, whose purpose was to raise enough money to make Hopkins medical school coeducational. Backed by the richest and most powerful grand dames and social activists, the group fanned out into 15 chapter nationwide, raising over $100,000. Garrett herself added $354,000, which was one of the biggest contributions ever made by a woman during the 19th century.

With Garrett at the helm, the Women's Medical School Fund raised enough funds to allow the Johns Hopkins medical school to open. She arranged for a number of unprecedented policies in the way the medical school operated, mainly that it would admit women on equal terms with men. Another innovations was that medical students developed a background in science and language as part of their baccalaureate degree. It was a historic development in the women's movement.

The press called Garrett's triumph as the "crowning achievement for American feminism in the nineteenth century." By 1893, three female students joined the 15 male students at the medical school. Hopkins had made history as the first coeducational, graduate-level medical school in the US. By setting this example, Hopkins soon became the standard in academic medicine. Not only for allowing women in, but also for elevating the practice of medicine. It put a great emphasis on research, trained all its students to learn laboratory methods and encourage them to learn by sitting at patients' bedside. Naturally, the medical school produced some of the country's foremost physicians and scientists during the 20th century.

edit Programs and Reputation

The university has nine academic divisions: the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Carey Business School, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Peabody Institute, School of Education, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Whiting School of Engineering.

From 1992 to 2007, the John Hopkins Hospital was ranked number one among the top hospitals in the US, according to the annual US News and World Report rankings of American hospitals, which also ranked the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as number two in medical research among all schools in America in 2007. Meanwhile, the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies was named as the number one master's program in international relations in August 2005.

The annual US News and World Report also ranked the Johns Hopkins University as number 16 among all national universities for 2007, compared to number 13 in 2006. The university is also one of a select few to have been ranked among the top 10 in the past.

edit Sources

• 1) http://www.jhu.edu
• 2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Hopkins_University

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1101 33rd St, Ste D200

Baltimore MD 21218 US

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• Alexa: Jhu.edu