The Stanford Faculty

David Starr Jordan was appointed president in March 1891, and by June his first faculty — 15 men of “youth and scholarly promise” — had accepted appointments. Jordan sought professors who combined abilities for teaching and research, and he wrote, “Mr. Stanford wants me to get the best. He wants no ornamental or idle professors.”

Today, Stanford has 2,219 members of the professoriate faculty. Faculty at Stanford are expected to be among the best teachers and researchers in their fields. There are 611 faculty members appointed to endowed chairs.

Stanford’s current community of scholars includes:

  • 17 Nobel laureates
  • 31 MacArthur Fellows
  • 4 National Humanities Medal recipients
  • 4 Pulitzer Prize winners
  • 16 National Medal of Science recipients
  • 1 National Medal of Technology recipients
  • 284 American Academy of Arts and Sciences members
  • 169 National Academy of Sciences members
  • 108 National Academy of Engineering members
  • 77 National Academy of Medicine members
  • 26 National Academy of Education members
  • 47 American Philosophical Society members
  • 5 Wolf Foundation Prize winners
  • 2 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
  • 1 National Medal of Arts winner

By the numbers

Nobel Laureates

Thirty-one Stanford faculty have won the Nobel Prize since the university’s founding. Nineteen Nobel laureates are currently members of the Stanford community. For more details, please visit our Stanford Nobel Prize website.

Pulitzer Prize Winners

  • Adam Johnson
    2013, Fiction
  • David M. Kennedy
    2000, History
  • Jack Rakove
    1997, History
  • James Risser
    1976, 1979, National Reporting

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