The University of Kansas (KU) was founded in 1865. Today KU has five campuses and is a major, state-sponsored public research university and a member of the elite Association of American Universities.
In 1863 the state governor of Kansas told residents of the town of Lawrence that the Kansas University would be built there if the residents were able to raise a $15,000 endowment and donate 16 ha of land for the project. Donations from the abolitionist and philanthropist Amos Adams Lawrence and local residents covered the endowment and the land was donated by a former state governor and his wife.
KU is home to 13 schools offering a wide range of undergraduate and graduate qualifications – there are over 370 different bachelor, master, doctoral, and professional degree programs offered. KU is home to over 2,000 international students representing over 110 countries with partner organisations across the globe providing a truly international learning environment.
Areas of special expertise include aerospace, civil, and petroleum engineering, rural medicine, social welfare, nursing, pharmacy, urban policy, occupational therapy, clinical child psychology and speech-language pathology.
The university is spread over five different campus areas with the main location in Lawrence and other locations in Kansas City, Overland Park, Wichita,and Salina. Academic and administration facilities are housed in grand red-roofed buildings and more modern buildings, campus grounds are green, spacious.
Notable alumni include two Nobel Laureates, 13 former state governors, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh who discovered Pluto and three former NASA astronauts.
