Harvard University: The oldest institution of higher education in the United States

Higher education in British North America was conceived on October 28, 1636, when the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay agreed to give 400£ towards the establishment of a college in Cambridge.

This relatively generous appropriation triggered a train of events that led to the erection of Harvard College and its first commencement 6 years later, in 1642.

Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. At its inception, this university's name was "New College," and its purpose was mainly to educate clergy. In 1639, the school's name became Harvard University, so named for the Rev. John Harvard. Harvard bequeathed half of his estate and his entire library to the school upon his death in 1638.

Henry Dunster arrived in August 1640. A Bachelor and Master (1634) of Magdalene College, Cambridge, who had preached and taught in England, Dunster consented to become the first president of Harvard College.

In the 1640s, under the key leadership of President Henry Dunster, Harvard was converted from an infant institution into an acceptable college, and Dunster taught most, if not the entire curriculum in his early years.

The University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 20,000-degree candidates including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

In 1782, Harvard added medical studies to the school's programs. Harvard University added additional programs during the 19th century, namely law in 1816 and divinity in 1817.

Harvard’s first commencement in 1642 consecrated the initial success of Dunster’s efforts. In an impressive ceremony, the governor, magistrates, ministers and other educated citizens endured a full day of Greek and (mostly) Latin presentations. Nine students who had begun their studies under Nathaniel Eaton were awarded the first degree of bachelor of arts.
Harvard University: The oldest institution of higher education in the United States

Ivy league universities in United States

There are many private universities in the United States, including the most prestigious Ivy League. These institutions have the same fee structure, regardless of residence or nationality. The phrase “Ivy League” arose as a nickname for eight research universities in the northern United States.

They tend to be very expensive, but are also likely to have more open scholarship for which foreign nationals are eligible to apply.

They are very competitive, The eight Ivy League universities: Brown Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. These are the American universities with the most stringent application processes, strict eligibility requirements and highest costs.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Duke University, Northwestern University and the University of Virginia, also have highly selective admission requirements and confer social and economic benefits on par with the traditional Ivy League.

Gain admission to any of these institutions and the student will receive a first-class education, the promise of an impressive resume, and career enhancing membership in a tightly woven network of alumni relations.

Ivy League universities are well-established intuitions and are said to have got their name from the ivy plants which frequently grow on the sides of their magnificent old buildings. Ivy League members accept only a small percentage of those who apply. As a whole, they admit only about 18% of their applicants.
Ivy league universities in united states

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

William E. Ritter (1856-1944) was a zoologist at the University of California in Berkeley when he decided that his life’s work was to found a marine biological station on the west coast.

It was then he met Edward Willis Scripps (1854-1926) and his sister Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932).  Edwards was the owner of many so-called penny newspapers in the United States, designed to bring news to the general public, was also a yachtsman who sought relaxation at sea.

While Ellen Browning, was a major benefactor in the San Diego are and beyond (hospital, college, science and other projects).

The Scripps family provided almost all of the operating funds for the station from 1903 to 1912. The name of the station was Marine Biological Association of San Diego (1903-1912) and Scripps Institution for Biological Research (1912-1925).

The station began in 1892 as a portable laboratory-in-a-tent.  Its first permanent buildings were erected in 1905 on a site purchased with funds donated Scripps family.

From 1912, when the station became part of the University of California, until their deaths, E.W Scripps and Ellen Browning Scripps matched the state support for the institution.

E. W. Scripps personally donated over forty thousand dollars. He donated his yacht as the institution’s first ship, the E. W. Scripps.

He initiated the idea of operating a pulse aquarium at the station and he convinced Ritter to purchase the one hundred and seventy acre pueblo lot in La Jolla where the institution stands today.

The first chemical laboratory at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography was founded by Erik G. Moberg in 1930. This was the beginning of a tradition of excellence on chemical oceanography and marine chemistry that continuous to the present.

By October 1925 its name was change to Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography