Carnegie Mellon University: ``My Heart is in the Work''

Andrew Carnegie was the son of a poor Scottish family, but he went on to accomplish many great things in his life. One of his most lasting contributions was the creation of what is now Carnegie Mellon University.

Located a few miles from downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the university is ranked among the top universities in the world. According the university's website, www.cmu.edu, The London Times ranked the school #21 on a list of the world's topuniversities in 2008. U.S. News and World Report placed the school at#22 for Best National University for 2009. Those are just a sample ofthe many prestigious lists upon which Carnegie Mellon University appear.

Founded in 1900, the school was originally called Carnegie Technical Schools. A merger with Mellon Institute of Industrial Research in 1967 gave the school its current name.

Carnegie Mellon University is home to 10,000 students and the school boasts over 70,000 alumni. With an admission rate of only 28% for the class of 2011, Carnegie Mellon is quite particular about the students that are admitted.

Currently, the student body is made up of scholars from 93 countries. The university consists of seven schools. They are the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Tepper School of Business, College of Fine Arts, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Heinz College, Mellon College of Science and the School of Computer Science.

The university is as rich in tradition as it is in academic excellence. Students take part in "traying'' each winter by using dining hall trays as sleds on the campus hills. Other traditions include a carnival that is held each spring and includes the annual Buggy Sweepstakes in which students show off buggies that they have spent the entire academic year building.

Another of the university traditions is a nod to the Scottish roots of Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie Mellon is the only university at which students can earn a degree in the bagpipes. The Pipe Band performs at all formal school events.

Each university president has found a way to leave his mark on the campus and the current president, Jared Cohon, is no exception. Cohon left Yale University to take the position of president at Carnegie Mellon in 1997. Since then he has overseen the building of the first "green'' (a building designed to have minimal impact on the environment) dormitory in the United States. Another effort aimed at helping the environment was the creation of a living roof atop one of the campus buildings.

The official motto of the university is "My heart is in the work'', and the school has, and will surely continue, to make important contributions to society in a number of areas.