Baylor University is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas, Baylor is the second oldest university in Texas and was one of the first educational institutions west of the Mississippi River. The university's 800-acre campus is located on the banks of the Brazos River next to freeway I-35, between the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Austin. Baylor University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

In 1841, 35 delegates to the Union Baptist Association meeting voted to adopt the suggestion of Rev. William Milton Tryon and R.E.B. Baylor to establish a Baptist university in Texas, then a self-declared republic still claimed by Mexico. Baylor, a Texas district judge and onetime U.S. Congressman and soldier from Alabama, became the school's namesake.
 
In the fall of 1844, the Texas Baptist Education Society petitioned the Congress of the Republic of Texas to charter a Baptist university. Republic President Anson Jones signed the Act of Congress on Feb. 1, 1845, officially establishing Baylor University. The founders built the original university campus in Independence, Texas. Rev. James Huckins, the first Southern Baptist missionary to Texas, was Baylor's first full-time fundraiser. He is considered the third founding father of the university. Although these three men are credited as being the founders of the university, many others worked to see the first university established in Texas and thus they were awarded Baylor's Founders Medal. The famous Texas revolutionary war leader and hero Sam Houston gave the first $5,000 donation to start the university. In 1854, Houston was also baptized by the Rev. Rufus Columbus Burleson, future Baylor President, in the Brazos River.
 
In 1851, Baylor's second president Rufus Columbus Burleson decided to separate the students by gender, making the Baylor Female College an independent and separate institution. Baylor University became an all-male institution. During this time, Baylor thrived as the only university west of the Mississippi offering instruction in law, mathematics and medicine. Many of the early leaders of the Republic of Texas, such as Sam Houston, later sent their children to Baylor to be educated. Some of those early students were, Temple Lea Houston, son of President Sam Houston, a famous western gun-fighter and attorney. Along with Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross famous Confederate General and later President of Texas A&M University.
 
During the American Civil War, the Baylor president was George Washington Baines, maternal great-grandfather of the future U.S. President, Lyndon Baines Johnson. He worked vigorously to sustain the university during the Civil War, when male students left their studies to enlist in the Confederate Army and serve Texas in various military campaigns. Following the war, the city of Independence slowly declined, primarily caused by the rise of neighboring cities being serviced by the Santa Fe Railroad. Because Independence lacked a railroad line, university fathers began searching for a location to build a new campus.
 
Beginning in 1885, Baylor University moved to Waco, Texas, a growing town on the railroad line. It merged with a local college called Waco University. At the time, Rufus Burleson, Baylor's second president, was serving as the local college's president. That same year, the Baylor Female College also was moved to a new location, Belton, Texas. It later became known as the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. A Baylor College Park still exists in Independence in memory of the college's history there. Around 1887, Baylor University began readmitting women and became coeducational again.
 
In 1900, three physicians founded the University of Dallas Medical Department in Dallas, although a university by that name did not exist. In 1903, Baylor University acquired the medical school, which became known as the Baylor College of Medicine, while remaining in Dallas. In 1943, Dallas civic leaders offered to build larger facilities for the university in a new medical center if the College of Medicine would surrender its denominational alliances with the Baptist state convention. The Baylor administration refused the offer and, with funding from the M. D. Anderson Foundation and others, moved the College of Medicine to Houston. In 1969, the Baylor College of Medicine became technically independent from Baylor University.
 
During World War II, Baylor was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

Athletics
Baylor's men's sports teams are nicknamed the Bears, and the women's teams are nicknamed the Lady Bears. Student athletes participate in the NCAA's Division I.
 
Baylor was a charter member of the Southwest Conference and remained a member until its dissolution in 1996. Baylor is now a member of the Big 12 Conference along with former SWC members TCU, Texas and Texas Tech.
 
Baylor has won three NCAA titles. In 2004, the men's tennis team defeated UCLA in the championship match. In 2005, the Baylor Lady Bears basketball team beat Michigan State in the championship game. In 2012, the Baylor Lady Bears basketball team beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA national championship; the first college basketball team ever to finish with a perfect 40-0 record.
 
Baylor's 2011 football team completed a 10-3 season with a win over the University of Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 12 in the nation. Quarterback Robert Griffin III was the recipient of the Heisman Trophy as the nation's most outstanding college football player.
 
During the past three seasons, the Baylor men's basketball team has twice advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA 'March Madness' Championship tournament. Under the direction of head coach Scott Drew, Baylor has achieved a record of 121-55 (.688) over the past five seasons and reached post season play in four of those years. Four former Baylor basketball players have been drafted in the first or second round of the NBA Draft in the past two seasons; Epke Udoh (first round), Perry Jones III (first round), Quincy Acy (second round) and Quincy Miller (second round).
 
Military service
Baylor University has a strong history of military service and offers both Army and Air Force ROTC for students.
 
Baylor has had several famous military graduates such as Andrew Jackson Lummus, Jr., who fought and died at the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and received the Medal of Honor for his service. John Riley Kane also received the Medal of Honor for his service after flying 43 combat missions for a total of 250 combat hours in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Kane's daring operations caused German intelligence reports to dub him "Killer Kane."
 
In July 1948, the Air Force and Baylor University partnered in the creation of Air Force ROTC Detachment 810 - one of the first detachments ever created. In 2008, Detachment 810 was awarded the Air Force ROTC Right Of Line Award as the No. 1 large detachment in the nation. The unit was additionally awarded the High Flight Award, recognizing it as one of the top four detachments in America. It has been named best in the AFROTC Southwest Region for 1996, 2003 and 2008.

Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, is an institution of higher learning founded in 1890 as a land-grant university under the Morrill Act. Originally known as Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Oklahoma A&M), it is the flagship institution of the Oklahoma State University System. The campus had a total enrollment of 20,834 students for the 2005-06 academic year, 18,909 of which were undergraduates.

On December 24, 1890, the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature finally gained approval for Oklahoma Territorial Agricultural and Mechanical College, the land-grant university established under the Morrill Act of 1862. It specified that the college was to be within Payne County. Such an ambiguous description created rivalry between towns within the county, with Stillwater ultimately winning out. Upon statehood in 1907, "Territorial" was dropped from its title.

The first students assembled for class on December 14, 1891. Classes were held for two and one-half years in local churches until the first academic building, later known as Old Central, was dedicated on June 15, 1894, on the southeast corner of campus. In 1896, Oklahoma A&M held its first commencement with six male graduates.

Much of the growth of OAMC can be attributed to work of Henry G. Bennett, who served as the school's president from 1928 to 1950. Early in his tenure Dr. Bennett developed a strategic vision for the physical expansion of the university campus. His vision was followed for more than fifty years and made the university what it is today, including the Georgian architecture that permeates the campus. The focal point of his vision was a new library, which became a reality when the Edmon Low Library opened in 1953.

On May 15, 1957, Oklahoma A&M changed its name for the final time to Oklahoma State University to reflect the broadening scope of curriculum offered. Branches have since been added in Okmulgee, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa to the Oklahoma State University System, with the Stillwater campus as the flagship institution.

In 2005, OSU announced its "Campus Master Plan", an ambitious campaign to enhance academic, athletic, and administrative facilities. It is intended to be an extension of the Bennett Plan developed almost 80 years ago. Over $800 million is planned to be spent on construction and renovation to be completed over twenty years.

The Plan calls for an "athletic village" where all of the university's athletic facilities will be located on the main campus. To accomplish this goal, the athletic department has bought all (or nearly all) the property north of Boone Pickens Stadium up to McElroy between Knoblock and Washington streets. This has drawn criticism from the city of Stillwater and those property owners. While the vast majority of the real estate was rental property targeting college students, a few owners were longtime residents. OSU responded by offering property owners well above their appraised value. At present, there is a lone holdout in this parcel of land, who has sued OSU over their right to use eminent domain. Plans include the construction of an indoor practice facility for most sports, a soccer stadium/outdoor track, a tennis complex, and a baseball stadium.