Arizona, University Of

public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tucson, Arizona, U.S. The university has a broad curriculum in liberal arts, sciences, agriculture, architecture, engineering, business and public administration, and education. It also offers instruction in nursing and pharmacy and operates professional schools in law and medicine. Bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degree programs are available in most areas of study. The Office of Study Abroad and Student Exchange provides students with the opportunity to study in Europe, Latin America, Australia, and Asia. In 1995 Cochise Community College, with a focus on continuing education, became an official branch of the university and is now known as UA South. Total enrollment in the university exceeds 35,000.

The University of Arizona is a land-grant institution. It was the first university in Arizona, created in 1885 by an act of the territorial legislature. Enrollment began in 1891.

In 1915 the university consisted of three colleges—letters, arts and sciences; mines and engineering; and agriculture. The following years brought steady growth for the university: the Colleges of Education and Law opened in the 1920s, and the School of Business and Public Administration was established in 1934 and reorganized as a separate college a decade later. After World War II the university expanded instruction in the health fields, opening the College of Pharmacy in 1949, the College of Medicine in 1961, the College of Nursing in 1964, and the College of Public Health in 2000. Theuniversity's Steward Observatory and the nearby Kitt Peak National Observatory and Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, operated by Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, help make the University of Arizona a centre of astronomical research. The campus is also the site of the Arizona State Museum, the oldest and largest anthropological museum in the region. University alumni include the anthropologist Emil W. Haury and U.S. congressmen Stewart L. Udall and Morris K. Udall.