Emory University is a private research university located in the metropolitan area of the city of Atlanta and in western unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States.
Emory was founded in 1836 and is named after John Emory, a popular bishop of the Georgia Methodist Conference. It consists of nine academic divisions including schools of arts and sciences, theology, business, law, medicine, public health, and nursing. Emory is currently ranked 17th among national universities according to U.S. News and World Report and has ranked as high as 9th by the same publication in the past. Additionally, the publication lists the university as 6th in total endowment. The undergraduate business program of its Goizueta Business School was ranked 5th nationally by BusinessWeek in 2008. Emory is considered a Southern Ivy.
HISTORY
In 1836, when the Cherokee nation still clung to its ancestral lands in the State of Georgia, and Atlanta itself had yet to be born, a small band of Methodists in Newton County dedicated themselves to founding a new town and college. They would call the town Oxford. It was a name of high aspiration, linking their little frontier enterprise with the university attended by the founders of Methodism, John and Charles Wesley. The college they would call Emory, after an American Methodist bishop who had inspired them by his broad vision for an American education that would mold character as well as mind.
The seventeen decades since those first days of Emory College have wrought changes so profound, that Emory University today bears as little physical resemblance to its fledgling ancestor as Atlanta does to the Georgia frontier. Surrounded by one of Atlanta's older and more affluent suburbs, Druid Hills, the tree-shaded campus belies the short distance of the University from the downtown commercial and cultural hub of the Southeast. Yet the buildings named for some of the city's corporate and civic leaders over the past ninety years bear witness to the University's cross-fertilization with the city. And the Clifton Corridor—a mile-long stretch of Clifton Road bounded by the University's health sciences facilities as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—testifies to Emory's transformation from the small liberal arts college in the wilderness.
From its beginning, Emory has sought to preserve and carry forward the ideals of the nineteenth-century public spirit out of which Emory and other colleges had their beginnings. These ideals owed much to the peculiarly American blend of hope for a perfect future, democratic conviction about the importance of individuals, and progressive reform of educational curricula. That philosophy has shaped a university that aims to nurture moral imagination as well as critical intellect and aesthetic judgment.
The beginning was small, obscure, difficult, and fraught with the prospect of failure amid high hopes. By 1830 Savannah, a busy and prosperous seaport and the largest town in the state, had a population of only 7,776, and no town west of Augusta could boast more than a couple thousand residents. In the vast woods and rugged mountains of northern Georgia, poor roads and old Indian trails connected small settlements and isolated cabins and farms.
Although the legislature of the State of Georgia in 1783 provided for the founding of "a college or seminary of learning," general support of education in Georgia was meager. But the 1830s would change the educational profile of the state dramatically. Impelled by an educational fad begun in Germany, Georgia Methodists had begun to contemplate establishing a "manual labor school." Students would divide their days between studying and farming. Crops raised by the students—under the direction of the faculty—would provide food and income; work in the fields would fill otherwise-idle hours and build character as well as bodies; poorer students would help to pay their own way, while wealthier students would learn industriousness. So it was that, in 1834, the Georgia Conference established a preparatory school on some four hundred acres of Newton County. Despite a market avid for the school's particular brand of education, however, the school quickly faced mounting debts.
Undaunted, the founders determined to enlarge their enterprise, and on December 10, 1836, the Georgia legislature granted a charter to Emory College, named for the young Methodist bishop John Emory, from Maryland, who had died in a carriage accident the previous year. Not until two years after the chartering would the College open its doors, and on September 17, 1838, the College's first president, Ignatius Alphonso Few, and three other faculty members welcomed fifteen freshmen and sophomores. They hailed from as far away as Charleston, South Carolina, and they included a future Emory president, Osborn L. Smith, and a future member of the faculty, George W. W. Stone.
SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
Emory College (founded 1836)
Emory College offers a distinctive combination: the close interaction and commitment to teaching of a small liberal arts college and the challenging resources of a major research university. The college offers more than 60 majors, plus numerous joint concentrations and interdepartmental programs. Nearly 40 percent of college students have some international experience by graduation. The college had 15,366 applicants for the 2007 first-year class, which numbered 1,269. Students enjoy a vibrant campus life, selecting from an array of arts, civic and preprofessional student organizations. More than one-quarter of the Emory College student body participates in Volunteer Emory, which provides services to Atlanta-area communities.
Oxford College (founded 1836)
Oxford College, with a student body of around 700, is located 38 miles east of Atlanta on the site of the original Emory campus in Oxford, Georgia. It is one of four undergraduate options at Emory. Students choose to attend Oxford because of its emphasis on teaching, personal interaction with professors, community setting, leadership opportunities and connection to Emory University. Most Oxford graduates continue to the Atlanta campus to complete their baccalaureate degrees.
School of Medicine (founded 1854)
One of the nation's finest teaching and research institutions, the medical school had 49 applications for each of its first-year positions in 2006. The school offers MD, MD/PhD and MD/MPH programs. The medical school also trains more than 1,000 residents and fellows and has 390 students in five top-ranking allied health programs. Faculty include 1,800 full-time and about 1,000 volunteer members. In 2006 the medical school received $292 million in research funding, including funds received by medical faculty based at Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The school is known for its research programs in cancer, neuroscience, vaccine development, transplantation biology, cardiology, biomedical engineering, and genetics. Faculty clinicians in Emory's own or affiliated teaching hospitals are responsible for more than 3.5 million patient visits annually.
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (founded 1905)
Producing national and international leaders in nursing practice and research, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing offers baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees. Graduates go on to become national and international leaders in patient care, public health, government and education. Master's graduates are qualified to seek certification as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and/or clinical nurse specialists. The doctoral program focuses on clinical research, with emphasis on health policy, health outcomes and ethics. In 2006, the school received $5.2 million in research funding.
Candler School of Theology (founded 1914)
Candler stands out among seminaries with strong educational programs, a superb faculty with an impressive record of research and publication, and a diverse student body representing some 50 denominations. Pitts Theology Library is the second-largest theological library in North America, with more than 530,000 volumes. One of 13 United Methodist-related seminaries, Candler's mission is to educate faithful and creative leaders for the church's ministries in the world. Candler students can pursue one of three master's degrees and one doctoral degree. The innovative Master of Divinity program gives students a broad and contextualized theological education, while requiring students to do concentrated work in a particular area of study. Joint degree programs law and business further provide an extraordinary context for theological education.
School of Law (founded 1916)
The School of Law is nationally and internationally recognized for its commitment to the legal profession as a service profession, for its emphasis on teaching the practice of law as well as the study of law, and for its premier centers of excellence. The School of Law celebrates its intellectual life, while reflecting the essential role of service through providing opportunities for students to work in the public sector or private nonprofit sectors, a loan repayment assistance program and scholarship assistance, and instruction in the practice of law through outstanding clinical programs. The School of Law inspires and supports interdisciplinary, integrative and international centers of excellence that include Law and Religion, International Law, Feminist Jurisprudence and Legal Theory.
Roberto C. Goizueta Business School (founded 1919)
Goizueta Business School teaches students to become principled leaders for global enterprise who not only create value for their organizations but also improve society. The school is home to an undergraduate degree program, a full-time (two-year) MBA, a one-year MBA, an evening MBA, the W. Cliff Oxford Executive MBA (weekend and modular formats), a PhD program, and a portfolio of innovative nondegree executive education programs. The Executive MBA Program and our Undergraduate (BBA) Program are consistently ranked in the top 10 among their respective programs in the country, while our Full-time and Evening MBA Programs are ranked in the top 25.
Graduate School (founded 1919)
The Graduate School offers more than 40 degree programs across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. These competitive programs prepare graduates for careers ranging from college and university teaching to policy-making, research, administration and service in the public and private sectors. The Teaching Assistant Training and Teaching Opportunity Program, a core requirement for the PhD, prepares graduate students to balance the demands of teaching and research in a university setting. Emory's graduate programs encourage interdisciplinary study and cross-disciplinary exchange within the context of excellent training in core disciplines. Among the graduate schools interdisciplinary programs are the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, the Graduate Division of Religion, and Women's Studies. In addition, the Graduate School offers joint degrees with Emory School of Law, the School of Medicine and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Rollins School of Public Health (founded 1990)
The Rollins School of Public Health comprises six academic departments: behavioral sciences and health education, biostatistics, global health, epidemiology, environmental and occupational health, and health policy and management. Research funding recorded in 2006 totaled $37.7 million. The school offers dual degrees with medical, nursing, business, and law as well as the distance-based career MPH degree. The school has more than 160 full-time faculty. Through its collaborations with the CDC, The Carter Center, the American Cancer Society, CARE, the Arthritis Foundation, the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, and state and local public health agencies, and in its role as a center for international health research and training, the school helps make Atlanta a worldwide destination for public health.
Emory athletics today
Emory's sports teams are called the Eagles. They participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III and the UAA. The eagle mascot of the university is named "Swoop". The previous Emory eagle logo, in use since the 1980s, was redesigned in 2005. To this day, the school fields no football team, prompting students to wear shirts that humorously claim that the Emory football team is "still undefeated".
Emory offers intercollegiate teams for men and women in cross country, swimming, tennis, track and field, basketball, and soccer, as well as golf and baseball for men, and volleyball and softball for women. The teams consistently top the UAA standings and are consistently ranked among the best in NCAA Division III, both regionally and nationally. Specifically, the swimming and diving team, according to the NCAA rankings, is considered to be one of the top programs in the nation. The men's tennis team placed first in the nation in 2003 and 2006, the women's tennis team placed first in 1996, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and the women's swimming and diving team placed first in 2005, 2006, and 2007. In 2003 and 2004, Emory finished second in the nation among more than 395 NCAA Division III schools in the NACDA Director's Cup for the best all-around athletic program. In golf Emory won three tournaments in the 2006 -2007 season, Rodrigo Olivero won back to back tournaments with 4 rounds under par setting new records. More recently, the Emory baseball team has emerged in prominence, finishing seventh in the nation in 2000, fifth in 2003, and second in 2007. According to 2008 pre-season polls, the team is ranked fifth in the nation.
Club sports, recreation, and intramural sports provide additional competitive opportunities. Club teams include crew, rugby, ultimate frisbee, roller hockey, lacrosse, racquetball, volleyball, sailing, and table tennis, among others. Emory's crew, ultimate frisbee and lacrosse teams have had considerable success and deserve particular note. Many intramural sports are also offered at Emory, ranging from basketball to dodgeball and from wrestling to golf, with flag football and soccer being the most popular. The student body participates heavily in athletics, with eighty percent of students participating in intercollegiate, club, recreation, or intramural sports sometime during their time at Emory. Many students also participate in the Outdoor Emory Organization (OEO) — an organization that sponsors weekend trips of outdoor activities, such as rafting, rock climbing, and hiking.
Emory University ranked 74th in the 2007 THES-QS World University ranking
Emory University ranked 62th in the 2008 THES-QS World University ranking
Emory University ranked 90th in the 2009 THES-QS World University ranking
Emory University ranked 107th in the 2010 QS World University ranking
Emory University ranked 90th in the 2009 THES-QS World University ranking
Emory University ranked 107th in the 2010 QS World University ranking
Emory University ranked 114th in the 2011 QS World University ranking