City University of New York

The City University of New York (CUNY) is a public university system that encompasses 23 institutions of higher education, including six community colleges, eleven four-year colleges, five graduate and professional schools, and the new cross-campus Macaulay Honors College. Although CUNY is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, its colleges and schools are spread throughout New York City's five boroughs.

History

CUNY's history dates back to May 7, 1847, when New York State Governor John Young signed the Free Academy Act, which authorized New York City's Board of Education to create a free institution of higher education for graduates of the city's public schools. A month later, the city's voters decisively endorsed the initiative in a popular referendum and, shortly thereafter, the Board of Education itself resolved to establish the Free Academy and, under the leadership of Townsend Harris, began planning its logistics. Over the next year-and-a-half, the Board selected Horace Webster to serve as the Academy's first president, appointed faculty members and designed a course of study, and oversaw the construction of a four-story school building, modeled after Cambridge University's King's College Chapel, on the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street.

Schools

Four-year colleges

The CUNY system includes eleven four-year "senior" colleges, including four in Manhattan, three in Brooklyn, two in Queens, one in Staten Island, and one in the Bronx.

Bernard M. Baruch College

Baruch College originated in 1919 as the City College School of Civic and Business Administration. It was renamed for an 1889 alumnus of the College of the City of New York in 1958 and reorganized as a senior college within the CUNY system in 1968.

City College of New York

The City College of New York (CCNY) is CUNY's oldest institution.

Hunter College

Hunter College, which is currently the largest of the CUNY colleges, was founded by Thomas H. Hunter in 1870 as the Normal College for Girls.

Community colleges

There are six community colleges within the CUNY system, including two in the Bronx, two in Queens, one in Manhattan, and one in Brooklyn.