Entity | University of Michigan

The University of Michigan (U-M, UMich, or Michigan) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1817 by an act of the old Michigan Territory, as the Catholepistemiad, or the University of Michigania, 20 years before the territory became a state, the university is Michigan's oldest. The institution was moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 onto 40 acres (16 ha) of what is now known as Central Campus, a U.S. historic district. The university has been governed by an elected board of regents independently of the state since 1850, when the state's second constitution was officially adopted. The university consists of nineteen colleges and offers degree programs at undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels in some 250 disciplines. Michigan has nine professional schools: the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ross School of Business, Medical School, Law School, Ford School of Public Policy, College of Pharmacy, School of Social Work, School of Public Health, and School of Dentistry. It affiliates with two regional universities located in Flint and Dearborn (each separately accredited universities) and operates a center located in Detroit. Michigan is home to the country's oldest continuously existing legal organization, oldest international professional dental fraternity, oldest continuously running university hospital and longest-standing laboratory for interdisciplinary research in the social sciences.