Stanford University - History - Recent History

Recent History

Since 2000, Stanford has expanded dramatically. In February 2012, Stanford announced the conclusion of the Stanford Challenge. In a period of five years, Stanford raised $6.2 billion dollars, exceeding its initial goal by $2 billion, making it the most successful university fundraising campaign in history. The funds will go towards 103 new endowed faculty appointments, 360 graduate student research fellowships, scholarships and financial aid, and the construction or renovation of 38 campus buildings. It enabled the construction of the world's largest facility dedicated exclusively to stem cell research, an entirely new campus for the business school, added dramatically to the law school, a brand-new engineering quad, created a new art and art history building, an on-campus concert hall, a new art museum, and a planned expansion of the medical school, among others. In 2012, Stanford opened the Stanford Center at Peking University, a just-under 400,000-square-foot, three-story research center at the heart of Peking University, consistently ranked as the best university in China. The ceremony featured remarks by U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, Stanford President John Hennessy, and Peking University Party Chief Zhu Shanlu. Stanford became the first U.S. university to have its own building on a major Chinese University campus.

Other Stanford programs underwent notable expansion as well, such as the Stanford in Washington Program's creation of the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery in Woodley Park, Washington, D.C., and the Stanford in Florence program's move to Palazzo Capponi, a 15th-century Renaissance palace. The university completed the James H. Clark Center for interdisciplinary research in engineering and medicine in 2003, named for benefactor, co-founder of Netscape, Silicon Graphics and WebMD, and former professor of electrical engineering James H. Clark.

In 2011, Stanford created the first PhD program in Stem Cell Science in the United States. The program will be housed at Stanford Medical School.

Undergraduate admission selectivity also increased, with the acceptance rate dropping from 13% for the class of 2004 to 6% for the class of 2016. Stanford's reputation, competitive admissions, and strong legacy of entrepreneurship have contributed to the East-West rivalry between Stanford and such institutions as Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University.