The university is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and remains the only private university in the conference. Northwestern University's School of Communication is a leading producer of Academy Award, Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning actors, actresses, playwrights, writers and directors.

Northwestern has the ninth-largest university endowment in the United States. Northwestern University is a large research university with a comprehensive doctoral program, attracting over $650 million in sponsored research each year. Along with its selective undergraduate programs, Northwestern is known for its highly ranked Kellogg School of Management, Pritzker School of Law, Feinberg School of Medicine, Bienen School of Music, and Medill School of Journalism. Northwestern University (NU) is a private research university based in Evanston, Illinois, United States.

Today, the main campus is a 240-acre parcel in Evanston, along the shores of Lake Michigan 12 miles north of downtown Chicago. Instruction began in 1855 and women were admitted in 1869. Its founding purpose was to serve the Northwest Territory, an area that today includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. Northwestern University was founded in 1851 by John Evans, for whom the city of Evanston is named, and eight other lawyers, businessmen and Methodist leaders. Although they affiliated the university with the Methodist Episcopal Church, they favored a non-sectarian admissions policy, believing that Northwestern should serve all people in the newly developing territory by bettering the economy in Evanston. The school's nine founders, all of whom were Methodists (three of them ministers), knelt in prayer and worship before launching their first organizational meeting.

On January 28, 1851, the Illinois General Assembly granted a charter to the Trustees of the North-Western University, making it the first chartered university in Illinois. The foundation of Northwestern University can be traced to a meeting on May 31, 1850, of nine prominent Chicago businessmen, Methodist leaders, and attorneys who had formed the idea of establishing a university to serve what had been known from 1787 to 1803 as the Northwest Territory.

Northwestern university notable alumni