The history of Harvard University

At the end of the 15th century, the Atlantic sea route from Europe to the Americas was opened by Columbus, and Europeans traveled across the ocean to come to the Americas. At the beginning of the 17th century, the first batch of British immigrants arrived in North America and opened up their own "Garden of Eden" - New England. There were more than 100 Puritans among the immigrants who had received classical higher education at Oxford and Cambridge universities. In order to allow their descendants to receive this kind of education in their new homeland, they established a college on the banks of the Charles River in Massachusetts in 1636. The first institution of learning in American history—Harvard College. On October 28, 1636, the Assembly of the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a resolution to build an institution of higher learning modeled on the University of Cambridge in England, with an annual allocation of 400 pounds; the school was initially named "New College" or "The College" at New Towne), becoming the first institution of higher education in the United States.

On September 14, 1638, J., pastor and president of Emmanuel College. When Harvard died of illness, he donated half of his savings, 720 pounds, and more than 400 books to the school.

The school officially opened in the same year, with ***9 students in the first class.

On March 13, 1639, in order to thank and commemorate Rev. John Harvard's generous donation to the college in its early days, the Massachusetts Bay Colony Assembly passed a resolution to rename the school "Harvard College".

In 1650, Harvard College was approved to establish a legal entity.

In 1693, the College of William and Mary, the second institution of higher education in North America, was born; in 1701, Yale College (the first college of Yale University) was established. The emergence of these two colleges gave Harvard College partners and competitors; Harvard College, which was deeply influenced by the tradition of ancient British universities, faced strong challenges.

Harvard College initially modeled its education on the British university model, but the Puritan philosophy was retained. For a long time, the leadership of the college was held by clergy. It was not until 1708 that the first president who was not a Puritan member took office, and Harvard became independent from the control of Puritan ideas.

In 1721, the school officially established the position of professor of theology.

In 1727, in response to the momentum of the Industrial Revolution in North America and the emerging industrial and commercial needs for applied science, Harvard College established professorships in mathematics and natural sciences. After the opening of mathematics and natural sciences, Harvard College also equipped a number of scientific instruments and equipment. Professors used experimental methods to teach students knowledge of astronomy, physics and chemistry; in the field of mathematics, they established techniques such as surveying and navigation. discipline. From 1775 to 1783, the War of Independence against British colonial rule broke out in 13 British colonies in North America. Harvard College followed the trend and sided with sympathy and support for the just cause of the Revolutionary War. In Massachusetts, almost all famous revolutionaries were Harvard graduates, including John Adams, one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence and the second president of the United States.

On July 3, 1775, George Washington took office as the commander-in-chief of the North American Revolutionary War Army in Cambridge, where Harvard College is located. His headquarters was also located in Cambridge for a time. After the birth of the United States of America in 1776, Harvard College served George Washington, the main leader of the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson (the main drafter of the Declaration of Independence, the third president of the United States), and John Jay (the first president of the U.S. Supreme Court). Chief Justice), Alexander Hamilton (the first Secretary of the Treasury of the U.S. federal government) and others were awarded honorary doctorates in law.

In 1780, Massachusetts promulgated a new constitution, Harvard College was expanded and renamed Harvard University; in the same year, the position of professor of medicine was established. After the establishment of the medical department, professors carried out various scientific researches and published their research results in North American and British academic journals. Natural sciences finally established a solid position at Harvard and began to have an impact on other schools.

In the early years of the American Revolutionary War, Harvard College's funds, including the rent on the property, were less than 1,700 pounds. After the war, in 1793, Harvard's endowment exceeded $182,000.

After the deaths of Hollis Professor of Theology David Tappan and President Joseph Willard in 1803 and 1804 respectively, Harvard experienced a struggle. In 1805, Harvard was taken over by Unitarian Henry Ware to run the school. The spiritual transition to Arminianism began; this also led to the secularization of American educational institutions. They formed an alliance with the Federalist Party and opened many institutions to expand their political and cultural influence. At the same time, some theological conservatives used the mass media to criticize the other party's attempts to create an oligarchic political culture and undermine democracy and peace. country’s political principles. Harvard was therefore called the "Unitarian Vatican" in the 1850s.

The seminary was established in 1816, and the law school was established in 1817.

In 1829, J. Quincy became the president of Harvard University. He made bold moves and tried his best to reverse the direction of Harvard University and vigorously advocated the emphasis on science teaching. During his 16 years in office (1829-1845), he established a school of science at Harvard University and built an observatory.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, with the development of Harvard University, the scope of school curriculum expanded and the focus shifted, and natural sciences received great attention.

In the first half of the 19th century, Harvard University's influence extended beyond Massachusetts to the central and southern United States.

From 1869 to 1909, Charles William Eliot served as president, fundamentally transforming Harvard into a modern American research university. During his tenure as president, Charles Eliot deleted the inherent Christian cultural elements from the curriculum, allowing students to voluntarily and selectively learn relevant religious culture; he gave the law school and medical school new vitality, and built a new The School of Business and Management, the School of Dentistry, and the School of Arts and Sciences have been expanded. The number of registered students has increased from 1,000 to 3,000, the number of teaching staff has increased from 49 to 278, and the school fund has increased from US$23 million to US$225 million. Eliot's reform measures included elective courses, small class teaching, and entrance examinations. This "Harvard model" influenced the national higher and secondary education policies in the United States. In addition, Eliot was responsible for the publication of the prestigious "Harvard Classics," a collection of "great books" from multiple disciplines. After his death in 1926, his name has become synonymous with American higher education together with "Harvard".

In the 20th century, Harvard's status and reputation increased rapidly with the increase in donations and the number of professors. The number of students applying for admission also increased due to the increase in the number of courses and the expansion of the campus. In 1900, it became a founding member of the Association of American Universities. Radcliffe College, established in 1879, became a sister school to Harvard and became the most famous girls' school in the United States at that time. Later, the two merged and Radcliffe became part of Harvard University.

Abbott Lwrence Lowell served as the president of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933. He re-formulated the university's undergraduate curriculum plan and implemented a system that combined concentration and distribution of courses in order to enable students to receive Good basic education; and the tutorial system implemented by Lowell is still used by Harvard University. The implementation of this system allows undergraduates in large comprehensive universities to have a small college environment. Freshmen live in dormitories on or near the Harvard campus in the first year after admission. After one year, students live in separate dormitories. Among the 12 dormitories, there is also a 13th dormitory building for a small number of day students. Each dormitory building has a resident teacher and a tutor group to guide students' study and life.

President James Bryant Conant, who took office in 1933, re-established the creative scholarship system to encourage and attract talents and ensure the school's leadership position among research institutions. He believed that higher education was for the truly talented, not for the rich. He adapted the curriculum to identify, recruit, and support talented young people. In 1943, he asked faculty to provide a clear view on "what is the purpose of secondary and higher education." In 1945, the report that was born out of this became one of the most influential educational declarations in the United States in the 20th century.

From 1945 to 1960, Harvard changed its admissions policy and began to accept students from different backgrounds, not just those from aristocratic schools. The types of students have also begun to diversify. There are many more Jews and Catholics on campus, but blacks and Asians still only account for a very small minority.

From 1953 to 1971, Pusey served as president. Under his auspices, Harvard University conducted the largest fundraising event in the history of American higher education, raising US$825 million. This event improved Harvard's University teachers' salaries were increased, student aid was expanded, new professorships were established, and teaching equipment was enriched.

As president from 1971 to 1991, Bock carefully addressed some of the major issues in higher education, including administration, educational opportunities for minorities and women, and technology between academia and industry. Conversion and other issues, President Bock also reorganized the management structure of Harvard University and introduced modern management methods and procedures to various graduate schools and departments of Harvard University.

In 1991, Lu Tengting became the 26th president. In order to better coordinate the relationship between various colleges and teachers, he created a school-wide centralized academic plan with the purpose of identifying the most important and priority parts of Harvard. . In addition, Lu Dengting also emphasized the responsibilities of universities: excellent undergraduate education, the door of universities is always open to people from different economic classes, how research universities can adapt to the era of rapid information growth and severe financial constraints, and meet the challenges in a society of free expression .

At the end of the 20th century, the status of women at Harvard also began to rise. In the early days, female students were still concentrated at Radcliffe College. Although more and more female students are willing to enroll in Harvard courses, Harvard's students are still mostly male, with an average of only one female out of five students.

In 1999, Radcliffe College officially became Harvard University University's Radcliffe School of Advanced Study. The then dean, Drew Gilpin Foster, later officially became the first female president of Harvard in its more than 300 years of existence in 2007. She was also the first female president of the Ivy League after the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University and Princeton University. ’s fourth female principal.