state university system of Ohio, U.S., consisting of a main campus in Columbus and branches in Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Newark, and the Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster. The institute and the branches in Mansfield and Newark are primarily two-year colleges. The main campus in Columbus is a comprehensive research institution with land-grant status. It comprises some two dozen schools and colleges, including colleges of food, agriculture, and environmental sciences; dentistry; law; medicine; and veterinary medicine. The university offers a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. Research facilities include the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, near Wooster, and a freshwater laboratory on Gibraltar Island in Lake Erie. On campus are the Ohio Supercomputer Center and the Byrd Polar Research Center.

Ohio State University was established in 1870 as a land-grant university (then called the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College) under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862. Instruction began in 1873 on a farm near Columbus. The name was changed to Ohio State University in 1878. The campuses in Marion and Newark were founded in 1957, the Mansfield campus in 1958, and the Lima campus in 1960. The Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster opened in 1971. The Columbus campus, which has more than 50,000 students, is among the largest university campuses in the country. Notable alumni include track-and-field athletes Jesse Owens and Mal Whitfield, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, author James Thurber, and artist Roy Lichtenstein.