A Review of Iowa's Three Public Universities

Iowa has three public universities, offering some of the best higher education and academic research programs in the United States. The three universities, Iowa State University (ISU), the University of Iowa (U of I), and the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) boast a combined Fall 2006 enrollment of more than 67,500 students.

University of Iowa

U of I occupies 1,900 acres in Iowa City. It's the largest of the three public universities, with a Fall 2006 enrollment of almost 30,000 students.

The college was founded in 1858 and will celebrate it sesquicentennial next year. According to former Board of Regents President Mary Louise Petersen, "Many of our distinctive programs have their roots in the arts and humanities, where the U of I has long excelled." In 2005, Professor Marilynne Robinson of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In 2006, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics among the best hospitals in the nation - for the 17th consecutive year. In an article Ms. Petersen recently wrote for The Des Moines Register, she states: "The quality of U of I health care is directly linked to the university's intertwined mission of education, research and service. There is no question that the university is able to provide world-class care in part because of the research conducted in the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, one of nine outstanding U of I professional colleges (including business, dentistry, education, engineering, law, nursing, pharmacy, and public health.)"

According to Ms. Petersen, most of Iowa's doctors, dentists, lawyers, pharmacists, and leading educators and engineers come from the U of I.

Iowa State University

ISU is located in Ames and had a Fall 2006 enrollment of almost 25,500. The college was founded in 1858 and is known best for its agriculture, science, and engineering programs. It consists of eight colleges and 54 academic departments.