Founders or Their Family Members
The following institutions are named for the individual people who are credited as their founders. A few institutions were named by the founder in honor of a parent, child, spouse, or other close family member.
| Institution | Namesake | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan | His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV | University was established by the Aga Khan in 1983 as part of the Aga Khan Development Network. |
| Alice Lloyd College, Kentucky, US | Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd | Journalist turned social reformer; founded the school in 1923 as Caney Junior College. |
| Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India | Mata Amritanandamayi Devi | University's first chancellor and famed Indian spiritual leader |
| Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India | Dr.Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar | Philanthropist who established several higher education institutions |
| Audrey Cohen College, New York, US | Audrey Cohen | Educator; established the institution in 1964 as the Women's Talent Corps |
| Babson College, Massachusetts, US | Roger Babson | Entrepreneur and business theorist; founded the school in 1919 as Babson Institute |
| Bard College, New York, US | John Bard | John Bard and his wife founded the college as St. Stephen's College. |
| Baylor University, Texas, US | Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor | Texas judge who is regarded as one of three founders of the university. |
| Berklee College of Music, Massachusetts, US | Lee Eliot Berk | Son of founder Lawrence Berk. |
| Berry College, Georgia, US | Martha McChesney Berry | founder |
| Bethune-Cookman University, Florida, US | Mary McLeod Bethune and Alfred Cookman | Mary McLeod Bethune founded the school in 1904 and merged with Cookman Institute named after Alfred Cookman in 1935. |
| Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India | B.M. Birla | The founder was a member of the Birla family, one of the foremost business houses in India |
| Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan, India | Ghanshyam Das Birla | The founder was a member of the Birla family, one of the foremost business houses in India |
| Bishop College, Texas, US | Nathan Bishop | Educator who assisted with the founding of this institution for education of freed slaves. |
| Blackburn College, Illinois, US | Gideon Blackburn | Preacher Blackburn, a former president of Centre College, was working to establish the new school at the time of his death in 1838, but opening of the school was delayed until 1859. |
| Bob Jones University, South Carolina, US | Bob Jones, Sr. | Evangelist preacher Bob Jones founded Bob Jones University in 1927. |
| Bond University, Queensland, Australia | Alan Bond | High-profile businessman Alan Bond founded Bond University in 1987. |
| Booth University College, Winnipeg, Manitoba | William and Catherine Booth | Namesakes were the founders of The Salvation Army, which established the college in 1982. |
| Bradley University, Illinois, US | Family of Lydia Moss Bradley | Lydia Moss Bradley founded the school in 1897 in memory of her husband Tobias and their six children, all of whom had died early and suddenly, leaving her a childless widow. |
| Brigham Young University, Utah | Brigham Young | Mormon church leader Brigham Young personally purchased the buildings of the failed University of Deseret, forming Brigham Young Academy in 1876. Brigham Young University campuses in Hawaii and Idaho now also bear his name. |
| Butler University, Indiana, US | Ovid Butler | Established in 1855 as North Western Christian University; renamed in 1875 in honor of its founder, a Restoration Movement preacher and abolitionist who had achieved his goal of forming a Christian university in Indiana |
| Campbell University, North Carolina, US | James Archibald Campbell | Founded in 1887 as a community school named Buies Creek Academy; became a junior college in 1926 and renamed in honor of its founder, a local preacher. The school became Campbell College in 1961 when it became a four-year school, and Campbell University in 1979 with the opening of its law school. |
| Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, US | Andrew Carnegie, Andrew W. Mellon, and Richard B. Mellon | The university was formed by the merger of Carnegie Institute of Technology, founded in 1900 by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, founded in 1913 by Andrew and Richard Mellon. |
| Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, US | Leonard Case, Jr. | The university was formed by the affiliation of Case School of Engineering (originally Case School of Applied Science, founded by Case in 1877) and Western Reserve University. |
| Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic | Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor | Founded in 1348 by the Emperor. |
| Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand | King Chulalongkorn the Great | Established in 1917 by King King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) of Siam (Thailand) and named in honor of his father. |
| Clark University, Massachusetts, US | Jonas Gilman Clark | Clark was both the founder and principal benefactor of the university, making major gifts in his lifetime and leaving a bequest that totaled about $2,915,000 in 1900. |
| Clarkson University, New York, US | Thomas Streatfeild Clarkson | Entrepreneur who was killed in 1894 trying to save a worker in his sandstone mining business. His family started the college in his memory. |
| Cleary University, Howell, MI US | Patrick Roger Cleary | Founded institution in 1883 as Cleary School of Penmanship |
| Cogswell College, California, US | Henry D. and Caroline Cogswell | Henry Cogswell, who founded the college in 1887 with his wife Caroline, was a dentist and temperance crusader. The defunct Henry Cogswell College also bore his name. |
| Coker College, South Carolina, US | James Lide Coker | Coker College began in 1894 as Welsh Neck High School founded by James Lide Coker. In 1908, Coker provided leadership for the conversion of the school to Coker College for Women. Men have attended since World War II. |
| Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, US | Peter Cooper | Industrialist, inventor, and politician who conceived of the idea of having a free institute in New York. He erected a building and endowed the institution, which he presented to the City of New York in 1858. |
| Cornell College, Iowa, US | William Wesley Cornell | College was established as Iowa Conference Seminary in 1853 and renamed in 1857 in honor of iron tycoon Cornell, who is sometimes described as the school's founder. |
| Cornell University, New York, US | Ezra Cornell | University was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White |
| Creighton University, Nebraska, US | Edward Creighton | Founded in 1878 through a gift from Mary Lucretia Creighton, who directed in her will that a school be established in memory of her husband. |
| Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada | George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie | Founded in 1818 by Ramsay, the British Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia |
| Dharmsinh Desai University, Gujarat, India | Dharmsinh Desai | Member of Parliament, educationist and social worker who established the institution in 1968 |
| Drexel University, Pennsylvania, US | Anthony Joseph Drexel I | Philadelphia financier and philanthropist who founded the school in 1891 |
| Emerson College, Massachusetts, US | Charles Wesley Emerson | Founded the college in 1880 as a school of oratory |
| Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya | Lord Egerton Maurice of Tatton | Founded in 1939 on land donated by the British farmer |
| Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, India | Dr. Harisingh Gour | Founded the institution in 1946 as University of Saugar, using his life savings |
| Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany | Count Eberhard VI and Duke Karl Eugen | Eberhard founded the university in 1477; in 1769 Duke Karl Eugen appended his first name to that of the founder. |
| Ferris State University, Michigan, US | Woodbridge Nathan Ferris | Educator who founded the institution in 1884; later served as governor of Michigan and as a US Senator |
| Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil | Count Armando Alvares Penteado | Brazilian philanthropist and art educator |
| Gallaudet University, District of Columbia, US | Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet | Established by his son, Edward Miner Gallaudet. World's only university geared for Deaf people. |
| George Fox University, Oregon, US | George Fox | Founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) |
| GIK Institute, Topi, Pakistan | Ghulam Ishaq Khan | Named after a former president of Pakistan |
| Gibbs College | Katharine Gibbs | Founder of the institution, now operated as a chain of for-profit colleges |
| Gnessin State Musical College, Moscow, Russia | Sisters Eugenia, Helena and Maria Gnessin | Established in 1895 by the sisters, who were pianists |
| Gordon College (Massachusetts), US | Adoniram Judson Gordon | Founder, in 1889; the college was originally known as the Boston Missionary Training School |
| Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS), multiple US locations | Adoniram Judson Gordon and Russell Conwell | Gordon started the Gordon Divinity School in Massachusetts in 1889; Conwell (also founder of ) started the Conwell School of Theology at Temple University; the two schools merged in 1969. |
| Goucher College, Maryland, US | John Goucher and Mary Fisher Goucher | Established in 1885 as The Woman's College of Baltimore, renamed in honor of its founders in 1910 |
| Harvey Mudd College, California, US | Harvey Seeley Mudd | Benefactor who was involved in planning of the new institution, but died before it opened |
| Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York, US | John Henry Hobart & William Smith | Hobart College was founded in 1796 as Geneva Academy, becoming a college in 1822 under the leadership of Episcopal bishop John Henry Hobart. It was renamed in his honor in 1852. William Smith College was established as a coordinate college for women in 1906 with gifts from nurseryman William Smith. |
| Houghton College, New York, US | Willard J. Houghton | Wesleyan Methodist minister who founded the institution in 1883 |
| Hunter College, New York, US | Thomas Hunter | Founder |
| Hult International Business School, Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai | Bertil Hult | |
| Johnson University, Tennessee, US | Ashley S. Johnson | Renamed from Johnson Bible College to current name in 2011 |
| Johnson & Wales University, US | Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales | |
| Kalasalingam University, Tamil Nadu, India | Arulmigu Kalasalingam | Founded by Mr. Kalasalingam |
| Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Bihar, India | Kameshwar Singh | In 1961 Maharaja Kameshwar Singh donated his ancestral house, Anandbag Palace, a rich library and surrounding land to establish a Sanskrit university. |
| King's College London | King George IV | Founded by King George IV in 1829 |
| King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | King Saud | Founded by King Saud in 1957 |
| Lane College, Tennessee, US | Isaac Lane | Lane was a bishop of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, which sponsored the school's establishment in 1882. |
| LeMoyne-Owen College, Tennessee, US | Francis Julius LeMoyne & S. A. Owen | LeMoyne (1798–1879), a Pennsylvania doctor, donated $20,000 to the American Missionary Association in 1870 to help establish the institution that became LeMoyne College. The namesake of Owen College, established in 1947 as S.A. Owen Junior College, was a distinguished religious and civic leader. The two historically black institutions merged in 1968. |
| Leopold-Franzens University, Innsbruck, Austria | Emperor Leopold I, Emperor Francis I | Founded by Emperor Leopold I in 1669, re-established by Emperor Francis I in 1826. |
| LeTourneau University, Texas, US | R.G. LeTourneau | Founder, with his wife Evelyn, of LeTourneau Technical Institute, formed in 1946 to educate veterans returning from World War II |
| Lipscomb University, Tennessee, US | David Lipscomb | Restoration Movement minister who, together with James A. Harding, founded the institution in 1891 |
| Magee College of University of Ulster, Northern Ireland | Martha Magee | Widow of a Presbyterian minister, who, in 1845, bequeathed £20,000 to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to found a college for theology and the arts |
| Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India | Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III | Founder |
| Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic University, Madhya Pradesh, India | Maharishi Mahesh Yogi | |
| Maharishi Open University | Maharishi Mahesh Yogi | |
| Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, US | Maharishi Mahesh Yogi | |
| McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada | James McGill | The university was established in 1821 following a bequest of money and land from the wealthy Montreal merchant and war hero James McGill. |
| McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada | William McMaster | Bequeathed C$900,000 to the founding of the university. |
| Millikin University, Illinois, US | James Millikin | Local businessman who founded the school in 1901 |
| Mills College, California, US | Susan Tolman Mills and Cyrus Mills | Originally established as the Young Ladies Seminary; Susan and Cyrus Mills bought it in 1866, renamed it Mills Seminary, and later converted it to Mills College. Susan Mills served as principal and president until 1909. |
| Millsaps College, Mississippi, US | Reuben Webster Millsaps | A Confederate veteran, Major Millsaps founded the college in 1889-90 by donating $50,000 and land for the campus. |
| M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia | Mikhail Lomonosov | University was established on the instigation of Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov by a decree of Russian Empress Elizabeth in 1755. |
| Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, US | Dwight Lyman Moody | |
| National Sun Yat-sen University, Republic of China (Taiwan) | Sun Yat-sen | Successor to Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, re-established in Taiwan by the ROC government |
| National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kiev, Ukraine | Petro Mohyla | Institution traces its history to the 1632 merger of two other schools by Mohyla, Metropolitan bishop of Kiev and Galicia. |
| Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India | Fath Jang Nawwab Mir Osman Ali Khan Asif Jah VII | Last Nizam (ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad, whose charitable trust founded the institute in the 1960s |
| Oral Roberts University, Oklahoma, US | Oral Roberts | Televangelist preacher who founded the university in 1963 |
| Osmania University, Andhra Pradesh, India | Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII | Founded the university in 1918 |
| Otis College of Art and Design, California, US | Harrison Gray Otis | Founded in 1918 on land bequeathed for the purpose by Otis, founder of the Los Angeles Times newspaper |
| Pace University, New York, US | Homer Pace and Charles Ashford Pace | Brothers who founded the school in 1906 |
| Patten University, California, US | Dr. Bebe Patten | Christian evangelist; founded the school in 1944 as the Oakland Bible Institute |
| Pepperdine University, California, US | George Pepperdine | Businessman who had built a fortune founding and developing the Western Auto Supply Company; he established the college in 1937 |
| Philipps University of Marburg, Germany | Philipp I of Hesse | founded the university in 1527 |
| Pitzer College, California, US | Russell K. Pitzer | California citrus grower who founded the college in 1963 |
| Purdue University, Indiana, US | John Purdue | Businessman Purdue donated funds to the state of Indiana to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture in his name. |
| P.D. Memorial Religious and Educational Association,Bahadurgarh,India | Prabhu Dayal | noted philanthropist,his son founded association in 1996 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, US | Stephen Van Rensselaer III | Co-founder, with Amos Eaton |
| Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa | Cecil John Rhodes | English-born Prime Minister of Cape Colony, mining magnate and founder of Rhodesia |
| Rice University, Texas, US | William Marsh Rice | Businessman whose designated that his estate be used to establish the institution |
| Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland | Robert Gordon | Merchant Gordon, who died in 1731, willed his estate to build a residential school for young boys in Aberdeen. That school was the genesis of the institution now called Robert Gordon University. |
| Roberts Wesleyan College, New York, US | Benjamin Titus Roberts and John Wesley | Named in honor of both the college founder (Roberts) and the founder of Methodism and the Wesleyan Church (Wesley). |
| Rockefeller University, New York, US | John D. Rockefeller | Founded in 1901 by the oil baron and philanthropist as the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research |
| Royal Holloway, University of London, England | Thomas Holloway | Founded Royal Holloway College as a women-only college in 1879 |
| Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Uttar Pradesh, India | Dr. Sampurnanand | Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and cofounder in 1958 of the university that was renamed for him in 1974 |
| Sarah Lawrence College, New York, US | Sarah Lawrence, wife of William Van Duzer Lawrence | The college was founded by New York real-estate mogul William Lawrence and named in honor of his wife. |
| Scripps College, California, US | Ellen Browning Scripps | |
| Shimer College, Illinois, US | Frances Wood Shimer | Founded the school in 1853 as a non-denominational co-educational seminary |
| Silpakorn University, Thailand | Silpa Bhirasri | Italian-born art professor who founded the university in 1943; he took the Thai name Silpa Bhirasri when he became a Thai citizen |
| Skidmore College, New York, US | Lucy Skidmore Scribner and her father, Joseph Russell Skidmore | Lucy Skidmore Scribner formed the Young Women's Industrial Club in 1903 with inheritance money from her father, a prosperous coal merchant. In 1911, the club was chartered under the name "Skidmore School of Arts" as a college for vocational and professional training of young women. |
| Smith College, Massachusetts, US | Sophia Smith | Willed her inherited fortune to endow the founding of the college |
| Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Andhra Pradesh, India | Sathya Sai Baba | Founded the institution in 1981 |
| Stanford University, California, US | Leland Stanford, Jr. | Founded by railroad magnate and California Governor Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, and named in honor of their only child, who died of typhoid just before his 16th birthday. |
| Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China | Dr. Sun Yat-sen | Physician, president of the Republic of China, and Kuomintang leader who founded the university in 1924 |
| Surendranath College, Kolkata, India | Surendranath Banerjea | Previously called Ripon College, named for the British Viceroy Lord Ripon; renamed in 1948-1949 for its founder, Indian nationalist leader Banerjea. |
| Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia | George Swinburne | Australian engineer, politician and philanthropist. Named Swinburne Technical College after its founder in 1913. Proclaimed as a university in 1992. |
| Thapar University, Punjab, India | Family of Karam Chand Thapar | Industrialist K.C. Thapar founded the school as the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology in 1956 |
| Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal | Shah King of Nepal | Tribhuvan University was named after Late King Tribhuvan |
| Universidade Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Count Cândido Mendes de Almeida | Brazilian educator and first dean (1902) |
| Universidade Gama Filho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Luis Gama Filho | Brazilian lawyer and educator |
| Universidade Veiga de Almeida, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Mário Veiga de Almeida | Brazilian educator |
| Vassar College, New York, US | Matthew Vassar | Brewer and merchant who founded the college in 1861 |
| Washington College, Maryland, US | George Washington | Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, who consented to give his name to the College and who served five years on the Board of Visitors and Governors, before beginning his presidency of the United States |
| Wells College, New York, US | Henry Wells | Founder of Wells Fargo and American Express who established the school as a woman's college in 1868 |
| Wheaton College (Massachusetts), US | Eliza Wheaton Strong | Wheaton Female Seminary was established in her memory by her family in 1835. |
| Wheelock College (Massachusetts), US | Lucy Wheelock | Founded the college in 1888 |
| Whitworth University, Washington, US | George Whitworth | Founded institution in 1883 as Sumner Academy; renamed in his honor in 1890 |
Read more about this topic: List Of Colleges And Universities Named After People, Institutions Named For People Associated With The Institution
Famous quotes containing the words founders, family and/or members:
“A spot whereon the founders lived and died
Seemed once more dear than life; ancestral trees,
Or gardens rich in memory glorified
Marriages, alliances, and families,
And every bride’s ambition satisfied.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The family spirit has rendered man carnivorous.”
—Francis Picabia (1878–1953)
“... no young colored person in the United States today can truthfully offer as an excuse for lack of ambition or aspiration that members of his race have accomplished so little, he is discouraged from attempting anything himself. For there is scarcely a field of human endeavor which colored people have been allowed to enter in which there is not at least one worthy representative.”
—Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954)