"I think many people would agree with the fundamental observation...that the importance of science and technology to the strength (and ranking) of a university has increased. Stanford has great strengths in these areas. These include a large engineering program. Stanford's appointment of John Hennessy as their new President underscores its commitment to these areas," FAS Dean for Research and Information Technology Paul C. Martin '52 writes in an e-mail message.

Leland Stanford's foresight means the university has been committed to a practical focus since its founding. In fact, Stanford was once quoted as saying that college-educated young men from the East were "the most helpless." He was determined that Stanford students would not be the same.

And they haven't been.

The Palo Alto of the 1970s was a sleepier, slower place than it is today, according to Dean of Undergraduate Education William M. Todd III, who spent 16 years as a Stanford professor. But Stanford was exciting and entrepreneurial. The university was a frontier where students and professors got to be technology cowboys, building up the industry by creating companies like Yahoo!--the concoction of two Stanford students, and one of today's most profitable Internet companies.

"Stanford was an early leader in computer science and engineering, and is still reaping the benefits of the vision of those behind the efforts to establish a first-rate department 30 years ago," says Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, who is also McKay Professor of Computer Science.

Decades later, transplanted Todd still admiringly remembers Stanford's pioneering spirit. And he's watching Harvard try to nurture its own.

Other universities are following where Stanford leads, investing heavily in the sciences. The allure of quick money is hard to resist. The frenzy for millions, spurred on by Stanford's characteristic entrepreneurial spirit, has helped make the university what it is today. Now programs similar to those at Stanford are cropping up at universities across the nation, including Harvard and Yale.