- published: 24 Nov 2015
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Delaware (i/ˈdɛləwɛər/ DEL-ə-wair) is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, and to the north by Pennsylvania. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom what is now called Cape Henlopen was originally named.
Delaware is located in the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second least extensive, the sixth least populous, but the sixth most densely populated of the 50 United States. Delaware is divided into three counties. From north to south, these three counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle County has been more industrialized.
The history of the state's economic and industrial development is closely tied to the impact of the Du Pont family, founders and scions of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, one of the world’s largest chemical companies.
The University of Delaware (colloquially "UD") is the largest university in Delaware. The main campus is in Newark, with satellite campuses in Dover, Wilmington, Lewes, and Georgetown. It is medium-sized – approximately 16,000 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students. Although UD receives public funding for being a land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant and urban-grant state-supported research institution, it is also privately chartered. At present, the school's endowment is valued at about $962 million US.
The University of Delaware is ranked 75th by U.S. News & World Report in the category of "Best National Universities." In 2009, UD ranked No. 22 in the in-state category of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine's list of the 100 Best Values in Public Colleges, and No. 18 for out-of-state. In 2010, the Times Higher Education listed the University of Delaware at number 159 in the world. In 2006, UD's engineering program was ranked number 10 in the nation by The Princeton Review. In 2009, US News and World Report ranked the chemical engineering program 10th among undergraduate programs and 9th among graduate programs. UD was named a Public Ivy by Greene's Guides, which is described as a public college or university with academic quality comparable to an Ivy League institution.