Cornell University

Cornell is the federal land-grant institution of New York State, a private endowed university, a member of the Ivy League/Ancient Eight, and a partner of the State University of New York. It has been described as the first truly American university because of its founders' revolutionarily egalitarian and practical vision of higher education, and is dedicated to its land-grant mission of outreach and public service.

The University was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. In 1868 Morrill Hall was the first building constructed on the main Ithaca campus, which today includes 628 buildings on more than 2000 acres.

43 Nobel laureates affiliated with Cornell as faculty members or alumni. Cornellians are noted for their accomplishments in public, professional, and corporate life. Lee Teng-hui was president of Taiwan, Mario García Menocal was president of Cuba, Jamshid Amuzegar ('50) was prime minister of Iran, Hu Shih ('14) was a Chinese reformer and representative to the United Nations, Janet Reno ('60) was the first female United States Attorney General, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg('54) serves on the Supreme Court, Alumnus David Starr Jordan (1872) was the founding president of Stanford University, and M. Carey Thomas (1877) founded Bryn Mawr College. Additionally, alumnus Matt Urban ('41) holds the distinction as the most decorated serviceman in United States history.

Fourteen colleges and schools, each autonomous in its programs, its admissions, its faculty, and its support. Each working together as Cornell University to serve you, your needs and Cornell's specific missions.

Cornell University is home to contract colleges and schools that were created by an Act of the New York State Legislature and receive direct funding from New York State. They are at the core of our public partnership with the SUNY program. Their mission is linked directly to the economic and social well-being of New York State.