The University of Delaware (UD) is the largest university in the U.S. state of Delaware. The main campus is located in Newark, with satellite campuses in Dover, Wilmington, Lewes and Georgetown. Although UD receives public funding for being a land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant and urban-grant state-supported research institution, it is also privately chartered. At present, the school's endowment is valued at about $1.3975 billion US. The University of Delaware is ranked 71st by US News in the category of nationwide "Top Schools." In 2008, UD was ranked No. 20 in the in-state category of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine's list of the 100 Best Values in Public Colleges.
The school from which the university grew was founded in 1743, making it one of the oldest in the nation. However, the University of Delaware was not chartered as an institution of higher learning until 1833. Its original class of 10 students included George Read, Thomas McKean, and James Smith, all three of whom would go on to sign the Declaration of Independence.
The school has, among others, engineering, science, business, education, urban affairs and public policy, public administration and agriculture programs, as well as programs in history, chemical engineering, chemistry and biochemistry, drawing as it does from the historically strong presence of the nation's chemical and pharmaceutical industries in the state of Delaware. In 2006, UD's engineering program was ranked number 10 in the nation by The Princeton Review. It is one of only four schools in North America with a major in art conservation.
