private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Omaha, Neb., U.S. It is affiliated with the Jesuit order (Society of Jesus) of the Roman Catholic church. The university consists of colleges of arts and sciences and of business administration as well as schools of law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and allied health professions, and nursing. Graduate degree programs are available in more than a dozen fields, focusing mainly on sciences and religion. Campus facilities include an observatory and an art gallery. Research centres include the Center for the Study of Religion and Society.

The university opened in 1878 and was named for John and Edward Creighton, builders of the transcontinental telegraph, from whose estate came the land and money to create the school. Women were admitted to the professional schools as they were founded and to undergraduate programs in 1913. National Baseball Hall of Fame member Bob Gibson was an alumnus of Creighton University.