Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State  is a public research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1870, as a land-grant university and ninth university in Ohio with the Merrill Act of 1862,the university was originally known as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The college began with a focus on training students in various agricultural and mechanical disciplines but was developed into a comprehensive university under the direction of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes and in 1878 the Ohio General Assembly passed a law changing the name to The Ohio State University It has since grown into the third largest university campus in the United States.Along with its main campus in Columbus, Ohio State also operates a regional campus system with regional campuses in Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Newark, and Wooster.The university is also home to an extensive student life program, with over 1,000 student organizations; intercollegiate, club and recreational sports programs; student media organizations and publications, fraternities and sororities; and three active student governments. Ohio State athletic teams compete in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for football of the NCAA and are known as the Ohio State Buckeyes. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference for the majority of sports. The Ohio State Buckeyes men's ice hockey program competes in the Big Ten Conference, while its women's hockey program competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. In addition, the OSU men's volleyball team is a member of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.OSU is one of only fourteen universities in the nation that plays Division I FBS football and Division I ice hockey. Alumni and former students have gone on to prominent careers in government, business, science, medicine, education, sports, and entertainment.

        The initial idea of a manufacturing and agriculture university in central Ohio had been hindered in the 1870s by hostility from the state's agricultural interests and competition for resources from Ohio University, which was chartered by the Northwest Ordinance, and Miami University; although, these issues were dismissed by Republican stalwart Governor Rutherford B. Hayes. The Ohio State University was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university in with the Morrill Act of 1862 under the name of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The school was originally situated within a farming community located on the northern edge of Columbus. While some interests in the state had hoped that the new university would focus on matriculating students of various agricultural and mechanical disciplines, Governor Hayes manipulated both the university's location and its initial board of trustees towards a more comprehensive end.[citation needed] 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, in light of its expanded focus, the college permanently changed its name to the now-familiar The Ohio State University, with The as part of its official name.Ohio State began accepting graduate students in the 1880s, and in 1891, the school saw the founding of its law school, Moritz College of Law. It would later acquire colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, veterinary medicine, commerce, and journalism in subsequent years. In 1916, Ohio State was elected into membership in the Association of American Universities. Ohio State's 1,764 acres  of main campus is approximately 2.5 miles  north of the city's downtown. Four buildings are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Hale Hall (originally Enerson Hall), Hayes Hall, Ohio Stadium, and Orton Hall. Unlike earlier Ohio state universities such as Ohio University and Miami University, which have campuses with a consistent architectural style, architecture on the Ohio State campus does not conform to a unifying theme such as Gothic revival or Georgian. Instead, the buildings at Ohio State are a mix of traditional, modern and post-modern styles. The William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, anchoring the western end of the Oval, is Ohio State library's main branch and single largest repository. The Thompson Library was designed in 1913 by the Boston firm of Allen and Collens in the Italianate Renaissance Revival style, and its placement on the Oval was suggested by the Olmsted brothers who had designed New York City's Central Park. In 2006, the Thompson Library began a $100 million renovation with the stated aims of becoming a global benchmark twenty-first century" library while maintaining the building's classical Italian Renaissance architecture.