University of Delaware 
 

Motto: Scientia Sol Mentis Est 
Knowledge is the light of the mind 
The University of Delaware (colloquially "UD") is the largest university in Delaware. The main campus is in Newark, with satellite campuses in Dover, Wilmington, Lewes, and Georgetown. It is medium-sized – approximately 16,000 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students. Although UD receives public funding for being a land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant and urban-grant state-supported research institution, it is also privately chartered. As of 2012, the school's endowment is valued at about US$ 1.09 billion. Delaware has been labeled one of the "Public Ivies," a publicly funded university considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.

 

UD is classified as a research university with very high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The university's programs in engineering, science, business, hospitality management, education, urban affairs and public policy, public administration, agriculture, history, chemical and biomolecular engineering, chemistry and biochemistry have been highly ranked with some drawing from the historically strong presence of the nation's chemical and pharmaceutical industries in the state of Delaware, such as DuPont and W. L. Gore and Associates. It is one of only four schools in North America with a major in art conservation. UD was the first American university to begin a study abroad program.

 

The school from which the university grew was founded in 1743, making it one of the oldest in the nation. However, UD was not chartered as an institution of higher learning until 1833. Its original class of ten students included George Read, Thomas McKean, and James Smith, all three of whom would go on to sign the Declaration of Independence.