New York University

In 1830 local merchants and businessmen issued “Considerations upon the Expediency and the Means of Establishing a University in the City of New York,” proposing a university for the city; on October 13 of that year the election of the first Council was certified, and its minutes begin on that date.⁠[1][2]

The founding council was led by Albert Gallatin, who had served as secretary of the treasury under Presidents Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. He had earlier been governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state and vice president.Open the full entry and James MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison (1751–1836) was the fourth president of the United States, serving from 1809 to 1817. He helped frame the Constitution, co-wrote The Federalist and guided the Bill of Rights through Congress, and earlier served as a U.S. representative and secretary of state.Open the full entry. He envisioned “a general system of rational and practical education fitted for all and...opened to all,” and the university was to be non-denominational and open to students regardless of national origin, religious beliefs, or social background.⁠[3]

The New York State Legislature incorporated the institution in 1831 as the University of the City of New-York, and the university gives April 18, 1831, as its founding date; it kept that name until 1896. The founders intended a practical curriculum in modern languages, sciences and politics that would educate the working classes.⁠[1][4]

In 1832 the College of Arts and Science began classes near City Hall in Lower Manhattan; on September 26, 1832, James Milnor gave an address at the opening of the university. The student body numbered 158 in the university’s first semester.⁠[3][2][5]

The university held its first commencement in 1833, when three students graduated.⁠[1]

In 1835 the university’s first permanent home, the University Building, opened on Washington Square East. The marble neo-Gothic building held classrooms, offices and a chapel, with rental apartments above whose tenants included Winslow Homer, Samuel Colt and Samuel Morse.⁠[3][1]

The School of Law was also established in 1835 and later became one of the first law schools in the nation to admit women.⁠[3]

In 1839 John Draper photographed his sister, Dorothy Catherine Draper, whose face was powdered with flour; the university describes it as what may have been the first human portrait taken in the United States.⁠[3]

The university founded the School of Medicine in 1841, the College of Dentistry in 1865 and the Graduate School of Arts and Science in 1886, and in 1890 established what is now the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.⁠[4]

In 1867 the council resolved to admit women to the “benefits of the Institution,” and in 1888 women were formally admitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Science.⁠[3]

In 1894 the undergraduate college moved to a spacious campus in the Bronx designed by Stanford White and nicknamed “the Heights.” At Washington Square the University Building was demolished to make way for the Main Building, later renamed the Silver Center.⁠[3]

The business school founded in 1900, today the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, was coeducational from the beginning. In 1914 the university established Washington Square College, a downtown undergraduate college offering an education to nearly all qualified students regardless of background.⁠[3][4]

The university went on to establish the Institute of Fine Arts (1922), the College of Nursing (1932), the School of Professional Studies and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (both 1934), and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (1938).⁠[4]

In 1939 enrollment reached 47,000 students, the largest private enrollment in the country.⁠[3]

The university established the Silver School of Social Work in 1960, the Tisch School of the Arts in 1965, and the Gallatin School of Individualized Study and Liberal Studies in 1972.⁠[4]

In 1973 Bobst Library opened, giving the university its first central library, with more than four million volumes. That year, amid declining enrollment and economic difficulties, the university decided to sell its Bronx campus.⁠[3]

In 1994 Harold Acton bequeathed his 57-acre estate in Florence, Villa La Pietra, to the university, and NYU Florence became its third study-away site.⁠[3]

The September 11, 2001, attacks affected the university profoundly. It lies about a mile and a half from Ground Zero, and more than 2,000 students were then living in residence halls in Lower Manhattan.⁠[3]

In 2010 the university opened NYU Abu Dhabi, its second degree-granting campus, which it describes as the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East operated by a major American research university. In 2012 it established the School of Global Public Health.⁠[3][4]

In 2013 the university founded NYU Shanghai, its third degree-granting campus, in partnership with East China Normal University; it describes NYU Shanghai as the first Sino-U.S. joint research university.⁠[3]

In 2014 the university merged with Brooklyn’s Polytechnic University to create the Tandon School of Engineering, restoring engineering to the university for the first time in forty years; the school traces its history to 1854.⁠[3][4]

In 2016 Andrew Hamilton was inaugurated as the university’s 16th president; his priorities included affordability, diversity and sustainability.⁠[3]

In 2018 the School of Medicine announced full-tuition scholarships for all current and future students, which the university describes as unique among the nation’s top 10-ranked medical schools.⁠[3]

Linda G. Mills was named the 17th president of New York University in February 2023 and took office on July 1, 2023. As of November 2026 the university’s leadership page lists her as the current president.⁠[6][7]

In fall 2025 the university had approximately 60,525 students: 29,471 undergraduates, 27,804 graduate and professional students and 3,250 in noncredit programs; it conferred 20,211 degrees in 2024–2025. It has three degree-granting campuses, in New York, Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, 13 global academic centers and research programs in more than 25 countries, more than 700,000 alumni and more than 19,000 employees. Its endowment was $6.65 billion in 2025.⁠[4]

New York University: Official website: https://www.nyu.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

X: Public account: https://x.com/nyuniversity (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

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: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/school/new-york-university/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

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: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/nyu (opens in a new window).⁠[8]