Rujukan terawal yang memanggil Harvard sebagai "universitas" dan bukan "college" terjadi pada tahun 1780.
Institusi
Universitas Harvard adalah salah satu universitas paling bergengsi di dunia dan mempunyai pendapatan terbesar di antara universitas-universitas di seluruh dunia (US$22,6 miliar pada tahun 2004), hampir dua kali lipat dariUniversitas Yale, pesaing terdekatnya).
Rangking universitas Amerika Serikat keluaran US News tahun 2005 menempatkan Universitas Harvard dan Universitas Princeton bersama-sama di urutan pertama.[8] Universitas Harvard juga meraih urutan pertama pada tahun 2004, setelah lima tahun di posisi kedua dan ketiga. Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings juga menempatkan Universitas Harvard di urutan pertama.[9]
Fakultas
Universitas Harvard kini mempunyai 9 fakultas, diurutkan di bawah ini menurut masa didirikan:
^Harvard's Veritas appears on the university's arms; heraldically speaking, however, a 'motto' is a word or phrase displayed on a scroll in conjunction with a shield of arms. Since 1692 University seals have borne Christo et Ecclesiae (for Christ and the Church) in this manner, arguably making that phrase the university's motto in a heraldic sense. This legend is otherwise not in general use today.
^An appropriation of £400 toward a "school or college" was voted on October 28, 1636 (OS), at a meeting which convened on September 8 and was adjourned to October 28. Some sources consider October 28, 1636 (OS) (November 7, 1636 NS) to be the date of founding. Harvard's 1936 tercentenary celebration treated September 18 as the founding date, though 1836 bicentennial was celebrated on September 8, 1836. Sources: meeting dates, Quincy, Josiah (1860). History of Harvard University. 117 Washington Street, Boston: Crosby, Nichols, Lee and Co., p. 586, "At a Court holden September 8th, 1636 and continued by adjournment to the 28th of the 8th month (October, 1636)... the Court agreed to give £400 towards a School or College, whereof £200 to be paid next year...." Tercentenary dates: "Cilegon Birthday". Time. September 28, 1936. Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2012-12-05. Diakses tanggal September 8, 2006.: "Harvard claims birth on the day the Massachusetts Great and General Court convened to authorize its founding. This was Sept. 8, 1637 under the Julian calendar. Allowing for the ten-day advance of the Gregorian calendar, Tercentenary officials arrived at Sept. 18 as the date for the third and last big Day of the celebration;" "on Oct. 28, 1636 … £400 for that 'school or college' [was voted by] the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony." Bicentennial date: Marvin Hightower (September 2, 2003). "Harvard Gazette: This Month in Harvard History". Harvard University. Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2006-09-08. Diakses tanggal September 15, 2006., "Sept. 8, 1836 – Some 1,100 to 1,300 alumni flock to Harvard's Bicentennial, at which a professional choir premieres "Fair Harvard." … guest speaker Josiah Quincy Jr., Class of 1821, makes a motion, unanimously adopted, 'that this assembly of the Alumni be adjourned to meet at this place on September 8, 1936.'" Tercentary opening of Quincy's sealed package: The New York Times, September 9, 1936, p. 24, "Package Sealed in 1836 Opened at Harvard. It Held Letters Written at Bicentenary": "September 8th, 1936: As the first formal function in the celebration of Harvard's tercentenary, the Harvard Alumni Association witnessed the opening by President Conant of the 'mysterious' package sealed by President Josiah Quincy at the Harvard bicentennial in 1836."
^Office of Institutional Research. (2009). "Faculty". Harvard University Fact Book(PDF). Diarsipkan dari versi asli(PDF) tanggal 2012-04-25. Diakses tanggal 2015-10-04. ("Unduplicated, Paid Instructional Faculty Count: 2,107. Unduplicated instructional faculty count is the most appropriate count for general reporting purposes.")
