Oregon State University (OSU) is a public research institution in the northwest United States, with its roots in agricultural education.

It began as Corvallis Academy in 1856 and was founded as a co-educational place of college-level education in 1868.

Its main 400-acre campus in the college town Corvallis, nestled in Willamette Valley, is within easy reach of Portland, the Pacific Coast, ski resorts and hiking trails in the Cascades mountains, along with four seasons of impressive scenery.

OSU takes advantage of the dramatically varied terrains surrounding it, offering degree programs in conservation biology, agricultural sciences, nuclear engineering, forestry, fisheries and wildlife management, community health, pharmacy, zoology and marine studies.

There are over 200 undergraduate and over 80 graduate programmes in all, including over 30 online degrees.

OSU has 12 colleges, 15 agricultural experiment stations, 35 county extension offices, the Marine Sciences centre in Newport and OSU-Cascades, located in the city of Bend.

The student population is 83% undergraduates, 15% graduates and 2% professionals; around 60% of students are Oregon residents.

The university ranks very highly for renewable energy use, and 22 exercise bikes in Dixon Recreation Center are connected to the grid to help power the university.

With a recent renovation of the sports facilities the university gained a brand new synthetic turf, outdoor basketball courts and a tennis complex. There is also an Olympic size pool and a couple of volleyball courts.

Its Pride Center provides support services for LGBTQ students, and OSU is ranked in the top 20 LGBT-friendly campuses in the US, according to Campus Pride’s LGBT Friendly Campus Climate Index.

Its alumni include two astronauts, two Pulitzer prize winners, a Nobel Laureate, the first American woman to climb Mount Everest, and the inventor of the computer mouse.

Benny Beaver is its official mascot, first seen in 1942, and can be seen around campus sporting Oregon State University’s signature orange and black colours.