Located in Waltham, Massachusetts, Brandeis University is an American private research university. Its motto translates from the original Hebrew as: Truth, Even Unto its Innermost Parts. Founded in 1948 by the American historian Abram L Sachar, the university was named after the former US Supreme Court associate justice, Louis D Brandeis, and was given a Phi Beta Kappa accreditation in 1961. Pulitzer Prize winners, leading authors and a Nobel laureate can be found among the university’s alumni, as well as the creators of the American television series Friends, David Crane and Marta Kauffman. Over the years, Brandeis University Press – the institution’s publishing arm – has won several National Jewish Books Awards and been shortlisted as a finalist multiple times. The university describes itself as a liberal arts college, a global research university and a hub of scholars and students devoted to ‘the pursuit of knowledge and its transmission from generation to generation’. Being a research institute, it emphasises the progression of the arts and humanities, and social, natural and physical science. As a university focussing on the liberal arts, it believes in the need for students to have a ‘broad and critical education’ to enhance their lives and enable them to fully participate in an evolving society. Within its faculty, the university comprises fellows of both the American Association for Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as members of the National Academies, Howard Hughes medical investigators and MacArthur fellows. Brandeis University has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1 and its campus, which spans 235 acres, includes over 100 academic and residential buildings. It offers its students over 260 clubs and organisations, as well as 19 varsity sports (nine men’s and 10 women’s). Its colours are blue and white, and its mascot is known as Ollie the Owl.