Association of American Universities
Overview
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is a nonprofit organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. It consists of 65 universities in the United States, both public and private, and two universities in Canada. The AAU was founded in 1900 by a group of fourteen Ph.D.-granting universities in the United States to strengthen and standardize American doctoral programs. Today, the AAU is considered one of the most prestigious organizations in higher education.
History
The AAU was founded on February 28, 1900, by a group of fourteen universities offering the Ph.D. degree. The founding members were: Clark University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Yale University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota, and Stanford University. The goal of the association was to standardize and strengthen graduate education, and to promote research at its member institutions.
Membership
Membership in the AAU is by invitation and is based on the high quality of programs of academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education in a number of fields, as well as general recognition that a university is outstanding by reason of the excellence of its research and education programs. Universities can be removed from the AAU for not maintaining these standards.
Role and Impact
The AAU acts as a forum for the development and implementation of institutional and national policies promoting strong programs in academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education. The AAU works to develop policies that support academic research and scholarship, and it provides a forum for the discussion of issues that are of mutual interest to its members.
The AAU has a significant influence on science, engineering, and education policy in the United States. It lobbies the federal government for more funding for research and higher education, helps its member institutions meet federal regulations, and strives to uphold the academic integrity of its member institutions.
Current Members
As of 2021, the AAU includes 65 universities in the United States and two in Canada. The current members are:
- Boston University
- Brandeis University
- Brown University
- California Institute of Technology
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Case Western Reserve University
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Emory University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Harvard University
- Indiana University Bloomington
- Iowa State University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- McGill University
- Michigan State University
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- Ohio State University
- Pennsylvania State University
- Princeton University
- Purdue University
- Rice University
- Rutgers University
- Stanford University
- Stony Brook University
- Texas A&M University
- Tulane University
- University at Buffalo
- University of Arizona
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, Irvine
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of California, San Diego
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- University of Chicago
- University of Colorado Boulder
- University of Florida
- University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
- University of Iowa
- University of Kansas
- University of Maryland, College Park
- University of Michigan
- University of Minnesota
- University of Missouri
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Oregon
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Rochester
- University of Southern California
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Toronto
- University of Virginia
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Vanderbilt University
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Yale University