Leland Stanford Junior University

Stanford University

Leland Stanford Junior University
Seal of Stanford University
Other name	Stanford
Motto	German: Die Luft der Freiheit weht
Motto in English	The wind of freedom blows
Type	Private research university
Established	1891 (1891)
Founder	Leland and Jane Stanford
Endowment	US$22.398 billion (2016)
President	Marc Tessier-Lavigne
Provost	Persis Drell
Academic staff	2,153
Administrative staff	12,148 excluding SHC
Students	16,336
Undergraduates	7,032
Postgraduates	9,304
Location	Stanford, California, U.S. Coordinates: 37°25′42″N 122°10′08″W / 37.4282293°N 122.1688576°W / 37.4282293; -122.1688576
Campus	Suburban, 8,180 acres (12.8 sq mi; 33.1 km2)
Colors	Cardinal, white
Athletics	NCAA Division I FBS – Pac-12
Sports	37 varsity sports teams (15 men's, 20 women's, 2 coed)
Nickname	Cardinal
Mascot	none (The Stanford Tree is the mascot of the Band but not the university)
Sporting affiliations	IRA PCCSC MPSF
Website	www.stanford.edu

Stanford University (Stanford; officially Leland Stanford Junior University) is a private research university in Stanford, California, adjacent to Palo Alto and between San Jose and San Francisco. Its 8,180-acre (12.8 sq mi; 33.1 km²) campus is one of the largest in the United States. Stanford also has land and facilities elsewhere.

The university was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Stanford was a former Governor of California and U.S. Senator; he made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students 125 years ago on October 1, 1891, as a coeducational and non-denominational institution.

Stanford University struggled financially after Leland Stanford's death in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would later be known as Silicon Valley. The university is also one of the top fundraising institutions in the country, becoming the first school to raise more than a billion dollars in a year.