Yale University – Courses, Mascot & Notable Alumni

Located in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University is a private, not-for-profit Ivy League research university. Yale University was originally founded in 1701 in Saybrook Colony in order to train Congregationalist ministers. Because it was established in 1701 (giving it an excellent 315+ long and storied history), Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education located within the United States, with only Harvard University (1636) and the College of William and Mary (1693) being older. The Collegiate School as it was originally called moved to New Haven in 1716 and, shortly after, was renamed to Yale College in recognition of a generous gift which was obtained from the then-British East India Company Governor Elihu Yale. The school’s curriculum was initially restricted to theology and the sacred languages, but the humanities and sciences were incorporated into the curriculum by the time the American Revolution started in 1765.

Today, Yale University is organized into fourteen schools and colleges: the original undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and twelve different professional schools. Through these fourteen schools and colleges, Yale offers attending students a variety of degree-granting programs and professional certification programs from which to choose. Each of these educational programs is highly regarded and carry with them the weight that comes from obtaining a degree from such a renowned and demanding institution of higher education. In recognition of the university’s stellar educational programs and commitment to providing attending students with career-boosting degrees, U.S. News and World Report has ranked Yale University as being the third-best national university in the nation for the past 16 years, trailing behind only by Harvard and Princeton. In addition to this, Yale has obtained many other accolades and recognition from multiple national ranking groups, such as Forbes and the Shanghai Ranking‘s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

The surrounding area of New Haven helps to supplement the university’s atmosphere of life-enriching education by offering attending students many sights to see and activities to participate in, such as:

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library:

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is Yale’s rare book library and literary archival repository. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library maintains numerous exhibits and collections, including: the Melk copy of the Gutenberg Bible (along with 3,100 other Incunable literary pieces), the collection of Thornton Wilder papers, the Voynich Manuscript, the Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Collection, the Romanov Family photo albums and the collection of Ezra Pound papers.

International Festival of Arts and Ideas:

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas is a 15-day long festival hosted in New Haven and which features various performing arts exhibits, lectures and promotes public celebrations of the world’s greatest and brightest artists and thinkers. The festival is held yearly in June and offers free concerts, with prior headlining musical acts including Aaron Neville, Rosanne Cash, and Calexico.

Yale University Online Degrees and Programs:

Yale University has a wide selection of for-credit and non-credit courses available for distance students to enroll in, which are ideal for supplementing and enhancing a student’s online education. Some of the available courses are:

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs):

• Introduction to Breast Cancer;
• America’s Written Constitution;
• Journey Conversations: Weaving Knowledge and Action;
• Moral Foundations of Politics;
• Moralities of Everyday Life;
• The Worldview of Thomas Berry: The Flourishing of the Earth Community;
• The Global Financial Crisis;
• Living Cosmology;
• Music and Social Action;
• Financial Markets;
• Introduction to Classical Music;
• Journey of the Universe: The Unfolding of Life;
• Essentials of Global Health;
• America’s Unwritten Constitution;
• A Law Student’s Toolkit and;
• Introduction to Negotiation: A Strategic Playbook for Becoming a Principled and Persuasive Negotiator

In addition to the courses offered by Yale through Coursera, the university also provides educational courses through iTunes, Youtube and through the university’s own site Open Yale Courses (OYC) which provides recorded lectures spanning numerous areas of study, such as:

• African American History: From Emancipation to the Present;
• Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics;
• Frontiers of Biomedical Engineering;
• Freshman Organic Chemistry I and;
• Introduction to Ancient Greek History
  

  What Makes Yale University Unique: A Long-Spanning and Storied Student-Driven History

  Because Yale University was established in 1701, the university has had a long history as a provider of higher education. The emphasis that the school placed on the Classics in its formative years helped to give rise to many private student societies, such as Crotonia (1738), Linonia (1753) and the Brothers in Unity (1768). Yale is also home to many other secret societies, such as the Skull and Bones Society, the Scroll and Key Society, the Wolf’s Head Society, the Book, and Snake Society and many others. The two oldest existing Yale honor societies are the Aurelian Society (1910) and the Torch Honor Society (1916). In addition to the numerous famous student societies that the attending students of Yale have established over the years (which totals more than 400 registered student organizations). Yale also has some school traditions that are steeped in history, such as students for good luck rubbing the toe of the Old Campus’ statue of Theodore Dwight Woolsey (the President of Yale College from 1846 to 1871). Seniors, at their graduation ceremony, smash clay pipes (though bubble pipes now are used) with their feet to symbolize their passage from their “bright college years” into their futures as Yale graduates.

  Other Yale University Facts:

  Some notable Yale University alumni includes:

  • William Howard Taft – 27th President of the United States;
  • Gerald Ford – 38th President of the United States;
  • George H. W. Bush – 41st President of the United States;
  • Bill Clinton – 42nd President of the United States;
  • George W. Bush – 43rd President of the United States;
  • Meryl Streep – Actress;
  • David Bushnell – inventor of the screw propeller, submarine, naval mine and the time bomb;
  • Tiffany Pham – founder and CEO of Mogul;
  • Henry Durant – first president of the University of California (Berkeley);
  • Naomi Wolf – acclaimed feminist writer and former political advisor to both Al Gore and Bill Clinton

    

    Yale University’s Website: https://www.yale.edu/

    Yale University’s Accreditation:  New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)

    Yale University’s Values and Mission Statement: https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/mission-statement

    Yale University’s Motto: Lux et Veritas – “Light and Truth”

    Yale University’s Mascot: Handsome Dan

    Yale University’s Colors: Yale Blue