Flagship university

A flagship university refers to the leading comprehensive public research university in a given U.S. state. These universities are usually among the largest state-funded institutions of higher learning in the United States and are oftentimes the most well-known public universities in terms of national name recognition. Flagship universities are typically research intensive Ph.D. granting institutions and usually compete in NCAA Division I athletics. Some states may have more than one distinct university system (such as the University of Michigan System and Michigan State University) while others may have two equally strong public universities in a given system (such as the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA, both of the University of California System). As such, it is possible for a state to have more than one public university referred to as a "flagship."

A private university, however, is never referred to as a flagship even though it might be considered more prestigious or enjoy better name recognition than it's state-funded counterpart. For example, Harvard University is not the flagship university of Massachusetts but rather the University of Massachusetts Amherst. More often than not, a flagship will bear the name of the state in which it is located. For instance, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech are considered the flagships of Virginia but not the College of William and Mary or George Mason University even though all of these schools are publicly-funded institutions in Virginia. Lastly, the size of the student body and number of alumni are a factor in determining flagship status. For example, The Ohio State University is more than twice the size of Ohio University in terms of student body and is, thus, considered the flagship of Ohio, notwithstanding the fact that both institutions bear the name of their state.

List

Alabama

• The University of Alabama
• Auburn University

Alaska

• University of Alaska Anchorage

Arkansas

• University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Arizona

• University of Arizona

California

• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Los Angeles

Colorado

• University of Colorado, Boulder

Connecticut

• University of Connecticut

Delaware

• University of Delaware

Florida

• University of Florida
• Florida State University

Georgia

• University of Georgia
• Georgia Institute of Technology

Hawaii

• University of Hawaii at Manoa

Idaho

• University of Idaho

Illinois

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Indiana

• Indiana University
• Purdue University

Iowa

• University of Iowa
• Iowa State University

Kansas

• University of Kansas

Kentucky

• University of Kentucky

Louisiana

• Louisiana State University
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Maryland

• University of Maryland at College Park

Maine

• University of Maine

Massachusetts

• University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Michigan

• University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
• Michigan State University

Minnesota

• University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Mississippi

• University of Mississippi

Montana

• University of Montana
• Montana State University

Missouri

• University of Missouri - Columbia

Nebraska

• University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Nevada

• University of Nevada, Reno
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas

New Hampshire

• University of New Hampshire

New Jersey

• Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

New Mexico

• University of New Mexico

New York

The SUNY system has no official "flagship" campus or a campus referred to as simply the "State University of New York". However, it has four main "university centers"[1]

• State University of New York at Albany
• State University of New York at Binghamton (often informally considered the main undergraduate campus)
• State University of New York at Buffalo (often informally considered the main graduate campus)
• State University of New York at Stony Brook

North Dakota

• University of North Dakota

North Carolina

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• North Carolina State University

Ohio

• Ohio State University

Oklahoma

• University of Oklahoma

Oregon

• University of Oregon

Pennsylvania

• Pennsylvania State University-University Park

Rhode Island

• University of Rhode Island

South Carolina

• University of South Carolina
• Clemson University

South Dakota

• University of South Dakota

Tennessee

• University of Tennessee

Texas

• University of Texas at Austin
• Texas A&M University

Utah

• University of Utah

Vermont

• University of Vermont

Virginia

• University of Virginia
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Washington

• University of Washington, Seattle

West Virginia

• West Virginia University

Wisconsin

• University of Wisconsin - Madison

Wyoming

• University of Wyoming