Founded in 1743, the University of Delaware is one of the oldest universities in the United States. It offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs and is known for its commitment to research, innovation, and community engagement.
| Acronym | UD or UDel |
| Motto / Slogan | Knowledge is the light of the mind” (Latin: Scientia Sol Mentis Est) |
| Colour | Blue and Gold (specifically PMS 2945 C and PMS 109 C) |
| Mascot | YoUDee (a Blue Hen) |
| Founded | 1743 |
| Undergraduate Programmes | |
| Postgraduate Programmes | 145 |
| Location | Newark, Delaware, United States |
| Address | University of Delaware Newark, DE 19716 USA |
The University of Delaware exists to cultivate learning, develop knowledge, and foster the free exchange of ideas. State-assisted yet privately governed, the University has a strong tradition of distinguished scholarship, which is manifested in its research and creative activities, teaching, and service, in line with its commitment to increasing and disseminating scientific, humanistic, artistic, and social knowledge for the benefit of the larger society. Founded in 1743 and chartered by the state in 1833, the University of Delaware today is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant university.
The University of Delaware is consistently ranked among the top universities in the United States, including:
Top 100 National Universities
Top public schools in the U.S.
Several programs ranked nationally, especially engineering, business, nursing, psychology, and computer science
UD actively supports international students through its global programs and services: Immigration and academic advising, and cultural adjustment support. Global student events and networking opportunities. The university’s goal is to develop globally minded graduates with intercultural skills and leadership abilities.
Programs emphasize experiential learning through: Case studies, Industry projects, Research collaborations, Practical skill development, Students graduate with skills employers actually want.
International Students:
English Proficiency Requirements
View the program page for requirements.
Complete the UD Online Application.
Optional: Up to two letters of recommendation.
Email: [email protected],[email protected]
Phone : 302-831-8123, 302-831-6905, 302-831-6824, 302-831-2129
Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).
Dr. Carlson joined the University as provost in 2022 and was appointed interim president by the Board of Trustees in July 2025. On Dec. 9, 2025, the Board unanimously voted to appoint Dr. Carlson as president, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
As provost, Carlson focused on enhancing access by creating pathways... read more
Before joining UD, Carlson had a distinguished career of more than 20 years at the University of Notre Dame, where she served in several key leadership roles, including vice president, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School. She served as director of graduate studies in the psychology department and later as associate chair. Carlson joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor of psychology, becoming a full professor in 2008. A fellow of the Association of Psychological Science, she has received several teaching awards, including the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Carlson’s primary research interest is spatial cognition — how we mentally represent the places and objects around us — and her work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work, collaborating with scholars across the fields of computer science, engineering, architecture, geography and linguistics.
A cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College with a special major in psychology of language, she received a Master of Arts degree at Michigan State University and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Reporting to Farquhar are the deans of the 10 colleges, the vice provost for faculty affairs, vice provost for academic programs and university initiatives, interim vice provost for undergraduate education, vice provost for libraries, museums and press and university librarian, vice provost and dean for the graduate school, vice president of enrollment management, chief community engagement officer and chief of staff.
Alison's first class was "possibly the most distinguished in terms of the later achievements of its members, taken as a whole, of any class in any school in America," wrote historian John Munroe.
Those first students would go on to become statesmen, doctors, merchants and scholars. Thomas McKean, George Read and James Smith signed the Declaration of Independence, and Read also signed the U.S. Constitution.
By 1765, Ali... read more
A women's college opened in 1914 with 58 students, and in 1921, the two colleges joined to become the University of Delaware.
Since 1950, UD has quadrupled its enrollment and greatly expanded its faculty and academics and its influence in the world.
In 2009, the University purchased a 272-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Newark campus that previously had been a Chrysler Plant. That site, now the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus, is home to the University's Health Sciences Complex and is being developed as a space combining business, research, education and more.