<P> From its outset Howard has been nonsectarian and open to people of all sexes and races . Howard offers more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees . </P> <P> Howard is classified as a Tier 1 national university and ranks second among HBCUs by U.S. News & World Report . Howard is the only HBCU ranked in the top 75 on the Bloomberg Businessweek college rankings . The Princeton Review ranked the school of business first in opportunities for minority students and in the top five for most competitive students . The National Law Journal ranked the law school among the top 25 in the nation for placing graduates at the most successful law firms . Howard has produced four Rhodes Scholars between 1986 and 2017 . Between 1998 and 2009, Howard University produced a Marshall Scholar, two Truman Scholars, twenty - two Fulbright Scholars and ten Pickering Fellows . In 2011, the Huffington Post named Howard the second best - dressed college in the nation . Howard is the most comprehensive HBCU in the nation and produces the most black doctorate recipients of any university . </P> <P> Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, members of The First Congregational Society of Washington considered establishing a theological seminary for the education of African - American clergymen . Within a few weeks, the project expanded to include a provision for establishing a university . Within two years, the University consisted of the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Medicine . The new institution was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War hero, who was both the founder of the University and, at the time, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau . Howard later served as President of the University from 1869--74 . </P> <P> U.S. Congress chartered Howard on March 2, 1867, and much of its early funding came from endowment, private benefaction, and tuition . (In the 20th and 21st centuries an annual congressional appropriation, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, funds Howard University and Howard University Hospital .) </P>

Where did howard university get its name from