American University
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Greetings from AU
With highly regarded schools and colleges, internationally recognized staff, and a reputation for significantly impacting the world, American University is a student-centered research institution in Washington, DC. Our students stand out for their leadership, service, and capacity to reconsider home and international opportunities and challenges.
At AU, students actively participate in their surroundings, leaders of today develop tomorrow’s leaders, and passion turns into action.
Our Narrative
Congress established American University, a Methodist-affiliated university, in 1893. In response to George Washington’s request to establish a national university in the nation’s capital, American University was founded to prepare future public servants—a goal it continues to pursue today.
Our Identity
American University emphasizes experiential learning, global leadership, public service, and its long history of providing top-notch undergraduate and graduate education.
John Fletcher Hurst, a well-respected Methodist bishop, established American University to establish an institution that prepared future public servants. Since its 1893 congressional charter, AU has been known for its innovative spirit. Women went to American University before they were allowed to vote. American University was home to 400 African Americans when Washington, DC, was still segregated. We stay rooted in the principles of our founders as we continue to lead a world that is changing, even as our status and reputation continue to rise.
- American University has been a domestic and international pioneer in higher education since it was established by Congress in 1893.
- These qualities—a desire for public service, a practical idealism, and a global perspective—were present at American University when Congress authorized it in 1893.
- The establishment of a “national university” in the nation’s capital was a goal of George Washington. However, it took John Fletcher Hurst to establish a university that embodies that ambition in many ways.
- Despite being on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Bishop Hurst’s choice of property for AU was already steeped in Washington’s history. Fort Gaines, located on the high ground currently occupied by Ward Circle and the Katzen Arts Center, was the site of Abraham Lincoln’s visit to troops.
- The footsteps of the president would reverberate throughout AU history. The foundation of a structure named for Hurst’s friend, President William McKinley, was set in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt. President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the Methodist-affiliated university when it opened in 1914.
Developing with Washington
- AU’s pioneering attitude was as evident from the beginning as its connections with Washington. Five women were among the initial 28 students, which was noteworthy at a time when women were not yet eligible to vote. In 1915, an African American student was awarded a fellowship to pursue a PhD.
- Graduate students had moved to a facility on F Street, close to the White House, by 1925, when undergraduates were first enrolled. In 1934, at the beginning of the New Deal, AU started a program to assist in teaching federal personnel new public administration techniques right in the center of downtown. Speaking at the program’s debut, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that all arms of his administration would provide “hearty cooperation” to the initiative. The curriculum would develop into the School of Public Affairs that exists today.
- Students and the Navy shared the campus throughout World War II, with the Navy using it for training and research. This was not the first time that war directly affected AU. The still-mostly-undeveloped complex had been temporarily given to the war department as a military camp, testing ground, and training facility during World War I.
- Following World War II, there was an era of expansion and invention. Established in 1947, the Washington Semester Program attracted students from all over the country and eventually the world to participate in what was a novel idea: semester internships in the nation’s capital.
- The Washington College of Law, established for women in 1896, contributed its extensive history to AU’s pioneering spirit when it united with the university in 1949. By that same year, there were more than 400 African American students at AU, even though the country’s capital was still a segregated town.
Post-War Growth
The 1950s saw much more growth. The 1924-founded business program expanded to such a size by 1955 that it was established as a distinct institution called the Kogod School of Business today.
President Dwight Eisenhower laid the foundation for the School of International Service in 1957, emphasizing that “the waging of peace demands the best we have.”
A few years later, at the 1963 AU commencement, President John F. Kennedy delivered a crucial foreign policy address, urging the Soviet Union to cooperate with the United States on a treaty forbidding nuclear tests. The address was dubbed “A Strategy of Peace.”
At AU, it was only the start of a decade filled with news. Like their counterparts across the nation, AU students who were outraged by the Vietnam War took to the streets to voice their concerns. However, in this case, this frequently meant obstructing Washington policymakers’ cars as they drove past the campus on their daily commutes or welcoming students from all over the nation to participate in the demonstrations in the nation’s capital.
As schools and departments grew and new centers, institutes, and programs were established, the campus became quieter during the ensuing decades. Still, staff and students were nonetheless engaged by the day’s challenges. As the journalism department expanded from its initial classes in the 1920s, the School of Communication was founded in 1984.
The New Century
Academic programs consistently achieved excellent national rankings, and the high recognition awards and significant national scholarships and fellowships, including Presidential Management Fellowships and Fulbright prizes, demonstrated the caliber of AU’s student body.
The opening of the Katzen Arts Center in 2005 and the 296-seat Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre in 2003 highlighted the university’s expanding prominence in the creative arts. The Katzen is the most significant university art exhibition space in the Washington area, spanning 130,000 square feet and featuring a 30,000-square-foot art museum with three floors of exhibition space.
Neil Kerwin, SPA/BA ’71, was the first alumnus to hold the position of AU president in 2007. He has been involved with AU for 40 years as a student, professor, dean, and provost. He is a renowned expert on public policy and the regulatory process. He led the university through the implementation of its strategic plan, “American University and the Next Decade: Leadership for a Changing World,” which expressed a belief that AU’s academic strengths are rooted in its core values of social responsibility and a commitment to intellectual and cultural diversity.
Despite being a 21st-century vision, it is based on principles that date back to John Fletcher Hurst and the idea of a university that improves the lives of its students, the community, and the entire globe.
The Impact Epicenter
Our 90-acre campus, tucked away in a residential area of Washington, DC, offers you the best of both worlds: the excitement, culture, and possibilities of our nation’s capital, together with the advantages of a conventional college setting.
We live in a small neighborhood inside a large city, but the breathtaking views of the city are always within easy sight. Take a spontaneous excursion to the National Mall one day, and then unwind with your friends on our lovely grounds (a recognized arboretum) the next.
American University has countless choices, whether you choose to study in our century-old buildings and cutting-edge facilities, take in the arts in our theaters and museums, or explore the city.
Campus Projects
Learn more about the several programs on campus aimed at improving the environment, being a good neighbor to our neighborhood, and creating a better American.
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