A self-educated "working boy" who loved books, Andrew Carnegie emigrated from Scotland in 1848 and settled in Pittsburgh, Pa. Attending night school and borrowing books, Carnegie went from factory worker in a textile mill to successful entrepreneur and industrialist. He rose to prominence by founding what became the world's largest steel producing company by the end of the 19th century.

Soon faced with the demand for baccalaureate programs, Carnegie Technical Schools began offering bachelor's degrees through its College of Engineering and College of Fine Arts, becoming the Carnegie Institute of Technology, or "Carnegie Tech."

During the first half of the 20th century, with support from Andrew Carnegie and other funders, Carnegie Tech laid the foundation for a school on the cutting edge. Some key developments were:

1. It expanded from two buildings into an elegant 20th century campus designed in the beaux arts architectural style, housing a wealth of machine shops, studios and laboratories — the hands-on center of learning that persists today.
2. It pioneered conservatory degree programs in music and drama, in addition to visual art and design programs. The first U.S. drama degree was awarded in 1914 at Carnegie Tech.
3. It began offering graduate degrees. In 1919, the first doctorate (in civil engineering) was awarded to Mao Yisheng, a student from China.
4. It laid the groundwork for a research institution, recruiting leading scientists, offering sponsored fellowships with government and industry leaders and pioneering nontraditional interdisciplinary research, which brought together physicists, chemists and metallurgists, for example. Interdisciplinary research would become the hallmark of Carnegie Mellon research.
5. It initiated the 'Carnegie Plan' in 1938, a new curriculum that required science and engineer students to take courses in humanities and social sciences in order to better understand the needs of society.
6. Carnegie died in 1919, but his vision for an educated public lived on after him.

In 1967, Carnegie Tech merged with the Mellon Institute, a science research center founded by the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, to become known as Carnegie Mellon University. The merger built upon a long history of support from the Mellons.

It allowed Carnegie Mellon to establish the last of its current pillars: the Mellon College of Science and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, now known as Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

In 2017, Carnegie Mellon celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Carnegie Tech-Mellon Institute merger, revisiting the shared vision of the founders and recognizing the impact it has had, and will continue to have, in the world of higher education, research and discovery.

CMU is positioned like never before to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In the coming years, the university will see the largest expansion to the Pittsburgh campus since 1900.

At the intersection of technology and humanity, CMU research, innovation and creativity will continue to guide our future as a world-class university.

As outlined in the Strategic Plan 2025, the university will focus on advancing the individual student experience, the broader Carnegie Mellon community experience, and the social impact of Carnegie Mellon throughout the world.