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Tulane History
Tulane University, founded in 1834, is one of the most highly regarded
and selective independent research universities in the United States.
Tulane's schools and colleges offer degrees in the liberal arts, science
and engineering, architecture, business, law, social work, medicine,
and public health and tropical medicine.
The university
is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, a select
group of the 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada
with “pre-eminent programs of graduate and professional education and scholarly
research.” Tulane also is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching as a university with “very high research activity.” Of
more than 4,300 higher educational institutions rated by the foundation, Tulane
remains in a prestigious category that includes only 2 percent of universities
nationwide.
Located in
New Orleans, Tulane traces its origins to the Medical College of Louisiana, the
Deep South’s second oldest medical school, which was founded in 1834. By
1847, the Medical College was part of the newly established public institution,
the University of Louisiana.
Tulane emerged
as a private university in 1884 when the public University of Louisiana was reorganized
and named in honor of benefactor Paul Tulane, a wealthy merchant who bequeathed
more than $1 million to endow a university “for the promotion and encouragement
of intellectual, moral and industrial education.” A native of Princeton,
N.J., Paul Tulane had made his fortune in New Orleans and his gift expressed
his appreciation to this Southern city on the Mississippi River. In 1886, the
H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for Women was established as part of the university,
which has since merged with Tulane’s college for undergraduate men to form
the Newcomb-Tulane College.
Tulane moved to its present campus on St. Charles Avenue in 1894. The Tulane
University Health Sciences Center in downtown New Orleans includes the School
of Medicine and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, while the Tulane
National Primate Research Center is in Covington, La.
Research in
many disciplines has flourished at Tulane through the establishment of centers
such as the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies, the Middle
American Research Institute, the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research,
the Murphy Institute, the Tulane Cancer Center, the Tulane Center for Gene Therapy
and the Newcomb College Institute.
In the fall
of 2005, Tulane weathered Hurricane Katrina, the nation’s worst natural
disaster. A renewed Tulane emerged from the storm as a stronger institution focused
on an exceptional undergraduate program complemented by superb graduate, professional
and research programs based on the university’s historical strengths and
distinctive characteristics.
Tulane’s programs have been shaped by the university’s experience
with Hurricane Katrina, providing faculty, staff and students with unprecedented
research, learning and community service opportunities.
Tulane has
also re-launched “Promise and Distinction: The Campaign for Tulane.” Publicly
announced just months before Katrina, “Promise and Distinction” has
already raised over $600 million toward its goal of raising $700 million by June
30, 2008.
Realizing this goal will enable Tulane to continue to attract and retain the
very best students, faculty and staff as it moves forward toward its goal of
universal recognition as one of the world’s most preeminent educational
and research institutions.
Tulane
Facts
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