University of Connecticut

Storrs, Connecticut is home to the public land-grant research institution known as the University of Connecticut (UConn). Storrs is a hamlet in the larger town of Mansfield. The core campus is 4,400 acres (17.8 km2) and is located in Storrs, roughly a half hour's drive from Hartford and nearly an hour and a half from Boston.

The University of Connecticut was first established in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural Institution. The school got its name from the two brothers who donated the property that the school was built on. The institution was transformed into a public land grant college in 1893, and then became the University of Connecticut in 1939. In the decade that followed, new programmes in social work, nursing, and graduate studies were initiated, and the university also acquired the schools of law and pharmacy at the same time. UConn Health was founded in the 1960s to accommodate growing medical and dentistry schools on the UConn campus. The John Dempsey Hospital first opened its doors in Farmington in the year 1975.

The institution has been designated as a member of the "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" category. The institution has been ranked as a Public Ivy in the past. New England's Knowledge Corridor was established in Hartford, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, as a regional economic and cultural collaboration alliance. The University of Connecticut was one of the founding institutions of this alliance. UConn was the second institution in the United States to be welcomed into Universitas 21, which is an international network of 24 research-intensive universities that collaborate to promote global citizenship. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges has conferred its accreditation to the University of Connecticut.

UConn's men's and women's basketball teams, known as the Huskies and members of the Big East Conference, have both had a great deal of success in recent years. The Huskies have a record of 21 titles in the NCAA. The UConn Huskies are the best women's basketball programme in the country. They have won a record 11 NCAA Division I National Championships, which is tied for the most with the UCLA Bruins men's basketball team. Additionally, the UConn Huskies have won over 40 conference regular season and tournament championships, making them the most successful women's basketball programme in history. UConn also owns the records for the two longest winning streaks in the history of collegiate basketball for both men and women.

Storrs Agricultural School was the original name of the University of Connecticut when it opened in 1881. It was named after Charles and Augustus Storrs, who were brothers who gave property and early funds for the establishment of the school. In the year 1887, the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station was established. Women first attended courses at the institution in 1891, and they were formally admitted the following year, in 1893, when the name of the institution was changed to Storrs Agricultural College and it was designated as Connecticut's land grant college. Another rebranding occurred in 1899, this time to Connecticut Agricultural College, followed by Connecticut State College in 1933.