Established in 1863, Kansas State University (K-State) is a public research university and one of America’s first land-grant schools.

The university considers itself a forerunner in research into global food systems. It is also credited with expertise on issues relating to Kansas itself (known as the K-State Research and Extension, an initiative supported by local and international partnerships).

The main campus of K-State can be found in Manhattan, a ‘classic college town’ in northeastern Kansas with more than 52,000 residents.

Known as ‘The Little Apple’, Manhattan, Kansas is home to the Konza Prairie Biological Station and Tuttle Creek State Park – a reservoir park offering golf, camping, swimming, archery and horse trails.

It also has a campus in the city of Olathe, and its Polytechnic campus can be found in Salina, one of the largest wheat-producing areas in the world.

The university has been ranked as one of the top 25 schools for sustainability by SaveOnEnergy.com and counts Erin Brockovich, the famed environmental activist (played by Julia Roberts in the 2000 biographical film), among its alumni.

Acknowledged by the Princeton Review as one of America’s best colleges, K-State is home to more CASE/Carnegie Professors of the Year than any other public research university in the country.

It welcomes over 24,300 students from all 50 states and 100 countries. In terms of financial aid, it distributes over $200 million in grants, scholarships and loans every year.

Over 475 student organisations can be found at the university, along with a plethora of sports teams.

The university’s official sports mascot is Willie the Wildcat. At athletic events, students take part in what is known as The Wabash Cannonball – a dance routine symbolic of Wildcat unity and dating back to 1968, when a fire on campus destroyed all the marching band’s sheet music with the exception of the folk song Wabash Cannonball.