It is the largest and oldest university in the state of Kansas. The main campus is located on Jayhawk Boulevard in Lawrence, Kansas. The university has several satellite campuses across the state, as well as a medical center and a hospital in Wichita. Enrollment at the university is over 28,000 students, with over 21,000 of those enrolled at the main campus in Lawrence. The University of Kansas is a public research university and is classified as an R1 institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The university’s research expenditures totaled $259 million in 2017, which ranked it 116th nationally.
The University of Kansas was founded in 1865 by members of the Methodist Episcopal Church on land donated by Massachusetts settlers who had recently moved to Kansas Territory. The university began offering courses in 1866 and was officially opened for student enrollment in 1869. Early course offerings were primarily focused on liberal arts and theology, but soon expanded to include business, agriculture, medicine, and engineering. In its early years, the university faced financial difficulties and was forced to close its doors for several months at a time on multiple occasions due to lack of funding. Despite these challenges, the university continued to grow throughout the late 19th century and became one of the leading universities in the Midwest region of the United States.
Today, the University of Kansas is a comprehensive research institution with strengths in numerous academic disciplines. The school’s athletics teams are known as the Jayhawks and compete in Division I of NCAA sports. The men’s basketball team has won three national championships (1952, 1988, 2008) while also appearing in 17 Final Fours overall; both marks are 3rd-best all-time behind UCLA and Kentucky respectively . Other notable alumni from KU include astronaut Nancy Currie-Gregg; author William Sirls; businessman David Glass; politician Bob Dole; basketball players Wilt Chamberlain , Danny Manning , Paul Pierce , Raef LaFrentz , Kirk Hinrich ; football player Gale Sayers ; baseball player Frank White ; Olympic gold medalist swimmer Dana Vollmer ; actress Kirstie Alley ; singer/songwriter John Prine ; among many others