University of Rochester history

In 1851 Rochester adopted its motto Meliora—a Latin word for “ever better.” It’s more than a motto for us.

In parallel, a gift of 8 acres of farmland from local businessman and Congressman Azariah Boody secured the first campus of the university, upon which Anderson Hall was constructed and dedicated in 1862.

The first female students were admitted in 1900, the result of an effort led by Susan B. Anthony and Helen Barrett Montgomery.

The first female member of the faculty was Elizabeth Denio who retired as Professor Emeritus in 1917.

Camera manufacturer George Eastman made several generous donations to the university and was instrumental in the founding of the Eastman School of Music in 1921; it ranks among the major music schools in the United States.

In 1925, at the behest of the General Education Board and with significant support for John D. Rockefeller, George Eastman, and Henry A. Strong's family, medical and dental schools were created.

Koshiba earned a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in New York in 1955.

In 1958, three new schools were created in engineering, business administration, and education.

But to make it more immediately useful, Karl S. Kabelac of the library staff was employed in 1971 to create an index to it.

The Graduate School of Management was named after William E. Simon, former Secretary of the Treasury in 1986.

Koshiba was able to confirm Davis’s results—that the Sun produces neutrinos and that fewer neutrinos were found than had been expected (a deficit that became known as the solar neutrino problem). In 1987 Kamiokande also detected neutrinos from a supernova explosion outside the Milky Way.

In 1995, university president Thomas H. Jackson announced the launch of a "Renaissance Plan" for The college that reduced enrollment from 4,500 to 3,600, creating a more selective admissions process.

After building a larger, more sensitive detector named Super-Kamiokande, which became operational in 1996, Koshiba found strong evidence for what scientists had already suspected—that neutrinos, of which three types are known, change from one type into another in flight.

Shortly after taking office, university president Joel Seligman commenced the private phase of the Meliora Challenge, a $1.2 billion capital campaign, in 2005.

In 2016, the university announced the Meliora Challenge had exceeded its goal and surpassed $1.36 billion.

On January 11, 2018, Debevoise & Plimpton released the report and held a press conference about the findings of the independent investigation.

Her term started in July 2019, with a formal inauguration following in October during Meliora Weekend.