Who We Are
From its founding in California in the late 19th century until today, Stanford has been infused with the American West’s spirit of openness and possibility. We believe strongly in the mission of higher education – to create and share knowledge and to prepare students to be curious, to think critically, and to contribute to the world. With world-class scholars and seven schools located together on a single campus, Stanford offers academic excellence across the broadest array of disciplines. It also is an engine of innovation, blending theory and practice to move ideas and discoveries from labs and classrooms out into the world. We strive to foster a culture of expansive inquiry, fresh thinking, searching discussion, and freedom of thought – preparing students for leadership and engaged citizenship in the world.
Excellence in education across disciplines
Stanford provides students the opportunity to engage with big ideas, to cross conceptual and disciplinary boundaries, and to become global citizens who embrace diversity of thought and experience. We offer broad and deep academic programs across multiple fields, including the arts and humanities, natural and social sciences, engineering, sustainability, medicine, law, education, and business. The university’s scholarly excellence and culture of innovation uniquely position it to attract the best faculty in the world, who offer students the knowledge and tools to discover and embrace new ideas, and to prepare for successful careers and lives of service. The need for strong ethical principles to achieve a common good is embedded across our educational offerings.
Encouraging open minds and constructive dialogue
Discovery and learning require fresh ideas and open discussion. We strive to foster searching discussion, to listen with curiosity, and to ensure the freedom of our university community to study and learn. This includes the freedom to pursue knowledge without constraints; the freedom to challenge orthodoxy, whether old or new; and the freedom to think and speak openly. ePluribus Stanford, a key university-wide initiative, empowers students to think critically and empathetically, engage in meaningful conversations across differences, and embrace active, life-long roles in civic life through whatever field or career path they pursue. Stanford believes that addressing the challenges the world faces requires people from diverse disciplines and backgrounds coming together and deliberating across disagreement. ePluribus Stanford aims to achieve this goal by elevating and amplifying research and education related to free speech, civics, democratic citizenship, and constructive dialogue.
Interdisciplinary research fueled by innovation
A hallmark of Stanford is our extensive and vibrant ecosystem of interdisciplinary research. With all seven of Stanford’s schools located on our historic campus and many institutes serving as a hub for collaboration across academic fields, the opportunities for disruptive breakthroughs are numerous and the results are evident. Our newest school in 70 years, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, draws on deep interdisciplinary understanding of Earth, climate, and society to create knowledge and scalable sustainability solutions. Stanford’s community of scholars is recognized for accomplishments across a broad range of academic fields. In addition to 36 Nobel Prize winners since the university’s founding – tied among research universities for the most Nobel Prizes won since 2000 – Stanford is also home to numerous recipients of Pulitzer Prizes, National Medals, and MacArthur Fellows. Discoveries made at Stanford not only expand our understanding of the world but also fuel the innovation economy and America’s international competitiveness.
World-renowned medical research and clinical care
World-class researchers in Stanford School of Medicine and across the university are responsible for ground-breaking discoveries that are focused on predicting, preventing, and curing disease by tailoring health care to the unique biology and life circumstances of each of us. Our long history of innovation and achievement includes the world’s first successful heart and lung transplant, and development of one of the first in-house COVID-19 diagnostic tests. Our medical enterprise, Stanford Medicine, provides access to unparalleled patient care across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Financial support that makes a difference
We strive to provide financial aid that opens up the opportunity for all admitted students to succeed at Stanford. More than 70 percent of Stanford undergraduates receive some form of financial aid. Domestic students whose family income is below $150,000 pay no tuition. More than 80 percent of Stanford undergraduates complete their degree with no debt.
A thriving student life
A flourishing residential campus is an integral part of the world-class educational experience Stanford offers. Stanford is home to a community of creative and accomplished people from around the world, from acapella singers to Olympic athletes. Students can choose from among more than 600 student organizations to become involved in, ranging from religious, ethnic, and cultural groups to organizations focusing on the arts and community service, to social, athletic, and recreational activities. And Stanford offers 36 varsity sports – 20 for women and 16 for men – in addition to campus-wide physical education academic classes, fitness and wellness, aquatics, intramurals, adventure programming, and 43 club sports.
Strong relationships with our neighbors
Stanford is proud to be a citizen of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. We engage and build meaningful relationships with our neighbors through events, public exhibitions and performances in the arts, lectures, and lifelong learning, both on campus and online. Stanford has a strong commitment to the arts, and we invite our community to visit our two world-class museums, multiple performance venues, and the historic buildings and open spaces of our campus. We support local parents with access to health information, help K-12 teachers increase interest and involvement in math and science, and provide the local business community with access to lectures by today’s entrepreneurial thought leaders.
Stanford History
The Leland Stanford Junior University was founded in 1885 by Jane and Leland Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Jr., who died of typhoid fever at 15. After his 1884 death, the Stanfords determined that they would use their wealth to do something for other people’s children.
They decided to create a university that was, from the outset, untraditional: coeducational in a time when most private universities were all-male; nondenominational when most were associated with a religious organization; and practical, producing cultured and useful citizens. The Founding Grant states the university’s objective is “to qualify its students for personal success, and direct usefulness in life” and its purpose “to promote the public welfare by exercising an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization.”
The campus sits on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Ohlone people. Today, the university and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe are partners in community-led archaeology, historic interpretation and a native plant garden.
Leland Stanford, who served as California’s governor and senator, devoted to the university the fortune he had earned, first by supplying provisions to the ’49ers mining for California gold and later as one of the “Big Four,” whose Central Pacific Railroad laid tracks eastward to meet the Union Pacific and complete the transcontinental railway. Included in the Founding Grant was the Stanfords’ Palo Alto Stock Farm for the breeding and training of trotting horses, 35 miles south of the family’s San Francisco residence. The Stanfords stipulated that the land they conveyed to the university could not be sold, and the campus still carries the nickname “the Farm.”
The Stanfords engaged landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to design the campus. Their collaboration with Olmsted and the architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge resulted in Stanford’s characteristic buildings of local sandstone with red-tiled roofs, surrounding a cloistered quadrangle with Memorial Church as its focus. The rectangular plan of the Main Quadrangle was designed to provide for expansion through a series of quadrangles developed laterally. Stanford opened its doors on Oct. 1, 1891, with some 555 students enrolled in the first year.