American University (AU)

American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meaningful change in the world. Our students distinguis ngful change in the world. Our students distinguish themselves for their service, leadership, and ability to rethink global and domestic challenges and opportunities. At AU passion becomes action; students actively engage in the world around them; and the leaders of today train the leaders of tomorrow. American University combines a tradition of strong undergraduate and graduate education with a focus on experiential learning, global leadership, and public service. American University was founded by John Fletcher Hurst, a respected Methodist bishop who dreamed of creating a university that trained public servants for the future. Chartered by Congress in 1893, AU has always been defined by its groundbreaking spirit. Before women could vote, they attended American University. When Washington, DC was still segregated, 400 African Americans called American University home. As we continue to grow in reputation and stature, we remain grounded in the ideals of our founders as we continue to be a leader for a changing world. Since being chartered by Congress in 1893, American University has been a leader in higher education in the nation and around the world. A global outlook, practical idealism, a passion for public service: They're part of American University today, and they were in the air in 1893, when AU was chartered by Congress. George Washington had dreamed of a "national university" in the nation's capital. But it took John Fletcher Hurst to found a university that, in many ways, embodies that dream. The land Bishop Hurst chose for AU was on the rural fringe of the nation's capital, but it was already rich with Washington history. Abraham Lincoln had visited troops at Fort Gaines, which perched on the high ground now held by Ward Circle and the Katzen Arts Center. Presidential footsteps would continue to echo through AU history. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of a building, named for Hurst's friend, President William McKinley. When the Methodist-affiliated university opened in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson gave the dedication. If AU's Washington ties were evident from the start, so was its groundbreaking spirit. The first 28 students included five women, a notable figure at a time before women could vote, and an African American student won a fellowship in 1915 to pursue a doctorate. Undergraduates were first admitted in 1925, by which time graduate students had shifted to a downtown campus on F Street, near the White House. It was there in the heart of downtown that in 1934, at the start of the New Deal, AU launched a program to help train federal employees in new methods of public administration. President Franklin Roosevelt, who spoke at the event launching the program, promised it would have the "hearty cooperation" of all branches of his administration. The program would evolve into today's School of Public Affairs. During World War II, students shared the campus with the Navy, which used it for research and training. It wasn't the first time that war impacted AU directly. During World War I, the still largely undeveloped campus had been turned over briefly to the war department for use as a military camp, testing and training site. The period after World War II was a time of growth and innovation. The Washington Semester Program, founded in 1947, began drawing students from around the nation-and ultimately, the world-to participate in what was then a new concept: semester internships in the nation's capital. In 1949, the Washington College of Law merged with AU, adding its rich history-it was founded for women in 1896-to the pioneering spirit of the university. By that same year, though the nation's capital was still a segregated town, the AU community included over 400 African American students. The 1950s brought further expansion. By 1955, the business program launched in 1924 had grown so large it became a separate school, now known as the Kogod School of Business. Ground was broken for the School of International Service in 1957 by President Dwight Eisenhower, who urged the new school to remember that "the waging of peace demands the best we have." A few years later, President John Kennedy used the 1963 AU commencement as the occasion for a pivotal foreign policy speech calling on the Soviet Union to work with the United States on a nuclear test ban treaty. The speech became known as "A Strategy of Peace." It was just the beginning of a news-making decade at AU. Like their peers around the country, AU students angry about the Vietnam War took their concerns to the streets-but here, that often meant blocking the cars of Washington's policy makers as they passed the campus on their daily commutes, or hosting students who came from around the country to join the protests in the nation's capital. The next decades brought a quieter campus, but the issues of the day continued to engage faculty and students as new centers, institutes, and programs were born and schools and departments expanded. In 1984, the School of Communication was established, reflecting the growth of the journalism program from the first courses in the 1920s. Academic programs continuously gained high national rankings, and the quality of AU's students was reflected in the high number of merit awards and prestigious national scholarships and fellowships, such as Fulbright awards and Presidential Management Fellowships. The university's growing reputation in the creative arts was underscored with the opening of the 296-seat Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre in 2003 and the Katzen Arts Center in 2005. With 130,000 square feet of space, the Katzen includes a 30,000 square foot art museum with three floors of exhibition space, the Washington area's largest university facility for exhibiting art. In 2007, Neil Kerwin, SPA/BA '71, became the first alum to become president of AU. A noted scholar of public policy and the regulatory process, he has been part of the life of AU for 40 years, as student, professor, dean, and provost, and guided the university through the process of implementing its strategic plan, "American University and the Next Decade: Leadership for a Changing World," which expresses a conviction that AU's academic strengths are grounded in its core values of social responsibility and a commitment to cultural and intellectual diversity. It's a vision for the twenty-first century, but it's grounded in ideals that go back to John Fletcher Hurst and the dream of a university that makes a difference in the lives of its students, its community, and the world. ...view more