Rockefeller University - American Education

A unique graduate university in New York City, founded by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller in 1901 to conduct medical research. Originally called the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, it became a graduate institution in 1954, with programs leading to the Ph.D. It changed its name to Rockefeller University in 1965 and added a combined six-year graduate program leading to an M.D. and Ph.D. with nearby Cornell University Medical College. Rockefeller University’s primary mission, however, remains research. It has more than 250 full- and parttime faculty and enrolls about 200 graduate students, about 75% in Ph.D. programs and 25% in the combined M.D.–Ph.D. programs. There are few formal courses, and most instruction is tutorial. The university is organized into about 60 laboratories, instead of departments, with each laboratory headed by a senior professor and staffed by other faculty members, as well as postdoctoral and graduate fellows. Student progress is described in annual reports rather than measured with conventional grades. The primary task of each laboratory is original research in the biological, behavioral and medical sciences, with a range of diseases under investigation at any one time. The university operates a small, private research hospital. Rockefeller University scientists have won nearly two dozen Nobel prizes.