Harvard University

The Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature established the college and approved £400 in funding. In 1637 it chose Newetowne, renamed Cambridge the following year, as the site. Harvard identifies October 28, 1636 as its founding date.⁠[1][3]

John Harvard left roughly 400 books and half his estate to the college when he died in 1638. The legislature named it Harvard College in 1639 to honor his gift. He was an early major benefactor; the legislature had established the institution.⁠[1][3]

The 1650 charter entrusted management to the President and Fellows of Harvard College, known as the Harvard Corporation. Initially comprising the president, five fellows and a treasurer, it was expanded in 2010 with terms of service and standing committees.⁠[3][4]

The Medical School was established in 1782 and formally opened in 1783. The Divinity School followed in 1816 and the Law School in 1817, broadening Harvard’s professional education beyond the undergraduate college.⁠[3][2]

Abbott Lawrence’s $50,000 gift established the Lawrence Scientific School, advancing formal engineering and applied science education. Harvard’s professional schools continued to expand: the Business School opened in 1908 and the Graduate School of Education was established in 1920.⁠[3][2]

Reformers founded the Harvard Annex so women could receive instruction from Harvard faculty. Chartered as Radcliffe College in 1894, it was led by its first president, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz. A 1943 agreement opened Harvard classrooms to Radcliffe students.⁠[5]

IBM’s Mark I began operating at Harvard in 1944. Computing pioneer Grace Hopper was among its early programmers and wrote a programming manual for it, making the project an important part of Harvard’s early computing work.⁠[3][1]

Radcliffe College formally merged with Harvard, establishing the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The institute emphasizes interdisciplinary inquiry while retaining commitments to women and gender studies; its Schlesinger Library preserves collections on women’s history.⁠[5]

Drew Gilpin Faust became Harvard’s 28th president in 2007 and the first woman to hold the office. She had previously led the Radcliffe Institute.⁠[1][5]

President Lawrence Bacow released the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery committee report, accepted its recommendations and announced a $100 million commitment to implementation. The initiative addresses the university’s historical connections to slavery and their legacy.⁠[1]

In Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Supreme Court held that Harvard College’s admissions system failed to comply with equal-protection principles embodied in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Harvard said it would comply while pursuing a diverse student body within the new legal framework.⁠[6]

The Harvard Corporation accepted Claudine Gay’s resignation as president; she returned to the faculty. Provost Alan M. Garber became interim president. The board’s statement placed the transition amid sustained controversy and conflict while condemning personal and racist attacks directed at Gay.⁠[7]

After serving as interim president since January, Garber was appointed Harvard’s 31st president in August, initially through June 30, 2027. He had served as provost since 2011 and has academic backgrounds in economics and medicine.⁠[8]

Harvard announced expanded College aid for 2025–26. Students from families earning no more than $100,000 annually could receive support covering tuition, housing, food and other expenses; those earning up to $200,000 could receive at least full tuition support, with additional aid determined individually. This undergraduate policy does not establish universal free graduate tuition.⁠[9]

Harvard reported approximately $6.7 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue and a $113 million operating deficit. Finance leaders said disrupted federal reimbursements affected about $116 million during that fiscal year, distinct from the multiyear value of research awards. Harvard reported reinstatement of more than 900 direct awards following a court ruling and had established a $250 million research continuity fund.⁠[10]

Harvard’s governing boards announced that Garber would continue as president beyond the 2026–27 academic year for an indefinite term, extending the earlier appointment that ran through June 2027.⁠[8]

Georgetown University’s October 6 case update identified the government’s First Circuit appeal, No. 25-2230, challenging the judgment vacating Harvard’s funding freezes. The dispute concerns agency authority, the Administrative Procedure Act and the First Amendment. It is distinct from other antisemitism or international-student cases, and their outcomes do not resolve this appeal.⁠[11][12]

Harvard College provides undergraduate education, alongside schools in medicine, law, business, education, design, divinity, public health and public policy. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences encompasses the College, engineering and applied sciences, arts and sciences graduate study, and Extension School. Individual schools oversee their curricula and academic programs.⁠[2][4]

The Harvard Corporation bears fiduciary responsibility for academic, financial and physical resources. The alumni Board of Overseers, established in 1642, oversees periodic external evaluations of schools and departments and advises university leaders. The president leads Harvard, while the provost coordinates university-wide policies and practices.⁠[4]

At the end of fiscal 2025, Harvard’s endowment totaled about $56.9 billion. It returned 11.9% and distributed roughly $2.5 billion for operations. Approximately 14,765 funds make up the endowment, with about 80% of its value directed to specified purposes. The total is therefore not unrestricted cash available to fill budget gaps. University-wide aid and scholarships totaled $784 million that year.⁠[13][10]

Three books on the shield spell VERITAS, Latin for truth. Harvard records that Josiah Quincy rediscovered a 1643 sketch and displayed the design at the 1836 bicentennial; it informed the seal adopted in 1843. The plain shield serves the university’s visual identity, while the adorned version is used for commemorative and official university-wide purposes.⁠[14]

Harvard University: Official website: https://www.harvard.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

Harvard X: Official website: https://x.com/Harvard (opens in a new window).⁠[15]

Harvard LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Official website: https://www.linkedin.com/school/harvard-university/ (opens in a new window).⁠[16]

Harvard YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Official website: https://www.youtube.com/harvard (opens in a new window).⁠[1]