The story
Founded by John Fletcher Hurst in 1893.1
Founding
American University was established in the District of Columbia by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892, primarily due to the efforts of Methodist bishop John Fletcher Hurst, who aimed to create an institution that could train future public servants. Hurst also chose the university's site, which was in the rural periphery of Washington, D.C.
After more than three decades devoted principally to securing financial support, the university was officially dedicated on May 15, 1914. Instruction began in October 1914 with 28 student enrollees, 19 of whom were graduates and the remainder special students not candidates for a degree.
20th century
American University's first commencement was held on June 2, 1915.
During World War I, the university allowed the U.S. military to use the university's grounds for testing. In 1917, the U.S. military divided American University into two segments: Camp Leach and Camp American University. Camp Leach was home to advanced research, development, and testing of modern camouflage techniques. Camp American University was an experiment station that became the birthplace of the United States' chemical weapons program and the site of chemical weapons testing. A major cleanup effort began in the 1990s to remove chemical weapon remnants, particularly a cache of over 200 mustard-gas shells buried beneath the campus. Additional material was located in June 2024.
Instruction was first offered at only the graduate level, in accordance with the vision of the university's founders. This changed in 1925 with the establishment of the College of Liberal Arts (subsequently named the College of Arts and Sciences), which offered undergraduate degrees and programs. What is now the School of Public Affairs was founded in 1934, partly to educate future federal employees in public administration.
AU's relationship with the U.S. government continued during World War II, when the campus hosted the U.S. Navy Bomb Disposal School and a WAVE barracks. For AU's role in these wartime efforts, the Victory ship SS American Victory was named in its honor.
The post-World War II-period saw considerable growth and restructuring of AU. In 1949, the university merged with the Washington College of Law, which had been founded in 1896. Shortly after that, three departments were reorganized as schools: the School of Business Administration in 1955 (subsequently named the Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod College of Business Administration and in 1999, renamed the Kogod School of Business); the School of Government and Public Administration in 1957; and the School of International Service in 1958.
In the early 1960s, the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency operated the federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) Special Operations Research Office as a think-tank at American University. AU's political involvement was furthered by President John F. Kennedy's Spring 1963 commencement address. In the speech, Kennedy called on the Soviet Union to work with the United States to achieve a nuclear-test-ban treaty and to reduce the considerable international tensions and the specter of nuclear war during that juncture of the Cold War.
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From 1965 to 1977, the College of Continuing Education existed as a degree-granting college responsible for on- and off-campus adult-education programs. The Lucy Webb Hayes School of Nursing provided an undergraduate study in Nursing from 1965 until 1988. In 1972, the School of Government and Public Administration, the School of International Service, the Center for Technology and Administration, and the Center for the Administration of Justice (subsequently named the School of Justice) were incorporated into the College of Public and International Affairs.
The university bought the Immaculata Campus in 1986 to alleviate space problems. This would later become Tenley Campus.
In 1986, construction on the Adnan Khashoggi Sports and Convocation Center began. Financed with $5 million from and named for Saudi Arabian Trustee Adnan Khashoggi, the building was intended to update athletics facilities and provide a new arena, as well as a parking garage and office space for administrative services. Costing an estimated $19 million, the building represented the largest construction project to date but met protest by both faculty and students to the university's use of Khashoggi's name on the building due to his involvement in the international arms trade.
In 1988, the College of Public and International Affairs was reorganized to create two free-standing schools: the School of International Service and the School of Public Affairs, incorporating the School of Government and Public Administration and the School of Justice. That same year, construction of the Adnan Khashoggi Sports Center was completed while the Iran–Contra Affair controversy was at its height, although his name remained on the building until after Khashoggi defaulted on his donation obligation in the mid-to-late 1990s.
In 1997, American University of Sharjah, the only coeducational, liberal arts university in the United Arab Emirates, signed a two-year contract with AU to provide academic management. This contract has since been extended multiple times through August 2009. A team of senior AU administrators relocated to Sharjah to assist in the establishment of the university and guide it through the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation process.
21st century
In fall 2005, the Katzen Arts Center and American University Museum opened, funded by a donation from Washington, D.C. philanthropists Dr. Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen. The center continues to exhibit the Katzen's art collection and focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts.
Benjamin Ladner was suspended from his position as president of the university on August 24, 2005, pending an investigation into possible misuse of university funds. University faculty passed votes of no confidence in President Ladner the following month. One month after the faculty vote, the board of trustees decided that Ladner would not return to American University as its president. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ladner would receive total compensation of $4,270,665 in his final year of service, the second-highest of any university president in the nation.
Cornelius M. Kerwin, a long-time AU administrator, was then appointed interim president. On September 1, 2007, Kerwin was appointed to the position permanently after two applicants declined an offer from the board of trustees.
Ground was broken for the new School of International Service building on November 14, 2007, and completed in 2010. At the building's opening, a speech was given by then-Hawaiian Senator Daniel K. Inouye.
In 2015, American University began offering an accredited, accelerated online MBA program.
In May 2017, Kerwin retired as AU's president. In June, shortly after leaving her position as HHS secretary, Sylvia Mathews Burwell was tapped to become the 15th president and the first woman to serve in that role.
In 2017, Taylor Dumpson became AU's first Black female student body president. In her first full day in office, bananas were found at three places on campus, hanging from noose-like ropes, and marked with the initials "AKA," the initials of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The university considered the incident to be racist, with outgoing president Kerwin calling it a "cowardly, despicable act."
In 2019, the School of Education (SOE) was separated from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). According to then dean of SOE Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy the move was made to "encourage more students to pursue careers in education." Areas of study that students can pursue within the school include: teacher education, special education, education policy and leadership, and international education. The school is home to the Institute for Innovation in Education and the Center for Postsecondary Readiness and Success.
On April 22, 2020, AU announced that it had divested its endowment of fossil fuels, becoming one of the first universities in the United States to completely divest of both direct and indirect fossil fuel holdings. Following a student referendum in favor of divestment, the AU board of trustees voted against divesting the endowment in 2014. The decision to divest in 2020 came after extensive student campaigning from groups like Fossil Free AU and the undergraduate student government. In 2020, Fossil Free AU pushed for a second student referendum on the subject, and the student government released a report on divestment, presented to the board of trustees by student comptroller Robert Zitzmann.
In early August 2023, Burwell announced she would be stepping down as AU's 15th president but would continue work in AU's Sine Institute for Policy and Politics. On July 1, 2024, Jonathan Alger became AU's 16th president. Alger named Matthew Eynon, former Associate Vice President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to lead AU's University Advancement and Strategic Planning.
In November 2024, it was reported that AU was considering restructuring its SOE, potentially merging it back into the CAS or even dissolving the SOE altogether, due to budget concerns. In February 2025, longtime finance professor H. Kent Baker made an undisclosed donation, the largest individual gift in AU's history, in honor of his late wife, Linda. The Board of Trustees recognized his transformative gift by renaming the school the Linda A. and H. Kent Baker School of Education, a move that ultimately preserved the school's independent status.
In May 2026, Alger announced his resignation as AU's 16th president. Beginning in July 2026, David Marchick serves AU as interim president until the next president is in place.
From Wikipedia’s article on American University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5