Wichita State University

Wichita State University is a public research university located in Wichita, Kansas. Governed by the Kansas Board of Regents, it serves more than 25,000 students across its main campus and technical education division, WSU Tech. The university offers a wide range of undergraduate, master’s, specialist, and doctoral programs through multiple colleges, with particular strengths in engineering, business, health professions, fine arts, and applied sciences. Classified among doctoral universities with high research activity, Wichita State University is known for its applied learning model and industry partnerships, especially through its Innovation Campus. Students are often drawn to its urban setting, research opportunities, and strong connections to aerospace and manufacturing industries in the region.

Wichita State University was founded in 1895 as Fairmount College, a private Congregational institution in Wichita, Kansas. Under its first president, Nathan J. Morrison, Fairmount College offered coeducational instruction and gradually expanded its academic programs and campus facilities in the early twentieth century. In 1926, following a vote by local citizens, the institution became the Municipal University of Wichita, the first municipal university west of the Mississippi River. Continued growth led to another major transition on July 1, 1964, when the university entered the Kansas state system and adopted the name Wichita State University. In the decades that followed, Wichita State University expanded its research capacity, academic offerings, and campus footprint. Recent developments include the creation of the Innovation Campus and plans for a downtown biomedical campus, reflecting its ongoing evolution as a public research university.