Media Kit

Since 1867, Howard has awarded more than 100,000 degrees in the professions, arts, sciences and humanities. Howard ranks among the highest producers of the nation’s Black professionals in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, nursing, architecture, religion, law, music, social work and education.

The University has long held a commitment to the study of disadvantaged people in American society and throughout the world. The goal is the elimination of inequities related to race, color, social-, economic- and political circumstances. Howard is one of the major engineers of change in our society. Through its traditional and cutting-edge academic programs, the University seeks to improve the circumstances of all people in the search for peace and justice on earth. Over the span of the University’s nearly 150 years of history, Howard has evolved from a single building in 1867 to a complex of four campuses totaling more than 250 acres in the District of Columbia and Maryland. The University’s 97-acre Central Campus in Shaw is also home to the six-story, 400-bed Howard University Hospital.

Since 1974, the University has expanded beyond its Central Campus to include a 19-acre West Campus in Van Ness, a 23-acre East Campus in Brookland, acreage in northeast Washington and a more than 108-acre research campus in Beltsville, Maryland. Howard prepares men and women to advance social justice and the preservation of human liberty. In each of its 13 schools and colleges, Howard University seeks to develop technically competent and morally committed individuals.

The University’s library system contains more than 1.8 million volumes, including the Channing Pollock Collection. The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center is recognized as one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive repositories for the documentation of the history and culture of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas and other areas worldwide.

The University competes in 17 varsity sports, including basketball, football, bowling, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, volleyball and indoor and outdoor track. Regarded as one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning, current enrollment is approximately 10,000 students and includes representation from nearly every state, the District of Columbia and more than 70 countries. The University traditionally has had the largest group of Black scholars in the world.

Founded in March 1867, Howard University, the premier Historically Black College and University and a leading producer of African-American professionals globally, will celebrate 150 years of excellence in 2017. The celebration’s theme, “The Time Is Always Now,” presents an impactful, unified reflection of 150 years of Howard excellence. The phrase signifies the precedence Howard has always set in responding to the needs of the nation.

Key Events

Mission: Howard University, a culturally diverse, comprehensive, research intensive and historically Black private university, provides an educational experience of exceptional quality at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels to students of high academic standing and potential, with particular emphasis upon educational opportunities for Black students. Moreover, the University is dedicated to attracting and sustaining a cadre of faculty who are—through their teaching, research and service—committed to the development of distinguished, historically aware and compassionate graduates and to the discovery of solutions to human problems in the United States and throughout the world. With an abiding interest in both domestic and international affairs, the University is committed to continuing to produce leaders for America and the global community.

Vision: Through its programs of exemplary quality, Howard University will be the first HBCU to become a top-50 research university, while it continues its traditions of leadership and service to underserved communities nationally and abroad. Our priorities are to:

• Enhance status as a major comprehensive metropolitan research university (with competitive undergraduate, graduate and professional programs)
• Increase excellence in teaching and learning
• Expand international footprint and role in world affairs
• Provide environment of open discourse (Think Tank for the Nation)
• Extend public service role through expanded engagement with local, national and international communities

Core Values: We hold these core beliefs which are necessary to implement the Mission and Vision. They include:

• Excellence
• Leadership
• Service
• Truth

• Howard University has produced four Rhodes Scholars, more than 60 Fulbright Scholars, 22 Pickering Fellows, nine Truman Scholars, two Marshall Scholars and one Schwarzman Scholar.
• The University produces more “on-campus” African-American Ph.D.s than any other university and has awarded more than 100,000 degrees since its inception in 1867.
• The average SAT score of incoming freshmen (Class of 2020) is 1167, compared to the national average of 1006.
• Sixty percent of Howard students are Pell Grant recipients; the University continues to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for its high enrollment and graduation of Pell Grant recipients.
• Howard University, the only HBCU to be ranked on U.S. News & World Reports’ Best Colleges Ranking of National Universities, is No. 124 in the 2017 Edition rankings. This represents an 11-point improvement from the previous year’s overall ranking of No. 135.
• Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings lists Howard as the best HBCU in the country. Additionally, Howard is the only HBCU in the top 100 overall college rankings at No. 87.
• The U.S. Department of Education recognized Howard as one of 13 higher education institutions leading the way in creating pathways to social mobility and economic opportunity by meeting the needs of low-income students with resources needed to complete their degrees in six years or less.
• Howard University has been cited by the National Science Foundation as a top producer of African-American undergraduates who later earn science and engineering doctoral degrees.
• Howard University is one of the major producers of African-American medical doctors and related health care professionals in the United States.
• The College of Medicine is ranked among the top three schools meeting the nation’s medical needs as defined by the Annals of Medicine.
• Howard University is ranked as the top producer of African-American applicants to U.S. medical schools by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
• The School of Business is ranked among the top 10 MBA programs with “Most Financial Value at Graduation” by U.S. News & World Report.
• Bloomberg Business Week ranked the School of Business among the top 50 MBA programs in the country.
• National Law Journal ranked the School of Law among the top 50 for students who accepted positions with the largest 250 law firms. National Jurist ranked the School of Law among the top 20 law schools for placing students in public-interest jobs.
• The School of Law is ranked 106th by U.S. News & World Report.
• U.S. News & World Report ranks Howard as one of the top three HBCUs in the United States.
• The Peace Corps ranks the University as the top-producing HBCU for Peace Corps volunteers.

• 1915 Yearbook - “The Mirror”
• 1916 Yearbook
• 1927 Yearbook
• 1947 Yearbook
• 1957 Yearbook
• 1967 Yearbook
• 1977 Yearbook

• Toni Morrison (B.A. ’53), Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
• Jessye Norman (Mus.B. ’67), concert and opera singer
• Harold Freeman (M.D. ’58), renowned surgeon
• Kasim Reed (B.A. ’91; J.D. ’95), mayor of Atlanta
• Phylicia Rashad (B.F.A. ’70), actress
• L. Douglas Wilder (LL.B. ’59), first African American to be elected as governor in the United States
• Ewart Brown (B.S. ’68; M.D. ’72), former premier of Bermuda
• Debbie Allen (B.F.A. ’71), director, actress and choreographer
• Dr. LaSalle Leffall Jr. (M.D. ’52), surgeon, first African-American president of the
• American College of Surgeons; first African-American president of the American Cancer Society
• Taraji P. Henson (B.F.A. ’95), Academy Award-nominated actress
• Edward Welburn (B.F.A. ’72), former vice president of General Motors
• Fredricka Whitfield (B.A. ’87), CNN Correspondent
• Kamala Harris (B.A. ’86), California U.S. senator
• Bradford Young (B.A. ’99; M.F.A. ’04), cinematographer
• Lou Stovall (B.F.A. ’65), preeminent artist