Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in
Baltimore,
Maryland,
United States. Johns Hopkins offers its main undergraduate and graduate programs at the Homewood campus in Baltimore and maintains full-time campuses in greater Maryland,
Washington, D.C.,
Italy, and
China. Johns Hopkins is notable as the first university in the United States to put an emphasis on research, founded on the
German university model.
The university is particularly regarded for its hospital and schools of medicine and international studies. For medical research,
U.S. News ranked the school of medicine second nationally for 2007
[[1]]. The Johns Hopkins Hospital was ranked as the top hospital in the United States for the sixteenth year in a row by the U.S. News annual ranking of American hospitals
[[2]]. In its annual National Universities ranking,
U.S. News ranked Johns Hopkins University thirteenth for 2006
[U.S. News and World Report rankings]. In an August 2005 study conducted by the
College of William and Mary, the
School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) was ranked as the nation's top master's degree program in
international relations.
[ College of William and Mary master's degree program sturdy. Results were subsequently published in the November/December 2005 edition of Foreign Policy (FP) magazine. ] |
The Homewood campus as seen from N. Charles St. |
Johns Hopkins University is named for
Johns Hopkins, who left $7 million (
USD) in his 1867 incorporation papers and 1873 will for the foundation of the University and
Johns Hopkins Hospital. At the time, this was the largest philanthropic bequest in
U.S. history, the equivalent of over $88.2 million in the year 2005. Hopkins' donation has been bested only in recent years by
Michael Bloomberg, whose confirmed personal donations, totaling over $200 million during the last two decades, make him the largest individual benefactor in the university's history. The university opened on
February 22,
1876, with the stated goal of "The encouragement of research... and the advancement of individual scholars, who by their excellence will advance the sciences they pursue, and the society where they dwell." The University's first president was
Daniel Coit Gilman, and its motto in Latin is
Veritas vos liberabit – "The truth shall make you free." The undergraduate student population at Hopkins was all male until
1970 although many graduate programs were integrated earlier.
|
East side of Gilman Hall, as seen from the Keyser Quadrangle in the winter |
Johns Hopkins was the first American research university, and the first American university to teach through seminars, instead of solely through lectures. The university was the first in America to offer an undergraduate major (as opposed to a purely liberal arts curriculum) and the first American university to grant doctoral degrees. Johns Hopkins was a model for most large research universities in the United States, particularly the
University of Chicago.
Nearly 80% of Johns Hopkins undergraduates perform graduate-level research by the time of graduation. Johns Hopkins receives more federal research grants than any other university in the United States. The University is affiliated with 31
Nobel laureates. It boasts a wide spectrum in terms of its academic strengths, particularly in art history, biological and natural sciences, biomedical engineering, creative writing, English, history, economics, international studies, medicine, political theory, public health, public policy, and the
Romance languages.
Johns Hopkins is one of fourteen founding members of the
Association of American Universities (AAU) and a member of the
Consortium On Financing Higher Education (COFHE).
Origin of the name
Johns Hopkins' first name is the surname of his great-grandmother, Margaret Johns, who married Gerard Hopkins. They named their son Johns Hopkins, and his name was passed on to his grandson, the university's founder (1795-1873).
In a commencement address to the undergraduate Class of 2001, university president
William R. Brody had the following to say about the name:
"In 1888, just 12 years after the university was founded,
Mark Twain wrote about this university in a letter to a friend. He said:
A few months ago I was told that the Johns Hopkins University had given me a degree. I naturally supposed this constituted me a Member of the Faculty, and so I started in to help as I could there. I told them I believed they were perfectly competent to run a college as far as the higher branches of education are concerned, but what they needed was a little help here and there from a practical commercial man. I said the public is sensitive to little things, and they wouldn't have full confidence in a college that didn't know how to spell the name 'John'.More than a century later, we continue to bestow our diplomas only upon individuals of outstanding capabilities and great talent. And we continue to spell Johns with an 's'."
|
South side of Gilman Hall |
Johns Hopkins offers undergraduate and graduate programs based at the Homewood campus, adjacent to
Charles Village in northern Baltimore. The
Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences and the
G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering are two of the three schools based at Homewood, with the third being the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education (SPSBE).
Among the many strong departments and programs at Johns Hopkins are
art history [
3],
biology [
4],
biomedical engineering [
5],
biophysics [
6], creative writing seminars [
7],
earth and
planetary sciences [
8],
economics [
9],
English [
10],
film and
media studies [
11],
geography and
environmental engineering [
12],
German [
13],
history [
14],
international studies, Near Eastern studies [
15], public policy,
political science (a term coined by a Hopkins professor) [
16], the Romance languages [
17] and sociology.
Notably, the biomedical engineering department is widely recognized as one of the best in the nation, and the French department was recognized as a "Center of Excellence" in the study of French culture and language by the government of
France, one of only four in the United States. The Writing Seminars department, a program in creative writing, was ranked second-best in the nation by
US News and World Report.
Johns Hopkins also offers undergraduate and graduate degrees at the Peabody Conservatory and the School of Nursing. Through collaborations with its graduate schools and international partners, undergraduate majors in areas such as public health or international studies can cross-register or apply for accelerated programs through the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine or
SAIS's Bologna Center in Italy and
Sciences Po in Paris. This unique experience promotes research opportunities among undergraduates with leading researchers in their respective fields, a rarity among other graduate-focused research institutions. Finally, the university's rigorous academics and broad alumni base allow for easier transition to graduate school or integration into the workforce.
|
The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in East Baltimore |
In addition to the graduate programs at the Homewood campus, Johns Hopkins has several internationally respected graduate professional schools:
* The
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, is headquartered at the University's Medical Institutions campus in East Baltimore with
Johns Hopkins Hospital.
* The
Bloomberg School of Public Health, founded in 1916, is the first and largest public health school in the world.
* The School of Nursing, founded in 1889, is home to the nation's first
Peace Corps Fellows Program in nursing.
* The
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, based in
Washington, DC, near
Dupont Circle, is devoted to international studies, particularly
international relations,
diplomacy, and
economics. (It is familiarly known as "SAIS", pronounced like the second syllable of
precise). SAIS has full-time international campuses in
Bologna,
Italy and
Nanjing,
China. Founded in 1943, the School became a part of the University in 1950. SAIS was ranked in a recent survey as the nation's top
master's degree program in international relations. [
18].
*The
Peabody Institute, founded in 1857, is the oldest continuously active music conservatory in the United States, located in Baltimore's
Mount Vernon neighborhood, it became a division of Johns Hopkins in
1977. The Conservatory retains its own student body and grants its own degrees in musicology, though both Hopkins and Peabody students may take courses at both institutions.
The University also offers education abroad through centers in
Germany,
Singapore, and
Italy. The University operates the
Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,
Maryland, which specializes in research for the U.S.
Department of Defense,
NASA and other Government agencies. The
Space Telescope Science Institute is located on the Homewood campus and controls, analyzes, and collects data from the
Hubble Space Telescope. The recently opened
Information Security Institute is the newest addition to the graduate programs affiliated with Johns Hopkins. The Institute is the "University's focal point for research and education in information security, assurance and privacy."
|
Shriver Hall at the foot of the Wyman Quad |
The original main university campus was in downtown Baltimore City. However, this location did not permit room for growth and the trustees began to look for a place to move. Eventually, they would relocate to the estate of
Charles Carroll of Carrollton and
Homewood House, a wedding gift from Charles to his son Charles Jr.
The park-like main campus of Johns Hopkins, Homewood, is set on 140 acres (0.57 km²) in the northern part of Baltimore. The architecture was inspired by the
Georgian style of
Homewood House. Most newer buildings resemble the Georgian style, being built of red brick with white marble trim, but lack the details. Homewood House was later used for administrative offices but now is preserved as a museum.
As a part of the donation, Hopkins was required to donate part of the land for art. As a result, the
Baltimore Museum of Art, which is not part of the University, is situated next to the University's campus, just southeast of Shriver Hall.
The
Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, located on the Homewood Campus, is a nationally renowned center for the study of public policy. The Institute forms partnerships with other programs at Johns Hopkins to offer concentrations, specializations, certificates, and dual degrees related to public policy.
This urban campus is in the East Baltimore neighborhood and is home to the School of Medicine, the
Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the School of Nursing. It comprises several city blocks spreading from the main site where the original
Johns Hopkins Hospital building was founded (and still exists). The School of Medicine of the Johns Hopkins University is associated with clinical practice at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Johns Hopkins accepted 27% of 13,869 applicants for entrance into the fall 2006 freshman class. Undergraduate students matriculate from all 50 states and more than 50 countries. Within six years of graduation, 85% of Hopkins students earn graduate degrees, the highest percentage in the nation.
Approximately 1/3 of male undergraduates and 1/10 of females belong to the
Greek system. Most of the fraternities maintain houses off campus, but the sororities tend not to do so.
On websites that collect student critiques, undergraduates often give social life at Hopkins barely average grades, slightly lower than with other highly selective universities.
[Students Review Johns Hopkins University] |
Students are often found socializing on the grassy hill in front of the Eisenhower Library, nicknamed "The Beach" |
Both Johns Hopkins and the
Charles Village community, however, have been striving to improve the neighborhood for students and community members.
The Charles Village Project, scheduled for completion in 2008, will bring new commercial spaces to the neighborhood. The project includes Charles Commons, a new, modern residence hall that will include a
Barnes & Noble and a
Starbucks. The building is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2006.
Hopkins has also invested heavily in improving campus life for its students with creation of an arts complex, the Mattin Center [
19], and a three-story sports facility, the O'Connor Recreation Center [
20].
Hopkins has many entirely student-run publications.
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, founded in 1896, is the oldest continuously published college newspaper in the nation, and is published weekly.[
21]
The Hopkins Donkey is a political newspaper with a
Democratic perspective on international, national and state-wide political topics.
The Carrollton Record is a political newspaper with an
American-conservative perspective on campus and city-wide politics.[
22]
Zeniada and
j.mag are literary magazines.
Prometheus is the undergraduate philosophy journal.[
23]
The Diplomat is the multi-disciplinary international relations journal.
In the past, student publications at Hopkins included
The Black & Blue Jay, which was among the nation's oldest humor magazines. It was founded in 1920
["With the publication of the first of The Black and Blue Jay in November 1920"]
Ever popular among students, the magazine received repeated opposition from the university administration for its vulgar humor. In October 1934, Dean Edward R. Berry removed financial support for the magazine; without funding, the magazine continued under the name
The Blue Jay until Berry threatened to expel the editors in 1939. The magazine was revived in 1984, but has ceased publication since then.
|
The Milton S. Eisenhower Library seen from the Keyser Quadrangle |
The Milton S. Eisenhower Library (called "MSE" by students), located on the Homewood campus, houses over 2.6 million volumes and over 20,000 journal subscriptions. The Eisenhower Library is a member of the university's Sheridan Libraries encompassing collections at the Albert D. Hutzler Reading Room in Gilman Hall, the John Work Garrett Library at Evergreen House, and the George Peabody Library at Mount Vernon Place. Together these collections provide the major research library resources for the University, serving Johns Hopkins academic programs worldwide.
The library was named for
Milton S. Eisenhower, former president of the university and brother of former U.S. president
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Only two of the MSE library's six stories are above ground; the rest are beneath, though architects designed the building so that every level has windows and natural light. The design accords with a bit of traditional campus lore which says no structure on campus can be taller than Gilman Hall, the oldest academic building. There is no written rule regarding building height, however, and the library's design was chosen for architectural and aesthetic reasons when it was finally built in the 1960's. Prior "master plans" for campus design over the previous decades had included massive, imposing buildings to house the library collections.
|
Johns Hopkins defeated Duke University in the 2005 National Lacrosse Championship |
Athletic teams at Johns Hopkins use the name The Blue Jays. The university's athletic colors are
Columbia blue and black. (Sable and gold are used for academic robes.) Hopkins is the only university in the United States to celebrate
Homecoming in the spring, to coincide with the height of the lacrosse season. Outside of the Men's and Women's Division I lacrosse teams, Hopkins participates in the
NCAA's Division III and the
Centennial Conference. The school's most prominent sports team is its Men's
lacrosse team, which has won 43 national titles - 8
NCAA Division I (2005, 1987, 1985, 1984, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1974), 29
USILA, and 6
ILA titles. Hopkins' primary national
lacrosse rivals are
Princeton University,
Syracuse University, and the
University of Virginia; its primary intrastate rivals are
Loyola College,
Towson University, the
United States Naval Academy, and the
University of Maryland.
The
Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame, governed by
US Lacrosse, is located on the Homewood campus and is adjacent to Homewood Field. Hopkins also has a century-old rivalry with
McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College), playing the Green Terrors 83 times in football since the first game in
1894.
*
Daniel Coit Gilman, May 1875 - August 1901
*
Ira Remsen, September 1901 - January 1913
*
Frank Goodnow, October 1914 - June 1929
*
Joseph Sweetman Ames, July 1929 - June 1935
*
Isaiah Bowman, July 1935 - December 1948
*
Detlev Bronk, January 1949 - August 1953
*
Lowell Reed, September 1953 - June 1956
*
Milton S. Eisenhower, July 1956 - June 1967
*
Lincoln Gordon, July 1967 - March 1971
*Milton S. Eisenhower, March 1971 - January 1972
*
Steven Muller, February 1972 - June 1990
*
William C. Richardson, July 1990 - July 1995
*
Daniel Nathans, June 1995 - August 1996
*
William R. Brody, August 1996 - present
:''See:
List of Johns Hopkins University peopleIn non-fiction
*The
HBO film
Something the Lord Made (2004), based on the true story of
Alfred Blalock and
Vivien Thomas (an unusual team for the time), depicts their work as pioneers of cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In fiction
*In the television series
The Simpsons',
Dr. Julius Hibbert is a graduate from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
*In the television series
House, the character Dr. Foreman is a graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Dr.
Gregory House studied there for a time.
*In the television series
Grey's Anatomy, the character Dr. Preston Burke is a graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and was apparently first in his class.
*In the television series
Nip/Tuck, Christian Troy and Sean McNamara are graduates of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
*In the season two finale of
Nip/Tuck (2003), Troy and McNamara visit Johns Hopkins to find out more about Ava Moore.
*In the
Tom Clancy novels,
Jack Ryan's wife, Cathy Ryan, is a doctor at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. In real life, Clancy created the Tom Clancy Professorship at Wilmer on April 8, 2005.
*In the movie
The Rock (1995), Dr. Stanley Goodspeed receives his M.A. and Ph.D from Johns Hopkins.
*In the science fiction movie
The Island (2005), the retinal scans of Lincoln Six Echo are sent to Johns Hopkins for analysis.
*In the American television show
Commander in Chief, President Allen asks about the results of a recent "John" Hopkins study in episode 18.
*In an episode of the science-fiction television series
Stargate Atlantis, the character Dr. Beckett comments on an applicant to the Atlantis mission as being much more qualified in medicine than he. The applicant was from Johns Hopkins.
For a number of other affiliated fictional characters, see List of Johns Hopkins University people#Fictional_associations.As a film location
*The upcoming Nicole Kidman film
The Visiting (2006) was partly filmed in a laboratory in Mudd Hall on the Homewood campus.
*The film
The Curve (1998) was filmed at the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University.
*In the film
Red Dragon (2002), a scene which takes place at
The Brooklyn Museum of Art was filmed at the
Baltimore Museum of Art, located next to the Homewood campus.
*
Johns Hopkins University Main Website*The University's nine divisions
**
Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences**
G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering**
School of Professional Studies in Business and Education**
School of Medicine**
School of Nursing**
Bloomberg School of Public Health**
Peabody Institute**
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies**
Applied Physics Laboratory (a non-academic division of the university)
*
Johns Hopkins Medicine Website*
Johns Hopkins University Library Website*
Johns Hopkins Athletics Website*
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter Website*
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth*
JhuWiki*
Student Reviews of Johns Hopkins
*
Johns Hopkins University Main Website*The University's nine divisions
**
Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences**
G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering**
School of Professional Studies in Business and Education**
School of Medicine**
School of Nursing**
Bloomberg School of Public Health**
Peabody Institute**
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies**
Applied Physics Laboratory (a non-academic division of the university)
*
Johns Hopkins Medicine Website*
Johns Hopkins University Library Website*
Johns Hopkins Athletics Website*
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter Website*
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth*
JhuWiki*
Student Reviews of Johns Hopkins
