With 17,926 students and more than 800 faculty and 1,800 staff, the University of Arkansas is the state's largest and most distinguished institution of higher learning. Founded in 1871 under the Morrill Act, the institution is both the major land-grant university for Arkansas and the state university.

The institution is Arkansas' only major research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a research institution with "high research activity." As such, it ranks within the top 10 percent of research universities nationwide.

The University offers more than 200 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in nine schools and colleges:

• Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, Dale Bumpers College of (E108 Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Building, 575-2252)
• Architecture, School of (120 Vol Walker Hall, 575-4945)
• Arts and Sciences, J. William Fulbright College of (525 Old Main, 575-4801)
• Business, Sam M. Walton College of (301 Business Administration Building, 575-5949)
• Education and Health Professions, College of (324 Graduate Education Building, 575-3208)
• Engineering, College of (4183 Bell Engineering Center, 575-7455)
• Honors College (418 Administration Building, 575-7678)
• Law, School of (107 Leflar Law Center, 575-5601);
• Graduate School (119 Ozark Hall, 575-4401).

More than 25 percent of all students earning undergraduate degrees in the state receive them from the University of Arkansas. Nonetheless, small classes are the norm. In nearly three-fourths of all undergraduate classes, there are 29 or fewer students.