Founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Drexel is a top-ranked, comprehensive university recognized for its focus on experiential learning through co-operative education, its commitment to cutting-edge academic technology and its growing enterprise of use-inspired research. With more than 23,500 students, Drexel is the nation's 14th largest private university and ranked sixth among national universities in the most recent U.S. News & World Report list of "Up-and-Comers."
Co-operative Education
Drexel offers a variety of educational and employment opportunities to students through study and internship programs in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and the co-operative education ("co-op") program. The only mandatory co-op in Pennsylvania and one of three in the United States, Drexel's program is among the nation's oldest, largest, and most respected.
The Steinbright Career Development Center (SCDC) is one of the most highly ranked co-op and career service organizations at any university in the country and works to ensure that students and alumni get the most from their experiential and career placement activities.
Technology
As Philadelphia's leader in curricular innovation and educational technology, Drexel has a history of integrating the latest technological advances into the learning process:
- In 1983, Drexel became the first university to require all entering students to have microcomputers.
- In 2000, Drexel became the first major university to operate a fully wireless campus, allowing students, faculty, and staff to access the Internet from indoors and outdoors, anywhere on the University's three campuses.
- In 2002, Drexel launched the first mobile Web portal service for students, enabling them to access a range of information via virtually any Web-enabled handheld device, from anywhere in the world.
- In 2011, the new version of the Drexel OneMobile portal was the first such app from a university to be offered across all five major mobile platforms.
Research
Drexel is a leader in creating technological solutions to societal problems of the 21st century. The University's research enterprise has increased expenditures for sponsored projects from $15M in 1996 to approximately $110M today. Drexel is committed to "use-inspired" research and is poised to respond to novel opportunities for research, scholarship, and technological development. Examples include interdisciplinary efforts to meet emerging national imperatives to upgrade the transportation infrastructure, to move "alternative" energy sources into the mainstream, and to invent the means to improve medical care while reducing its costs.
Drexel Online
Drexel Online specializes in innovative, Internet-based distance education programs for working professionals and corporations in the U.S. and abroad. A pioneer in online education, Drexel has offered programs online since 1996. Its programs are ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the "Best" in the fields of Business, Education, Engineering, and Library Science. Other bachelor's, master's, and certificate program areas include Nursing, Communications, Clinical Research, Psychology, Public Health, Information Systems, Toxicology, and Industrial Hygiene.
Location
Drexel's 74-acre University City Main Campus is located in the vibrant University City district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is the nation's fifth largest city. The campus is a 10-minute walk from Center City, the core of Philadelphia's commercial and business district.
Drexel teaches at four additional locations: the Center City Hahnemann Campus for the the College of Nursing and Health Professions and the School of Public Health; the Queen Lane Medical Campus in East Falls for the College of Medicine; the Drexel at Burlington County College campus in Mount Laurel, New Jersey; and the Sacramento, California, Center for Graduate Studies.
A Green University
Under the banner of the Drexel Green Initiative, the University has adopted cutting-edge environmental best practices, including:
- signing the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment validating Drexel's pledge to eliminate its carbon footprint, promote research, and educational efforts and equip the University to contribute in stabilizing the earth's climate, allowing decreases of the University's carbon footprint from 34,990 metric tons in 2010 to 7,880 metric tons in 2011 by using 100 percent green power;
- use of wind power (through Renewable Energy Certificates) for 100 percent of the University's energy needs;
- the Drexel Smart House, a student-led, multidisciplinary project to construct an urban home to serve as a "living laboratory" for exploring innovative design and technology;
- a green roof for Millennium Hall;
- a "Bio Wall," a living, filtering wall to improve indoor air quality in the Constantine Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building;
- reuse of storm water for flushing toilets in the new Recreation Center;
- use of a biodiesel fuel blend for Drexel buses; and
- partnering with Greenworks Philadelphia, a plan which includes planting 300,000 trees by 2015.
