Philip II of Spain (Philip I of Portugal), who imposed his rule on the whole of the Iberian peninsula in 1580, sought to appoint a distinguished theologian to the most eminent university of this new part of the realm.
Let's transport ourselves back to 2001 and Yale, one of the world's pre-eminent universities.
They had marched from America's most famous black neighbourhood, Harlem, to the centre of one of the world's pre-eminent universities, Columbia, in what amounts to the ultimate clash of town versus gown.
As it weighed how to address those challenges, one of the nation's pre-eminent universities suddenly and unexpectedly forced out a popular leader after two years and with little explanation, spurring students, faculty members, administrators and alumni to unite in her defense, demanding that the board reverse itself.
This institution also shows that eminent research universities have the capacity to offer their undergraduates a high-quality liberal arts college experience.
I am reminded of an article I read by an eminent French university professor saying that his country's literature lacks a founding figure equivalent to Dante for the Italians, Shakespeare for the English, and so on.
This institution continues to be the destination of choice for a remarkable number of graduates from the world's pre-eminent research universities and a wellspring of communications technologies leadership.
He is the ideal person to lead Mason Gross as the university continues its mission to become a national leader in higher education and one of the pre-eminent research universities in the country".
"I think a pre-eminent public university should also involve the arts.
Both aspire to be the pre-eminent Catholic university in the Northeast.
Eliot transformed Harvard into a pre-eminent research university but disliked competitive sports, and his distaste for football in particular led him to call for the suspension of intercollegiate play.
