The University of Delaware is a state-assisted, privately controlled institution of higher education with an established reputation for excellence in its academic programs. One of the three publicly funded institutions in Delaware, it is the state's only comprehensive land-, sea-, space-, and urban-grant university, offering over two hundred programs at the undergraduate and graduate level. The University stands for excellence in the education of its undergraduate and graduate students, in scholarship, and in service to the state and the global community.

Since 1992 over one-third of the University of Delaware's faculty have attended PBL workshops conducted by PBL practitioners at UD. The university offers PBL courses in nearly every department in all of its colleges. "Problem-Based Learning: Models for the College Classroom," a current project funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, has been instrumental in helping UD faculty expand PBL into classes of all sizes as well as introductory courses. The University is the home of the PBL Electronic Clearinghouse, a searchable database of problems, teaching material, and articles on problem-based instruction.

The Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education at The University of Delaware was established in 1997 (with financial assistance from the National Science Foundation's Institution-Wide Reform of Undergraduate Education program) to promote reform of undergraduate education through faculty development and course design and to infuse the institution with a successful model of instruction. Institute Fellows receive hands-on experience from their faculty colleagues in employing active learning strategies and effective use of technology in their courses. Twice annually, ITUE brings together a diverse group of faculty from campuses around the world for examination of best practices in the classroom and discussion of a broad range of active learning strategies and uses of on-line resources for instruction. ITUE's efforts toward the improvement of undergraduate education through faculty development were recognized in 1999 through the Theodore M. Hesburgh Certificate of Excellence.

The Unidel Foundation was founded in 1939 by Amy Elizabeth du Pont in memory of her father, Eugene du Pont, former head of the DuPont Co. Miss du Pont had served on the Board of Trustees' advisory committee on the Women's College, which with Delaware College, became the University of Delaware in the 1920s. She was the first person in Delaware to direct her philanthropy to the higher education of women. Among many initiatives, gifts from Unidel support a prestigious scholarship program, and have also helped to launch innovative initiatives in undergraduate education, to renovate signature buildings on the university campus, to establish endowed faculty chairs, and to create a nationally recognized University Honors Program.

The Pew Charitable Trusts support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems. In 2000, with approximately $4.8 billion in assets, the Trusts committed over $235 million to 302 nonprofit organizations.