Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, the university was intended to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge—from the classics to the sciences and from the theoretical to the applied. These ideals, unconventional for the time, are captured in Cornell's motto, an 1865 Ezra Cornell quotation: "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." Since its founding, Cornell has also been a co-educational, non-sectarian institution where admission is offered irrespective of religion or race.
The university is broadly organized into seven undergraduate colleges and seven graduate divisions at its main Ithaca campus, with each college and division defining its own admission standards and academic programs in near autonomy. Cornell counts more than 255,000 living alumni, 31 Marshall Scholars, 28 Rhodes Scholars and 41 Nobel laureates as affiliated with the university.The student body consists of over 13,000 undergraduate and 6,000 graduate students from all 50 states and 122 countries.
Rankings
Cornell is consistently ranked among the top twenty universities in the world. In 2011 Cornell is ranked 15th in the QS World University Rankings and 20th in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking. (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings). The university ranked 15th in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report National Universities ranking (tied with Brown University), tied for 6th with Columbia University and Brown University in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report High School Counselor rankings, and 13th globally in an academic ranking of world universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2011. Cornell was ranked 38th nationally and sixth among Ivy League universities in The Washington Monthly's 2010 ranking of universities' contributions to research, community service, and social mobility. In 2006, The Princeton Review reported that Cornell ranked ninth as a "dream college" for high school students and their parents. Newsweek named Cornell the 'Hottest Ivy' in its 2007 listing of America's 25 Hot Schools. Instead of using the traditional school ranking methods, Newsweek offers a snapshot of today's most interesting colleges according to high school counselors, admissions officers, consultants, students, and parents, who noted Cornell for its emphasis on "problem-solving as well as scholarly debate" and "variety on campus" among other things.
Student Activities
For the 2006–07 academic year, Cornell had 901 registered student organizations. These clubs and organizations run the gamut from kayaking to full-armor jousting, from varsity and club sports and a cappella groups to improvisational theatre, from political clubs and publications to chess and video game clubs. They are subsidized financially by academic departments and/or the Student Assembly and the Graduate & Professional Student Assembly, two student-run organizations with a collective budget of $3.0 million per year. The assemblies also finance other student life programs including a concert commission and an on-campus movie theater. The Cornell International Affairs Society sends over 100 Cornellians to collegiate Model United Nations conferences across North America and hosts the Cornell Model United Nations Conference each spring for over 500 high school students. Cornell United Religious Work is a collaboration among many diverse religious traditions, helping to provide spiritual resources throughout a student's time at college. The Cornell Catholic Community is the largest Catholic student organization on campus. Student organizations also include a myriad of musical groups that play everything from classical, jazz, to ethnic styles in addition to the Big Red Marching Band, which performs regularly at football games and other campus events. Organized in 1868, the oldest Cornell student organization is the Cornell University Glee Club. The university is home to two secret honor societies called Sphinx Head and Quill and Dagger that have maintained a presence on campus for well over 120 years. It also has a Student Innovation Group, a think-tank dedicated to improving student life on campus.
Alumni
As of August 2008, the university counted 245,027 living alumni. Many are active through organizations and events including the annual Reunion Weekend and Homecoming, weekend festivities in Ithaca, and the International Spirit of Zinck's Night. For the 2004–05 fiscal year, Cornell ranked third for gifts and bequests from alumni, and fourth for total support from all sources (alumni, friends, corporations, and foundations) among U.S. colleges and universities reporting voluntary gift support. In October 2006, Cornell made public a 10 year capital campaign "Far Above..." to solicit alumni and raise $4 billion to improve the undergraduate experience, attract and retain faculty, and expand the physical plant.[242] Information about Cornell graduates, most of which is submitted by the graduates themselves, is available in Cornell Magazine. The magazine is currently published 6 times a year.
Famous Cornellians
Ruth Bader Ginsburg '54, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
E.B. White '21, author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little
Toni Morrison M.A. '55, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
Ann Coulter '84, media personality
Bill Nye the "Science Guy" '77
Hu Shih '14, Chinese ambassador, philosopher, poet
Cornellians are noted for their accomplishments in public, professional, and corporate life. Taiwan's former President Lee Teng-hui, former President of Cuba Mario Garcia Menocal,and former Iranian Prime Minister Jamshid Amuzegar all graduated from Cornell. Hu Shih ('14) was the ambassador to the United States during World War II and later China's representative to the United Nations. He is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of written vernacular Chinese. In the United States, numerous Congressmen and Cabinet members, including Paul Wolfowitz ('65) and Janet Reno ('60), and one Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg ('54), have been Cornellians. After his Cornell education, David Starr Jordan (1872) went on to become the president of Indiana University and subsequently founding president of Stanford University after former Cornell president Andrew Dickson White turned down the position. M. Carey Thomas (1877) founded Bryn Mawr College and was its second president. Lieutenant Colonel Matt Urban ('41) is the most decorated serviceman in United States history. Arnold Tremere ('68) was appointed as the Canadian International Grains Institute Executive Director.
source: Wikipedia
