History of Ohio State University
The Ohio State University was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university in accordance with the Morrill Act of 1862 under the name of Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The school was originally situated within a farming community located on the northern edge of Columbus, and was intended to matriculate students of various agricultural and mechanical disciplines. The university opened its doors to 24 students on September 18, 1873. In 1878, the first class of six men graduated. The first woman graduated the following year. In 1900, in light of its expanded focus, the college permanently changed its name to the now-familiar "The Ohio State University". Ohio State began accepting graduate students in the 1880s, with the university awarding its first master's and doctoral degrees in 1886 and 1890 respectively. 1891 saw the founding of Ohio State's law school. Presently, the university has reached the ranking of becoming a "Public Ivy", as well as receiving high rankings and awards from many institutions, including "U.S. News", Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Ohio State University
In recent decades, and in response to continually shrinking state funding, Ohio State has conducted two significant multi-year fundraising campaigns. The first concluded in 1987 and raised $460 million—a record at the time for a public university. The "Affirm Thy Friendship Campaign" took place between 1995 and 2000. With an initial goal of raising $850 million, the campaign's final tally was $1.23 billion, placing Ohio State among the small group of public universities to have successfully conducted a $1 billion campaign. At his welcoming ceremony, returning President E. Gordon Gee announced, in the Fall of 2007, Ohio State would launch a $2.5 billion fund-raising campaign.