1638 On September 4th, J Harvard, pastor and dean of Emanuel College, passed away. He donated half of his savings of 720 pounds and more than 400 books to the school.
In the same year, the school officially opened, with 9 first-class students.
March 1639, 13 In order to thank and commemorate Pastor john harvard's generous contribution in the early days of the college, the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Council passed a resolution to rename the school "Harvard College".
1650, Harvard college was approved to set up a legal entity.
1693, William and Mary College, the second institution of higher learning in North America, was born. 170 1 year, Yale college (the first college of Yale university) was established. The emergence of these two colleges has enabled Harvard College to have partners and competitors. Harvard College, deeply influenced by the tradition of ancient British universities, is facing a strong challenge.
Harvard College initially imitated the British university model, but retained the Puritan philosophy. For a long time, the leaders of the college were clergy. It was not until 1708 that the first non-Puritan president took office that Harvard became independent from the control of Puritan thought.
172 1 year, the school formally established the position of professor of theology.
1727, in order to comply with the momentum of the industrial revolution in North America and the demand of emerging industries and businesses for applied science, Harvard College established the professorships of mathematics and natural science. After the opening of mathematics and natural science, Harvard College also purchased a batch of scientific instruments and equipment, and professors taught students astronomy, physics and chemistry by experiment. In the field of mathematics, technical disciplines such as measurement and navigation have been established. 1775 to 1783, the independence war against British colonial rule broke out in North America 13. Harvard College conforms to the trend and stands on the side of sympathy and support for the just cause of the War of Independence. In Massachusetts, almost all famous revolutionaries are Harvard graduates, including john adams, one of the drafters of the American Declaration of Independence and the second president of the United States.
1775 On July 3rd, George Washington was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the North American Revolutionary War Army in Cambridge, where Harvard College was located, and his headquarters was also located in Cambridge. 1776 After the birth of the United States of America, Harvard College awarded honorary doctor of laws degrees to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson (the main drafter of the Declaration of Independence, the third president of the United States), john jay (the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court) and alexander hamilton (the first treasury secretary of the United States federal government).
1780, Massachusetts promulgated a new constitution, and Harvard College was expanded and renamed Harvard University. In the same year, the position of medical professor was established. After the opening of medical science, professors carried out various scientific research and published the research results in academic journals in North America and Britain. Natural science finally established a solid position in Harvard and began to have an impact on other colleges.
In the early days of the North American War of Independence, Harvard College's funds, including real estate rent, were insufficient 1700. After 1793, Harvard's fund has exceeded 182000 dollars.
David Tapan, a professor of theology at Hollis, and Joseph Willard, the president, died in 1803 and 1804 respectively, and they went through a struggle. 1805, a theorist Henry Weill took over the governance of Harvard, and the spirit of running a school began to transition to Amisi doctrine. This also secularizes American educational institutions. They formed an alliance with the Federalist Party and established many institutions to expand their political and cultural influence. At the same time, some theological conservatives use the mass media to criticize each other for trying to establish an oligarchic culture and undermine the political principles of the Republic. Therefore, Harvard was called "Vatican of Thought" in the1850s.
Theological seminary was established in 18 16, and law school was established in 18 17.
From 65438 to 0829, J. Quincy became the president of Harvard University. He drastically reversed the direction of Harvard University and strongly advocated attaching importance to science teaching. During his tenure at16 (1829 ~1845), he set up a school of science and an observatory at Harvard University. 18th century and19th century, with the development of Harvard University, the scope of school courses has expanded and the focus has shifted, and natural science has received great attention.
/kloc-In the first half of the 9th century, the influence of Harvard University surpassed Massachusetts and reached the central and southern parts of the United States.
From 1869 to 1909, Charles William Eliot was the president, which fundamentally transformed Harvard into a modern American research university. During his tenure as principal, charles eliot deleted the inherent elements of Christian culture from the curriculum, allowing students to study related religious culture voluntarily and selectively. He injected new vitality into law schools and medical schools, and established new schools of business administration, dentistry and art. The number of registered students increased from 1000 to 3,000, the number of teaching staff increased from 49 to 278, and the school funding increased from $23 million to $225 million. Eliot's reform measures include elective courses, small class teaching and entrance examination. This "Harvard model" has influenced American national higher and secondary education policies. In addition, Eliot is also responsible for publishing the famous "Harvard Classics" and collecting "masterpieces" from many disciplines. After the death of 1926, his name has become synonymous with "Harvard".
In the 20th century, the status and reputation of Harvard increased rapidly with the increase of the number of donors and professors, and the number of students applying for admission increased with the increase of the number of courses and the expansion of the campus. It became a founding member of association of american universities in 1900. Radcliffe College, founded in 1879, became a sister school with Harvard and became the most famous girls' school in the United States at that time. Later, the two merged and Radcliffe became a part of Harvard University.
From 1909 to 1933, Abbott Lwrence Lowell served as President of Harvard University. He reformulated the undergraduate course plan and implemented the system of combining centralized and decentralized courses, so that students could receive a good basic education. The tutorial system promoted by Lowell is still used by Harvard University. With the implementation of this system, undergraduates in large comprehensive universities have a small college environment. Freshmen live in dormitories on or near Harvard campus in their first year. A year later, students moved into 12 dormitory, and 13 dormitory was set up for a few days. Each dormitory building has resident teachers and tutors to guide students' study and life.
President James Bryant Conant, who took office from 65438 to 0933, re-established the creative scholarship system to encourage and attract talents and ensure the school's leading position in research institutions. He believes that higher education is for truly talented people, not rich children. He adjusted the curriculum system to find, recruit and support talented young people. In 1943, he even asked the staff to put forward a clear view on "what is the purpose of secondary and higher education", and in 1945, the resulting report became one of the most influential educational declarations in the United States in the 20th century.
From 1945 to 1960, Harvard changed its admission policy and began to accept students from different backgrounds, not just children from some noble schools. The types of students have also begun to diversify. There are many Jews and Catholics on campus, but blacks and Asians are still in the minority.
From 1953 to 197 1, Puxi was the president. Under his auspices, Harvard University conducted the largest fundraising activity in the history of American higher education, raising 825 million US dollars. This activity has increased the salaries of Harvard university teachers, expanded financial assistance to students, established new professorships, and enriched teaching equipment.
1971~1991,Bok served as the president. He carefully handled some important issues in higher education, including administration, educational opportunities for ethnic minorities and women, and technological transformation between academia and industry. President Bok also reorganized the management organization of Harvard University, and introduced modern management science and procedures into various graduate schools and industries of Harvard University.
199 1 year, Lu became the 26th president. In order to better coordinate the relationship between the college and the teachers, he launched a centralized academic plan for the whole school, aiming at determining the most important and priority parts of Harvard. In addition, Lu also emphasized the responsibilities of universities: excellent undergraduate education, the doors of universities are always open to people of different economic classes, and how research universities can adapt to the era of rapid information growth and serious financial constraints and meet challenges in a freely expressed society.
At the end of the 20th century, the status of women in Harvard began to rise. At the beginning, female students were concentrated in Radcliffe College. Although more and more female students are willing to enroll in Harvard courses, Harvard students are still mostly male, with an average of only one woman in every five students.
From 65438 to 0999, Radcliffe College officially became Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies of Harvard University. Drew Gilpin Faust, then dean, became the first female president of Harvard University in 2007, and the fourth female president of an Ivy League school after the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University and Princeton University.