Ohio State University
The Ohio State University is a public, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1870, it is the flagship institution of the University System of Ohio. Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education classifies it a R1 institution and it is regarded as a "Public Ivy".
Ohio State had an endowment of $8.6 billion. It is best known for its political science department, which is one of the most influential globally and a major department within American politics; and applied science programs, where it specializes in artificial intelligence, computer science, biomedical research, and engineering. It is a member of the Association of American Universities.
Ohio State consists of sixteen colleges, including of Arts and Sciences, Business, Dentistry, Engineering, Public Affairs, and Law, and has over 400 degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It has five satellite campuses in Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Newark, and Wooster. The university is one of the largest universities by enrollment in the United States, with over 50,000 undergraduate students and 15,000 graduate students. Its athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I as the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten Conference for the majority of sports.
Past and present alumni and faculty of Ohio State include 6 Nobel Prize laureates, 9 Rhodes Scholars, 7 Churchill Scholars, 1 Fields Medalist, 8 Pulitzer Prize winners, 77 Goldwater scholars, 1 Costa Rican president, 1 U.S. vice president, 7 U.S. senators, 15 U.S. representatives, and 118 Olympic medalists.
History
19th century
The proposal of a manufacturing and agriculture university in central Ohio was initially met in the 1870s with hostility from the state's agricultural interests, and with competition for resources from Ohio University, which was chartered by the Northwest Ordinance and Miami University. The university was established in the year 1870 as a land-grant university. The university opened its doors to 24 students on September 17, 1873. In 1878, the first class of six men graduated. The first woman graduated the following year. Also in 1878, the Ohio legislature recognized an expanded scope for the university by changing its name to "the Ohio State University".20th century
In 1906, Ohio State president William Oxley Thompson, along with the university's supporters in the state legislature, put forth the Lybarger Bill with the aim of shifting virtually all higher education support to the continued development of Ohio State while funding only the "normal school" functions of the state's other public universities. Although the Lybarger Bill failed narrowly to gain passage, in its place the Eagleson Bill was passed as a compromise, which determined that all doctoral education and research functions would be the role of Ohio State, and that Miami University and Ohio University would not offer instruction beyond the master's degree level – an agreement that would remain in place until the 1950s. In 1916, Ohio State was elected into membership in the Association of American Universities.With the onset of the Great Depression, Ohio State would face many of the challenges affecting universities throughout America as budget support was slashed, and students without the means of paying tuition returned home to support families. By the mid-1930s, however, enrollment had stabilized due in large part to the role of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and later the National Youth Administration. By the end of the decade, enrollment had still managed to grow to over 17,500. In 1934, the Ohio State Research Foundation was founded to bring in outside funding for faculty research projects. In 1938, a development office was opened to begin raising funds privately to offset reductions in state support.
In 1952, Ohio State founded the interdisciplinary Mershon Center for International Security Studies, which it still houses. In 1986, Ohio State ended its historic open enrollment policy and moved towards selective admissions.
21st century
The 2020s were marked by internal divisions over politics. In 2020, Kristina M. Johnson took office as the 16th president. Her tenure was marked by the university incorporating various diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which led to criticism from conservatives. Along with other public universities in the state, DEI policies were banned in 2025 with the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, which passed the Ohio State Legislature and was signed by Governor Mike DeWine. In 2023, Walter E. Carter Jr. took office as the 17th president. His tenure has been described as either more politically neutral or conservative than Johnson's, rolling back many of her perceived progressive policies. Protests at Ohio State University by pro-Palestinian demonstrators have occurred during the Gaza War, demanding "financial divestment, academic boycott, financial disclosure, acknowledging the genocide, and ending targeted policing". A solidarity encampment was constructed on OSU's South Oval on April 25, 2025 during which there were at least 36 arrests.In January 2025, the defense technology company Anduril Industries announced a series of Arsenal Projects, hyperscaling computer facilities for autonomous sensors and weapons. Anduril announced the construction of a manufacturing facility in Columbus, Ohio, to be named "Arsenal-1", with subsequent Arsenals planned. The facility has been noted for its close ties with Ohio State University, with Anduril Industries sponsoring the football program for the 2025 to 2026 year, close ties to the current college administration, and many of Anduril-1's employees hailing from its applied science programs at the university.
Campuses
Main (Columbus)
Ohio State's main campus is about north of Columbus' downtown. The historical center of campus is the Oval, a quad of about. The original campus was laid out in the English country style with University Hall overlooking what would become the Oval. From 1905 to 1913, the Olmsted brothers, who had designed New York City's Central Park, were contracted as architectural consultants. Under their leadership, a more formal landscape plan was created with its center axis through the Oval. This axis shifted the university's street grid 12.25 degrees from the City of Columbus' street grid. Construction of the main library in 1915 reinforced this grid shift.Ohio State's research library system has a combined collection of over 5.8 million volumes. Along with 21 libraries on its Columbus campus, the university has eight branches at off-campus research facilities and regional campuses, and a book storage depository near campus. In all, the Ohio State library system encompasses 55 branches and specialty collections. Some more significant collections include the Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, which has the archives of Admiral Richard E. Byrd and other polar research materials; the Hilandar Research Library, which has the world's largest collection of medieval Slavic manuscripts on microform; the Ohio State Cartoon Library & Museum, the world's largest repository of original cartoons; the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute.
And the archives of Senator John Glenn Anchoring the traditional campus gateway at the eastern end of the Oval is the 1989 Wexner Center for the Arts. Designed by architects Peter Eisenman of New York and Richard Trott of Columbus, the center was funded in large part by Ohio State alumnus Les Wexner's gift of $25 million in the 1980s. The center was founded to encompass all aspects of visual and performing arts with a focus on new commissions and artist residencies. Part of its design was to pay tribute to the armory that formerly had the same location. Its groundbreaking deconstructivist architecture has resulted in it being lauded as one of the most important buildings of its generation. Its design has also been criticized as proving less than ideal for many of the art installations it has attempted to display. The centerpiece of the Wexner Center's permanent collection is Picasso's Nude on a Black Armchair, which was purchased by Wexner at auction for $45 million.
To the south of the Oval is another, somewhat smaller expanse of green space commonly referred to as the South Oval. At its eastern end, it is anchored by the Ohio Union. To the west are Hale Hall, the Kuhn Honors House, Browning Amphitheatre and Mirror Lake. Knowlton Hall, dedicated in October 2004, is at the corner of West Woodruff Avenue and Tuttle Park Place, next to Ohio Stadium.
Knowlton Hall along with the Fisher College of Business and Hitchcock Hall form an academic nucleus in the northwestern corner of North campus. Knowlton Hall was designed by Atlanta-based Mack Scogin Merrill Elam along with WSA Studio from Columbus. The Hall is home to the KSA Café, the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, and about 550 undergraduate and graduate students. Knowlton Hall stands out from the general reddish-brown brick of Ohio State's campus with distinctive white marble tiles that cover the building's exterior. This unique wall cladding was requested by Austin E. Knowlton, the namesake of and main patron to the creation of Knowlton Hall. Knowlton also requested that five white marble columns be erected on the site, each column representing one of the classical orders of architecture.
The campus is served by the Campus Area Bus Service.
Regional campuses
Lima
The Ohio State University at Lima is a regional campus in Lima, Ohio that was established in 1960. The Lima Campus Library has 76,000 volumes and 200+ journal subscriptions. Library databases also provide access to thousands of online journals. The university shares the campus with Rhodes State College.Mansfield
The Ohio State University at Mansfield was founded in 1958 as a land-grant college.It was created through a partnership between Mansfield-area citizens and the state of Ohio. Soon after the Ohio Board of Regents designated Mansfield as the site for an Ohio State regional campus, Mansfield-area citizens mounted a major campaign to acquire land for the campus. OSU-Mansfield, in 1989, hosted a weekend school for Japanese students.