The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. It consists of sixty universities in the United States (both public and private) and two universities in Canada.

Organization

AAU was founded in 1900 by a group of fourteen Ph.D.-granting universities in the United States to strengthen and standardize American doctoral programs. Today, the primary purpose of the AAU is to provide a forum for the development and implementation of institutional and national policies, in order to promote strong programs in academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education. The AAU holds two annual meetings. The fall meeting is conducted on a member campus while the spring meeting is held in the headquarters city of Washington, D.C.

Presidents

Statistics

As of 2004, AAU members accounted for 58% (over $15.9 billion: NIH: $9.1 billion, 60% of total academic research funding. Research Funding: National Science Foundation: $2.0 billion, 63% of total academic research funding Department of Defense: $1.2 billion, 56% of total academic research funding Department of Energy: $505.2 million, 63% of total academic research funding NASA: $673.2 million, 57% of total academic research funding Department of Agriculture: $271.9 million, 41% of total academic research funding.) of US University's research grants and contract income, 52% of all doctorates awarded in the United States. Since 1999, 43% of all Nobel Prize winners and 74% of winners at U.S. institutions were affiliated with an AAU university. Approximately two-thirds of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2006 Class of Fellows are affiliated with an AAU university. The faculties at AAU universities include 2,993 members of the National Academies (82% of all members): the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine (2004).

? Undergraduate students: 1,044,759; 7% nationally
? Undergraduate degrees awarded: 235,328; 17% nationally
? Graduate students: 418,066; 20% nationally
? Master?s awarded: 106,971; 19% nationally
? Professional Degrees: 20,859; 25% nationally
? Doctorates awarded: 22,747; 52% nationally
? Postdoctoral Fellows: 30,430; 67% nationally
? Students Studying Abroad: 57,205
? National Merit/Achievement Scholars (2004): 5,434; 63% nationally
? Faculty: approximately 72,000

Membership

Admission

AAU membership is by invitation only, which requires an affirmative vote of three-fourths of current members. Invitations are considered periodically, based in part on an assessment of the breadth and quality of university programs of research and graduate education, as well as undergraduate education. Year of admission is shown in parentheses with founding members bolded.

Public universities

Private universities

Canadian universities

• McGill University (1926)
• University of Toronto (1926)

Former members

• The Catholic University of America (1900-2002)

A founding member that departed due to "institutional emphases and energies" http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/news/02_PresDesk_Nov.htm that differed from the other AAU members.

• Clark University (1900-1999)

Another founding member that departed due to its change of focus from research to undergraduate education.

External links

• Association of American Universities

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