The board of trustees marked Johns Hopkins' 125th anniversary with a dinner that recalled the university's roots and celebrated its faculty and its future. The board invited department chairs from all nine divisions of the university to the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. A faculty member or researcher from each spoke briefly about the accomplishments of his or her division, the work that goes on there today and prospects for tomorrow.

When Johns Hopkins incorporated the university in 1876, it had three faculty members. At Sunday night's dinner, this gathering of deans, directors, department heads and other invited faculty--representing the 2,690 full-time and more than 3,000 part-time faculty who serve the university today--joined the president and provost for a historic 125th anniversary portrait.

Michael R. Bloomberg, chairman of the board, spoke of the appropriateness of the B&O museum for a gathering focused on Hopkins history. Johns Hopkins, the Baltimore merchant who founded the university, was a longtime director of the railroad and left his fortune to Hopkins in the form of B&O stock.

Addressing a crowd of nearly 400, Bloomberg noted that a trustee dinner honoring the faculty 125 years ago would not have had to be held in a cavernous hall like the B&O roundhouse. At that time, he pointed out, the university had only 12 trustees--and only three faculty. Today the board numbers around 100--and the current full-time faculty, 2,690.