The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland., was chartered in 1867, and named in honour of its principal benefactor, who bequeathed a fund of $3,000,000. It was intended especially for post-graduate work, and has since done much for research. Research Johns Hopkins University
University is the name given to a national institution for advanced teaching and study, recognized for that purpose by a charter from the state. A university is empowered by its charter to confer degrees upon its students, after they have conformed to the regulations laid down in the statutes. These regulations determine the conditions of length of residence, attendance on lectures, and the requisite examinations to be passed, precedent to the conferment of degrees.
Most universities are teaching universities, i.e. they contain a staff of teachers, styled professors, lecturers or readers, appointed each for the teaching of a special subject, to give instruction, and to direct the studies of students. Such students as are admitted to the university have had to qualify by passing an entrance examination, and are then said to be matriculated. From the time of matriculation to that of taking the degree, the student is called an undergraduate, and after conferment of the degree, a graduate. Degrees are of different grades, usually bachelor, master, and doctor. They can be taken in various groups of subjects, known as faculties. In the modern university examinations complete the courses of study followed under the instruction and direction of professors.
Historically, it is to be noted that the original term for a university was studium generate, which means a place in which were established facilities for teaching and learning, open to all comers, and not restricted to a special community of a town, or of a monastery. Thus, to the medieval universities of Italy, and to that of Paris, students went from various European countries, and found it convenient to group themselves into nations, according to the country or province from which they came. Thus, a studium generale contained many associations or groups, not altogether without analogy to trade and craft guilds.
It was in the latter part of the 14th century that universitas came to be used in the sense of a university. In other words, the first use of universitas was for voluntary groups, and only developed gradually into the idea of the whole institution, as recognized by the emperor or the pope, when its position was guaranteed by an imperial charter or papal bull. This seal of authority not only gave unity to the community of teachers and scholars as a whole, but also became a symbol of the unity of the whole learned world, because universities thus chartered were alone enabled to confer on their graduates degrees (certifying studies and training in teaching) which carried with them the right of teaching not only in their own university or their own country, but also in any studium generate.
This right was particularly valuable in the spread of knowledge, because medieval teachers and scholars communicated everywhere, both orally and by writing, through the medium of the Latin language and not through the vernacular. They naturally valued highly the facility of moving about from university to university at home and abroad. Roughly speaking, this use of Latin, as the language of teaching and learning, broke up with the decline of the Renaissance. We may date the beginning of the downfall of the Latin language for England with the Restoration of 1660. Not only has Latin fallen entirely out of use as a spoken language, but in some modern universities movements have arisen to minimise the study of ancient languages for degrees, if not to remove them as necessary subjects for all degrees. The modern civic universities are inclined to lay great stress on the subjects underlying the special industries of their localities. Hence, in some ways and to some extent there has been a reversal of the old idea that the university developed in the student a power of entering into the knowledge and learning common to all the universities.
On the other hand the since the Great War universities have laid more and more stress on the 'university spirit'. This means a constant watchfulness to aid and promote the advancement of learning and discovery of knowledge, to provide the stimulus of intellectual inquiry in every subject, and to raise the tone and level in all professional training. Particularly, it aims at encouraging in teachers and in taught a right and effective attitude towards methods of research. Research University
Alexander John Ellis (born Alexander Sharpe) was an English philologist. He was born 1814 and died in 1890. A distinguished graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, he was elected to the Royal Society in 1864, and was long an influential member of the Philological Society, being more than once its president. Though phonetics was the subject in which he most highly distinguished himself, he was equally at home in mathematical and musical subjects. His chief published work is Early English Pronunciation (in five parts) between 1869 and 1889; but his publications in the form of books, pamphlets, papers, and articles on phonetics, music, mathematics, etc, were numerous. Research Alexander Ellis
Ambrose Everett Burnside was an American soldier, gunsmith and politician. He was born in 1824 and died in 1881. A graduate of West Point in 1847 he was commander of the Army of the Potomac, before inventing a breech-loading rifle and retiring from the army to engage in business before becoming a Republican governor of Rhode Island from 1866 until 1868 and a US Senator for Rhode Island from 1875 until 1881. During the American Civil War he led a brigade at the first battle of Bull Run and in 1862 was placed in command of an expedition to North Carolina. Research Ambrose E. Burnside
A fellow is a graduate member of a university, elected to perform some specific governing or tutorial work, for which he or she receives a fixed salary. Research Fellow
George Cullum was an American soldier. He was born in 1809. He was a graduate, instructor and, from 1864 until 1866 superintendent of the US Military Academy. From 1838 until 1874 he was engaged largely in Government engineering and during the Civil War was brevetted major-general. Research George Cullum
Joseph Warren was an American insurgent. He was born in 1741 and died in 1775. He was a graduate of Harvard and a physician of Boston. In the years immediately preceding the outbreak of the American Revolution he was foremost among the Massachusetts agitators. He was a noted orator, a member of the Committees of Correspondence, president of the Provincial Congress of 1774, and chairman of the Committee of Public Safety. He was actively engaged in organizing the volunteers in the spring of 1775. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress made him a major-general. Waiving his rank, he fought at the battle of Bunker Hill as a private soldier, where he was killed. Research Joseph Warren
Richard H Anderson was an American soldier. He was born in 1816 and died in 1879. A graduate of West Point he served in the Mexican War. In 1861 he joined the Confederate army and became a lieutenant-general, commanding a division at Gettysburg. Research Richard H Anderson
Timothy Pickering was an American politician. He was born in 1745 and died in 1829. Educated at Harvardgraduate he became a militia officer in Massachusetts, and entered actively into the civil and military life of the American Revolution. He was made adjutant-general of the army in 1776, and member of the board of war, and in 1780 he became quartermaster-general, materially aiding George Washington's final movements. He held this position until 1785, and then settled in Pennsylvania. In 1791 he negotiated a treaty with the Six Nations, and the same year he was called to the office of Postmaster-General. In 1795 he exchanged this post for that of Secretary of War, and a few months later he took charge of the State Department, which he held until 1800. Becoming again identified with Massachusetts Timothy Pickering represented that State in the US Senate 1805 to 1811 and the House from 1813 to 1817. He was a radicalFederalist and a member of the EssexJunto. As. a vigorous opponent of the Embargo he was at one time extremely unpopular. Research Timothy Pickering
Lance Henriksen is an American actor. He was born in 1940 at New York. A graduate of the Actors Studio, Lance Henriksen was not cast in films as the handsome hero, but spent most of his early career playing killers and other ' heavies'. His film debut was in the 1972 film 'It Ain't Easy', but his big film debut was three years later in the 1975 'Dog Day Afternoon'. Research Lance Henriksen
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Abbreviations
Research Johns Hopkins University
