University of Kansas Informations

The University of Kansas, also referred to as KU, is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital in Kansas City, the Edwards Campus in Overland Park, and a hospital and research center in the state's capital of Topeka. There are also educational and research sites in Garden City, Hays, Leavenworth, Parsons, and Topeka, and branches of the medical school in Salina and Wichita. The university is one of the 62 members of the Association of American Universities.

Founded March 21, 1865, the university was opened in 1866, under a charter granted by the Kansas State Legislature in 1864 and legislation passed in 1863 under the State Constitution, which was adopted two years after the 1861 admission of the former Kansas Territory as the 34th state into the Union. Disputes over Kansas' establishment as a free or slaveholding state prior to admission to the union prompted an internal civil war known as "Bleeding Kansas" during the 1850s.

Enrollment at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses was 28,401 students in 2016; an additional 3,383 students were enrolled at the KU Medical Center for an enrollment of 28,091 students across the three campuses. The university overall employed 2,814 faculty members in fall 2015.

Kansas's athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I sports as the Jayhawks, as members of the Big 12 Conference. They field 16 varsity sports, as well as club-level sports for ice hockey, rugby, and men's volleyball.

On February 20, 1863, Kansas Governor Thomas Carney signed into law a bill creating the state university in Lawrence. The law was conditioned upon a gift from Lawrence of a $15,000 endowment fund and a site for the university, in or near the town, of not less than forty acres (16 ha) of land. If Lawrence failed to meet these conditions, Emporia instead of Lawrence would get the university.

The site selected for the university was a hill known as Mount Oread, which was privately donated by Charles L. Robinson, Republican governor of the state of Kansas from 1861 to 1863, and one of the original settlers of Lawrence, Kansas. Robinson and his wife Sara bestowed the 40-acre (16 ha) site to the State of Kansas in exchange for land elsewhere. The philanthropist Amos Adams Lawrence donated $10,000 of the necessary endowment fund, and the citizens of Lawrence raised the remaining money themselves via private donations. On November 2, 1863, Governor Carney announced Lawrence had met the conditions to get the state university, and the following year the university was officially organized.The school's Board of Regents held its first meeting in March 1865, which is the event that KU dates its founding from. Work on the first college building began later that year. The university opened for classes on September 12, 1866, and the first class graduated in 1873. According to William L. Burdick, the first degree awarded by the university was a Doctor of Divinity, bestowed upon noted abolitionist preacher Richard Cordley.

During World War II, Kansas was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

KU is home to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, the Beach Center on Disability, Lied Center of Kansas and radio stations KJHK, 90.7 FM, and KANU, 91.5 FM. The university is host to several museums including the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and the Spencer Museum of Art. The libraries of the University include Watson Library,Kenneth Spencer Research Library, the Murphy Art and Architecture Library, Thomas Gorton Music and Dance Library, and Anschutz Library. Of athletic note, the university is home to Allen Fieldhouse, which is heralded as one of the greatest basketball arenas in the world, and David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, which is the eighth oldest college football stadium in the country.

The University of Kansas is a large, state-sponsored university with five campuses. KU is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and it is classified among "R-1: Doctoral Universities – Highest Research Activity" by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. KU features the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes the School of the Arts and the School of Public Affairs and Administration; and the schools of Architecture, Design and Planning; Business; Education; Engineering; Health Professions; Journalism and Mass Communications; Law; Medicine; Music; Nursing; Pharmacy; and Social Welfare. The university offers more than 345 degree programs.

In its 2020 report, U.S. News and World Report ranked KU as tied for 130th place among National Universities and 59th place among public universities.

The city management and urban policy program was ranked first in the nation, and the special education program second, by U.S. News and World Report's 2016 rankings.USNandWR also ranked several programs in the top 25 among U.S. universities.

The University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design (Arc/D), with its main building being Marvin Hall, traces its architectural roots to the creation of the architectural engineering degree program in KU's School of Engineering in 1912. The Bachelor of Architecture degree was added in 1920. In 1969 the School of Architecture and Urban Design (SAUD) was formed with three programs: architecture, architectural engineering, and urban planning. In 2001 architectural engineering merged with civil and environmental engineering. The design programs from the discontinued School of Fine Arts were merged into the school in 2009 forming the School of Architecture, Design, and Planning (SADP) with three departments. In 2017, the Urban Planning department merged into KU's School of Public Affairs and Administration. Accordingly, the SADP was renamed to the School of Architecture and Design (Arc/D).

According to the journal DesignIntelligence, which annually publishes "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools," the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Kansas was named the best in the Midwest and ranked 11th among all undergraduate architecture programs in the U.S in 2012.

The University of Kansas School of Business is a public business school on the main campus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The KU School of Business was founded in 1924 and has more than 80 faculty members and approximately 1500 students.

Named one of the best business schools in the Midwest by Princeton Review, the KU School of Business has been continually accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) for its undergraduate and graduate programs in business and accounting.

In 2016, The University of Kansas completed construction on a new home for the business school, named Capitol Federal Hall. It is located at 1654 Naismith Drive, near KU's Rec Center and across the street from Allen Fieldhouse. Capitol Federal Hall is a 166,500 square-foot building complete with state-of-the-art technology and several research labs.

The University of Kansas School of Law, founded in 1878, was the top law school in the state of Kansas, and tied for 65th nationally, according to the 2016 U.S. News and World Report "U.S. News Best Colleges Rankings." Classes are held in Green Hall at W 15th St and Burdick Dr, which is named after former dean James Green.

The KU School of Engineering is an ABET accredited, public engineering school located on the main campus. The School of Engineering was officially founded in 1891, although engineering degrees were awarded as early as 1873.

In the U.S. News and World Report's "America’s Best Colleges" 2016 issue, KU's School of Engineering was ranked tied for 90th among national universities.

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