Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States. It is also one of the leading research universities in the country. Boston University was founded as a Methodist theological school in Vermont in 1839. The school moved to Boston in 1867. In 1872, it became the first university in the nation to open all of its divisions to female students. In 1877, it became the first to grant a Ph.D. degree to a woman. From the beginning, the university also has attracted minority students. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., received his doctorate from Boston University in 1955. Other well-known alumni include women’s rights leader Anna Howard Shaw, U.S. Cabinet members William S. Cohen and Barbara C. Jordan, painter Franz Kline, and biologist Lynn A. Margulis. Distinguished faculty have included biologist Sir Hans Kornberg; musical conductors Sarah Caldwell and Arthur Fiedler; U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky; and authors Isaac Asimov, Saul Bellow, Derek Walcott, and Elie Wiesel. The university’s athletic teams are called the Terriers.
The university’s website at https://www.bu.edu/ offers additional information.
