The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of elite research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. It consists of sixty U.S. universities (both public and private), and two universities in Canada.

AAU was founded in 1900 by a group of fourteen Ph.D.-granting universities in the U.S. to strengthen and standardize U.S. doctoral programs. Today, the primary purpose of the AAU is to provide a forum for the development and implementation of institutional and national policies promoting strong programs in academic research and scholarship and undergraduate, graduate, and professional education.

Members and their years of admission

State universities

• The University of Arizona (1985)
• University of California, Berkeley (1900)
• University of California, Davis (1996)
• University of California, Irvine (1996)
• University of California, Los Angeles (1974)
• University of California, San Diego (1982)
• University of California, Santa Barbara (1995)
• University of Colorado at Boulder (1966)
• University of Florida (1985)
• University of Illinois (1908)
• Indiana University (1909)
• University of Iowa (1909)
• Iowa State University (1958)
• University of Kansas (1909)
• University of Maryland, College Park (1969)
• University of Michigan (1900)
• Michigan State University (1964)
• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (1908)
• University of Missouri - Columbia (1908)
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1909)
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (1989)
• University at Buffalo (State University of New York) (1989)
• Stony Brook University (State University of New York) (2001)
• University of North Carolina (1922)
• The Ohio State University (1916)
• University of Oregon (1969)
• The Pennsylvania State University (1958)
• University of Pittsburgh (1974)
• Purdue University (1958)
• University of Texas (1929)
• Texas A&M University (2001)
• University of Virginia (1904)
• University of Washington (1950)
• University of Wisconsin (1900)

Private universities

• Brandeis University (1985)
• Brown University (1933)
• California Institute of Technology (1934)
• Carnegie Mellon University (1982)
• Case Western Reserve University (1969)
• Columbia University (1900)
• Cornell University (1900)
• Duke University (1938)
• Emory University (1995)
• Harvard University (1900)
• The Johns Hopkins University (1900)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1934)
• New York University (1950)
• Northwestern University (1917)
• Princeton University (1900)
• Rice University (1985)
• University of Rochester (1941)
• Stanford University (1900)
• Syracuse University (1966)
• Tulane University (1958)
• University of Chicago (1900)
• University of Pennsylvania (1900)
• University of Southern California (1969)
• Vanderbilt University (1950)
• Washington University in St. Louis (1923)
• Yale University (1900)

Canadian universities

• McGill University (1926)
• University of Toronto (1926)

Disenfranchised universities

• Clark University (1900 - 1999) - Left to because its mission focus had changed from research to undegraduate education.

External link

• Association of American Universities website