University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma, abbreviated as OU, is a public institution of higher learning and research that may be found in Norman, Oklahoma. It was established in 1890 and had been operating in Oklahoma Territory close to Indian Territory for 17 years prior to the formation of the state of Oklahoma from the combination of these two Territories. The institution had 29,705 students enrolled for the Fall semester of 2022, the majority of whom were located at its main campus in Norman. The institution has about 3,000 teaching staff members and provides 152 bachelor programmes, 160 master's programmes, 75 doctoral degrees, and 20 first-level professional majors.
The institution is categorised as a "R1: Doctoral University – Very high research activity," according to the Carnegie Classification. According to the National Science Foundation, the University of Oklahoma was ranked 82nd in the country for its research and development spending of $283 million in 2018. Its Norman campus is home to two notable museums: the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, which focuses on French Impressionism and Native American artwork; and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, which focuses on the natural history of Oklahoma. Both of these museums are located on the same building.
The institution has been victorious in several national championships across a variety of sports, including football, where it has won seven national championships, and baseball, where it has won two NCAA Division I titles. The women's softball team has been victorious in the national tournament on six separate occasions: in the year 2000, in the year 2013, and in consecutive years in 2016 and 2017 as well as in 2021 and 2022. Since 2002, the gymnastics teams have won a total of 11 national championships, with the men's team taking home eight of those medals in the last 15 years, including three in a row from 2015 to 2017.
On December 18, 1890, with the support of Governor George Washington Steele, the Oklahoma Territorial legislature established three universities: the state university in Norman, the agricultural and mechanical college in Stillwater (later renamed Oklahoma State University), and a normal school in Edmond. The state university in Norman was the first of the three to be established (later renamed University of Central Oklahoma). Following Oklahoma's entry into the union in 1907, the Norman Territorial University became the University of Oklahoma. Prior to that year, it had been known as Norman University. Residents of Norman gave the institution a plot of property of 407 acres (1.6 km2), which is located 0.5 miles (0.8 km) south of the Norman train terminal. Because he "could not picture a treeless university seat," the first president of the university gave the order to plant trees before the construction of the first building on campus. The institution continues to place a significant emphasis on landscaping.