Tufts University is a private institution of higher learning with its main campus in the towns of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. Tufts also has campuses in Boston and in North Grafton, Massachusetts, as well as Talloires, France.
Tufts College was founded in 1852 by a group of Universalist church members headed by Hosea Ballou II, a clergyman and editor. At first, the institution consisted of a college of liberal arts and a college of engineering, both for men only. It was named for Charles Tufts, a farmer and brick manufacturer who donated land for the college with the provision that its name should never be changed. Tufts began to admit women students in 1892. By the early 1900’s, the college had added schools of medicine, dentistry, and graduate studies and so functioned as a university. But Tufts was not officially designated a university until 1955.
In 1910, Jackson College for Women became a separate division of Tufts. Today, the university is coeducational, but the College of Liberal Arts and Jackson College maintain a tradition of separate names. Women graduates still receive a degree from Jackson. Notable alumni of Tufts include the poet John Ciardi; Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who served in the United States Senate; The New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.; and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who also served as U.S. secretary of energy.
The university’s website at https://www.tufts.edu/ offers additional information.
