Oregon State University (OSU) is a public research institution in the northwest United States, with its roots in agricultural education. It began as Corvallis Academy in 1856 and was founded as a co-educational place of college-level education in 1868.
There are over 200 undergraduate and over 80 graduate programmes in all, including over 30 online degrees. OSU has 12 colleges, 15 agricultural experiment stations, 35 county extension offices, the Marine Sciences centre in Newport and OSU-Cascades, located in the city of Bend.
The student population is 83% undergraduates, 15% graduates and 2% professionals; around 60% of students are Oregon residents.
The university ranks very highly for renewable energy use, and 22 exercise bikes in Dixon Recreation Center are connected to the grid to help power the university.
Its alumni include two astronauts, two Pulitzer prize winners, a Nobel Laureate, the first American woman to climb Mount Everest, and the inventor of the computer mouse.